Paxton Smith went viral in June for using her high school valedictorian speech to condemn pro-life laws. This made her a hero in the eyes of the media and now that her native of state of Texas has passed another pro-life law, Stephanie Ruhle invited Smith onto her Wednesday show on MSNBC to talk about it.
Ruhle began by hailing Smith as some sort of prophet, "Paxton, you knew this was coming, you warned us about it. You saw this as such a crisis, you made your high school valedictorian speech about it. Now here it is and the rest of the country is waking up to it and we're in shock."
Is "rest of the country" in shock or just MSNBC? The assumption that abortion is widely popular aside, Ruhle then asked, "What's your reaction?"
Smith replied that she is "incredibly upset that a piece of legislation like this even went into effect in a place like America and a place where we value freedom and liberty." She declared that "My state has decided to turn its back on those principles and take away a fundamental basic human right from half of its population."
Smith may be young, but she is an adult, which means she is perfectly capable of being asked tough questions, but Ruhle went the complete opposite direction when she asked, "Not just a college freshman now. You are an advocate and activist. What are you doing next?"
Apparently forgoing that music career, Smith is working on new book entitled, "A War on My Body and that book is going to focus on telling a lot of different perspectives that are often not taken into account when we talk about the abortion situation."
For Smith "different perspectives" include lamenting that we don't abort enough minorities, "We're going to talk about the racial disparities that people face when trying to access this health care."
It also includes scientifically confusing things like, "the nonbinary perspective, what it's like as a member of the LGBTQ community." She also ironically claimed that abortion is about saving lives, "and we're also going to take a trip back to pre-Roe v. Wade when people were literally dying on the streets trying to access health care because doctors were not legally allowed to give that to patients."
Ruhle then lobbed yet another softball to Smith, "How do you feel? What is this like for young women in Texas right now?" To which Smith replied, "It's a very scary time."
This is the second time in less than a week that MSNBC has praised Smith. On Saturday, Alex Witt promoted her.
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Here is a transcript for the September 8 show. Click "expand" to read more.
MSNBC
Stephanie Ruhle Reports
9:14 AM ET
STEPHANIE RUHLE: Paxton, you knew this was coming, you warned us about it. You saw this as such a crisis, you made your high school valedictorian speech about it. Now here it is and the rest of the country is waking up to it and we're in shock. What's your reaction?
PAXTON SMITH: I'm incredibly upset that a piece of legislation like this even went into effect in a place like America and a place where we value freedom and liberty. My state has decided to turn its back on those principles and take away a fundamental basic human right from half of its population.
RUHLE: Not just a college freshman now. You are an advocate and activist. What are you doing next?
SMITH: Well, as you know, I'm working on my book A War on My Body and that book is going to focus on telling a lot of different perspectives that are often not taken into account when we talk about the abortion situation. We're going to talk about the racial disparities that people face when trying to access this health care. We're going to talk about the nonbinary perspective, what it's like as a member of the LGBTQ community, and we're also going to take a trip back to pre-Roe v. Wade when people were literally dying on the streets trying to access health care because doctors were not legally allowed to give that to patients.
RUHLE: How do you feel? What is this like for young women in Texas right now?
PAXTON: It's a very scary time.
