CNN's The Lead with Jake Tapper
April 29, 2022
5:26 p.m.
KATIE WATSON, NORTWESTERN UNIVERSIY MEDICINE: Now, the second element is this vigilante enforcement mechanism, which is still extraordinary. And I just think we have to not forget that, that if Texas had said, "Oh, re-segregate the schools, but you can't sue us, that it's a violation of Brown versus Board because parents are the ones who get to enforce it," that part is so threatening to our democracy and our separation of powers and our judicial system, the implications are much larger than with just abortion.
JAKE TAPPER: So the people who are passing these laws, they obviously argue that they think abortion is immoral and more. Are they succeeding in eliminating abortion? Or are they just driving the women who want to get abortions to other states or to illegal secret abortions?
WATSON: They're increasing the hardship, so I think we're about after the Supreme Court ruling in Dobbs versus Jackson's Women's Health Organization moving to a system of free states and forced motherhood states where women's personhood is not recognized, and therefore women have to flee to get abortions or they try to order abortion pills off the internet or they try to self-induce in other more dangerous ways. So what we're seeing in Texas is that many who are seeking abortion are traveling or ordering pills from the internet or having a miscarriage -- what looks like a miscarriage at home. And that will get harder because, as Texas and states like it become more land-locked.
So we know 59 percent of abortion patients are already mothers. And we know half live under the poverty line which is about $13,000 for a single person. So imagine people in that category -- say you live in Texas and you could make it to Oklahoma, that doesn't mean you can make it to Kansas or elsewhere, .And so, as more states fall, as these dominoes fall, it gets harder and harder to travel. So it is true that these laws are simply forcing women to endure more shame, more expense, and it's pushing them to later gestational stages. So for those who say they find second-trimester abortions more problematic than the first, they ought to be against these laws pushing them into later gestation.
TAPPER: Katie Watson, thank you so much. I really appreciate your time as always.
. Craig Millward
