On Monday's CNN Newsroom, host Brooke Baldwin seemed to accept the premise that there should be protests against laws restricting abortion as she suggested liberal actress Alyssa Milano was just going about it the wrong way with her call for a "sex strike," and had a psychologist on the show to offer more effective ideas for protesting the laws.
At 3:30 p.m. Eastern, Baldwin teased the segment:
If you do not like the latest wave of strict abortion laws being passed, stop having sex. You heard me right -- that is the idea coming from this woman, actress and activist Alyssa Milano. But my next guest calls it misguided and has her own ideas about better ways to protest.
Baldwin returned with this after a commercial break before touting the tweet in question from Milano that called for the strike and encouraged other women to "pass it on": "Alyssa Milano is calling for women to go on a sex strike. Yes, just days after Georgia's governor signed the controversial heartbeat abortion law, the actress tweeted this."
The CNN host continued:
The state of Georgia just banned abortions after about six weeks when a fetal heartbeat can be detected. The law is said to go into effect January 1. And critics argue that this law and several others like it are designed to trigger a legal battle that will end up in the Supreme Court in an attempt to overturn Roe v. Wade.
She then introduced psychologist Peggy Drexler, who wrote a CNN.com article entitled, "Alyssa Milano's sex strike is misguided. Here's what might actually work." Baldwin first made sure that Drexler was still glad Milano spoke up (she was) so Baldwin continued: "But not having sex is not the solution -- why do you think that?"
The psychologist admitted that there are many women who support restricting abortion, and with prodding from Baldwin, addressed the issue that women also enjoy having sex rather than thinking of it as just being something that benefits men.
Baldwin then pushed back -- but from Milano's point of view: "But some of her supporters say, 'An antiquated law deserves an antiquated response.' To that, you say?"
After complaining that "antiquated responses don't work," Drexler then suggested her own support in favor of abortion:
We are faced with something very, very serious, and something has to be done. And I wish she had more backing. I mean, that I respect her for. You didn't hear anybody else, which was very surprising to me. But my feeling is that there are things that we can do.
Baldwin agreeably injected: "For people who want to protest those laws -- like what?"
Going forward, Drexler suggested talking to men about the issue, "contributing to Planned Parenthood," and voting. She then lamented: "This really, really -- it is the most restrictive law yet for abortion, and women -- many, many women don't want that."
She then concluded: "So, rather than do something that will hurt women for the reasons that we've said, why not do something on a larger scale?"
