On Friday's CNN This Morning, co-host Poppy Harlow treated Governor J.B. Pritzker (D-IL) to an interview in which the Democrat governor encouraged women to visit his state to have abortions, promoting Illinois an "oasis" for "reproductive rights." She even pressed him on whether President Joe Biden should be doing more to speak out against Republicans on the issue.
The CNN host began the segment by informing viewers of a new law restricting abortion in neighboring Indiana:
So abortion clinics across the state of Indiana have suspended their services this week. This is as a legal challenge to the state's near total abortion ban moves through the courts, meaning the law is not technically in effect, but concerns over when the court might rule and how it might rule is causing those clinics to basically stop providing that abortion care.
She then added:
And this ongoing legal battle means those seeking an abortion or looking to neighboring states, and that includes, of course, Illinois where the governor and the state legislature have continued to expand abortion accesses after Roe versus Wade was overturned.
It's ironic that Illinois liberals blame Indiana for shootings in Illinois, that the guns must have come in from Indiana, but they celebrate the right to death when it's abortion.
After introducing Governor Pritzker, she cued him up to plug a new law he signed to make it easier for out-of-staters to get abortions. She then fretted that Illinois residents would find it harder to get an abortion because of the increased "influx" of aborting mothers:
Yeah, Planned Parenthood released data from one of their clinics in your state. They saw 35 percent increase in total abortion patients, 40 percent of those coming from out of state. Do you believe that what you have set up in terms of infrastructure for that can handle the influx without delays to others?
After raising in inconvenient issue about freedom of speech to her guest, about a new law targeting pro-life pregnancy centers in Illinois, Harlow followed up by noting Pritzker was scolding "devout Catholic" President Biden was not talking about abortion enough, leaving the feminist work to Kamala Harris:
Finally, on the Biden administration, you told my colleague Jake Tapper last year, the federal government should be doing more to protect abortion rights. New York magazine has a really interesting profile of you out this week, and it recounts last year -- this is post the leak of the Dobbs decision before it was official -- and you're with Biden in this motorcade, and you say to the President, "You need to be out there -- you can't have the Vice President doing all the talking." Is President Biden out there enough on this?
Pritzker bragged: "In Illinois we are an oasis if you look at the map. Every state around us has outlawed abortion, and we're the ones who are protecting it."
Concluding the segment, Harlow again bolstered her Democrat guest by suggesting President Biden is not getting enough credit on the economy, and was visibly amused when Governor Pritzker accused Republicans of pushing "Facebook fakery."
This episode of CNN This Morning was sponsored in part by 4Imprint. Their contact information is linked.
Transcript follows:
CNN This Morning
August 4, 2023
8:30 a.m. Eastern
POPPY HARLOW: So abortion clinics across the state of Indiana have suspended their services this week. This is as a legal challenge to the state's near total abortion ban moves through the courts, meaning the law is not technically in effect, but concerns over when the court might rule and how it might rule is causing those clinics to basically stop providing that abortion care.
And this ongoing legal battle means those seeking an abortion or looking to neighboring states, and that includes, of course, Illinois where the governor and the state legislature have continued to expand abortion accesses after Roe versus Wade was overturned. I'm joined this morning by the Democratic governor of Illinois, J.B. Pritzker. And, Governor, good morning to you. You actually just signed a law on Monday that expands access across your state. What does it change?
GOVERNOR J.B. PRITZKER (D-IL): Well, a couple of things. First, we've created hotlines both for providers and for patients. If you're a patient coming from another state, you may not know where you can go. You may not know where you can stay overnight. You may not know what to do with your children while you're having a procedure done or seeking health care from a doctor in Illinois. So we've got hotlines that are available for people to find out, and also for those who can't afford abortion -- whether it's a medication abortion or a procedure -- we even have nonprofit organizations that will support your effort to seek out your reproductive rights. And, unfortunately, we're seeing thousands pour across the border from just our neighboring states, and tens of thousands from across the country.
HARLOW: Yeah, Planned Parenthood released data from one of their clinics in your state. They saw 35 percent increase in total abortion patients, 40 percent of those coming from out of state. Do you believe that what you have set up in terms of infrastructure for that can handle the influx without delays to others?
GOVERNOR PRITZGER: Not yet. I mean, the answer is, we've got to increase capacity. We're doing everything that we can, though, frankly, we've got to build out facilities. We've got to make sure that we're giving people the, you know, proper procedures to follow. And, of course, we want people to know that their rights are protected in the state of Illinois -- whether they're here in Illinois or coming from another state.
HARLOW: I also thought it was interesting that last week you signed a different bill. And I read through it, and what it does is it penalizes anti-abortion centers for using what you deem "deceptive practices or misinformation." You're basing this legally on a consumer fraud act you have in the state of Illinois. You were sued immediately by a lawsuit in your state that calls it a blatant attempt to chill and silence pro-life speech essentially. And yesterday a federal judge upheld that -- upheld that and put up an injunction and said, "Let this play out in the courts." Are you confident that this bill is going to survive the courts?
GOVERNOR PRITZKER: I'm confident this is constitutional. It's legal. Remember what they're doing -- they're putting their crisis pregnancy centers next door to abortion rights centers, and they're directing people to go into their front door or telling them things that aren't true often. And when that's the case, they ought to be held liable. There ought to be a private right of action for anybody that's dissuaded or told, you know, something that's false. That's the important thing. What they say to people, that's fine as long as what they're doing isn't deceptive, and we have laws against that. It's fraud in our state, and we're going to prosecute people for that.
HARLOW: Just one beat on that before we move on. It's largely -- their claim to have this right is largely based on RFRA, right, religious freedom and making their argument from a religious perspective. How do you counter that free speech argument? I mean, you're basing yours on a consumer fraud act. I understand that, but as you face this First Amendment question.
GOVERNOR PRITZKER: Well, it's just like the case against President Trump. You have a right to free speech, but you don't have a right to lie. You don't have a right to use those lies to push people into situations which they frankly are breaking the law or where they are unaware of what their full rights are. So, you know, we need to make sure that people know what their rights are. Remember, this came about in part because the attorney general of the state of Illinois was driving into a Planned Parenthood, and actually one of these people stopped the car, you know, acting as if they belonged to Planned Parenthood organization, and started directing them toward the crisis pregnancy center and telling them things that weren't true. And the attorney general couldn't believe that that was happening, and after he realized it, you know, came to the legislature and said we shouldn't allow this to happen.
HARLOW: Finally, on the Biden administration, you told my colleague Jake Tapper last year, the federal government should be doing more to protect abortion rights. New York magazine has a really interesting profile of you out this week, and it recounts last year -- this is post the leak of the Dobbs decision before it was official -- and you're with Biden in this motorcade, and you say to the President, "You need to be out there -- you can't have the Vice President doing all the talking." Is President Biden out there enough on this?
GOVERNOR PRITZKER: Look, you can't be out there enough, but the President has done a lot, I have to say, and he is protecting women across the country. We need to make sure that he gets reelected. Every one of the people on the Republican side running wants to take away women's rights, and it is President Biden who is protecting them. So I'm pleased about the messaging coming out of the White House and the work that he's done to protect women's rights. There's more to do unfortunately. We now have 15 or 16 states that have literally just cut off a woman's right to protect herself -- to have reproductive rights exercised -- and in Illinois we are an oasis if you look at the map. Every state around us has outlawed abortion, and we're the ones who are protecting it. That's why we're seeing an influx of patients.
HARLOW: On Biden it's always the economy. Whether it's only the economy that people vote on is to be seen, but it's often right up there. He's just not resonating with voters on the economy. We have this new CNN polling out this week -- 63 percent of folks disapprove of how he's handling the economy -- 70 percent disapprove of how he's handling inflation. Why? Why do you think that is? Because the numbers across the board are getting better on the economy.
GOVERNOR PRITZKER: Well, I think you just made the point that things are getting better. It does take a while, though, for people who have been feeling the ill effects of frankly the Trump era -- the last year of the Trump administration in which he did absolutely nothing to protect people from coronavirus, and it is President Biden who rescued the country, its health, and its economy. We're seeing the benefits of that now. There's literally full employment across the nation. We're seeing that wages have gone up in real terms for people, But it does take a while for that to sink in. Of course you've got to fight off the false rhetoric coming from the Republicans who are, you know, pushing Facebook fakery.
HARLOW (smiling): "Facebook fakery." The vaccine, I will say, did come under the Trump administration, but I appreciate your time this morning, Governor, very much, especially talking about this really important issue. You're welcome back anytime.
