New York Times national religion correspondent Elizabeth Dias and national politics correspondent Lisa Lerer joined The Daily Show temp hosts Desi Lydic and Jordan Klepper on Comedy Central on Wednesday to promote their new book, The Fall of Roe: The Rise of a New America. It was a mournful time for all as they mused about “radicalized” Republicans and how “horrified” they are about the book's subject.
Lydic claimed that, “we enjoyed your book very much and also were thoroughly horrified by all of it, obviously. But so many Americans felt, kind of, blindsided when Roe v. Wade was overturned, and yet you walk us through every step of the way. This was not an overnight, shocking decision. This was decades in the making.”
She then invited them to “walk us through some of that.”
Dias summarized that “for 50 years, the anti-abortion movement tried so hard, right? They made it their life's work, generational commitment, to try to overturn Roe. This was a moral commitment for them, for them, the greatest moral calling of their lives. And they were not successful until about ten years ago, something changed. And we've taken to calling it, this was the last decade, the final decade of the Roe era in American life.”
She also declared that pro-lifers “had new tactics, new strategies, and they really radicalized along with the Republican Party, and did what many Americans thought unimaginable, which was overturning Roe v. Wade.”
Who radicalized? Democrats used to say they were for “safe, legal, and rare” abortions, but now they are for them anytime, anyplace, anywhere. The fact-checkers like to say that late-term abortions are rare and almost exclusively done for medical reasons, but surveys show that isn’t true. One study, from a pro-abortion professor, claimed “data suggest that most women seeking later terminations are not doing so for reasons of fetal anomaly or life endangerment.”
Nevertheless, Lydic asked, “Where do we go from here? I mean, are women going to have to run for president and have presidential immunity in order to legally have an abortion? Is that where we are?”
Lerer was more neutral:
Well, I mean, it is worth pointing out that many of the most prominent figures in the anti-abortion movement are women… There's no magic wand. You know, President Biden talks about restoring Roe. There's no way to do that without a margin in the Senate that feels almost impossible unless they overturn the filibuster and then all agree on what that looks like, which, as we know about the Senate, that's an extremely high bar to clear. So, there is no easy answer here. There's not some, like, thing that can snap back in place and Roe returns. I think the country is in for many more decades of wrangling over this issue.”
Trying to end on an optimistic note, Lydic stated, “We so appreciate all of the work you are doing and you being on here tonight. We’re still hopeful that there will be, your next book, The Rerise of Roe.”
While Lydic mourns the demise of Robe and suggests women run for president, simply to have an abortion, it should be pointed out that Lydic struggles to even define what it is that makes someone a woman.
Here is a transcript for the July 10 show:
Comedy Central The Daily Show
7/10/2024
11:26 PM ET
DESI LYDIC: We enjoyed your book very much and also were thoroughly horrified by all of it, obviously. But so many Americans felt, kind of, blindsided when Roe v. Wade was overturned, and yet you walk us through every step of the way. This was not an overnight, shocking decision. This was decades in the making.
Walk us through some of that. This was decades in the making. Walk us through some of that.
ELIZABETH DIAS: You mean the secret plan to overturn Roe v. Wade?
LYDIC: Yes. Yes.
DIAS: There was one. For 50 years, the anti-abortion movement tried so hard, right? They made it their life's work, generational commitment, to try to overturn Roe. This was a moral commitment for them, for them, the greatest moral calling of their lives. And they were not successful until about ten years ago, something changed. And we've taken to calling it, this was the last decade, the final decade of the Roe era in American life. They had new tactics, new strategies, and they really radicalized along with the Republican Party, and did what many Americans thought unimaginable, which was overturning Roe v. Wade.
…
LYDIC: Where do we go from here? I mean, are women going to have to run for president and have presidential immunity in order to legally have an abortion? Is that where we are?
LISA LERER: Well, I mean, it is worth pointing out that many of the most prominent figures in the anti-abortion movement are women. That there is a strategy to put women at the front of the movement. I think, you know, I've asked a lot of abortion rights activists, like, that very question. What happens now? It took 50 years for Roe to fall. How many years does it take for it to return and nobody knows.
There's no magic wand. You know, President Biden talks about restoring Roe. There's no way to do that without a margin in the Senate that feels almost impossible unless they overturn the filibuster and then all agree on what that looks like, which, as we know about the Senate, that's an extremely high bar to clear. So, there is no easy answer here. There's not some, like, thing that can snap back in place and Roe returns. I think the country is in for many more decades of wrangling over this issue.
LYDIC: Well, we so appreciate all of the work you are doing and you being on here tonight. We’re still hopeful that there will be, your next book, The Rerise of Roe.
