From the May 15, 2019. The Lead with Jake Tapper on CNN
4:30 p.m. Eastern
DIANE GALLAGHER: According to the Pew Research Center. 56 percent of Americans say abortion should[ be legal in all or most cases. For Republicans, those numbers are flipped with 59 percent saying abortion should be illegal in all or most cases.
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JAKE TAPPER: Joining me now is Democratic Congresswoman, Jackie Speier. Congresswoman, thanks for joining us. What's your reaction to the Alabama legislation?
CONGRESSWOMAN JACKIE SPEIER (D-CA): It is a stunning example of 25 white men who have never and will never be pregnant trying to tell women how they are going to live their lives. And it is a right to privacy that a woman has in conjunction with her physician as to whether or not she is going to continue with the pregnancy or not. Seven out of 10 American women believe, regardless of their party affiliation, that abortion should be legal, safe, and subject to a determination made by a woman and her physician.
TAPPER: Do you think that this Supreme Court, with Justices Kavanaugh and Gorsuch, is likely going to strike down Roe v. Wade?
SPEIER: Well, I would think that we would have to wait to see. I do believe that what you will find is that if you thought the pink hats that women were wearing after the 2016 election and the 3 million women who marched around this country was a significant move, you just wait until this issue is put in front of the justices and if they were, in fact, to overturn Roe v. Wade. That is a picture in which you'll see women with pitchforks.
TAPPER: So, obviously, you oppose these heartbeat bills, so-called heartbeat bills in states such as Georgia, Alabama, Ohio. What do you make of the more liberal legislation on abortion that has been passed in New York and Virginia that's been more controversial on the other side of the issue?
SPEIER: Well, I would first want to say that these heartbeat legislation is talking about a group of cells, four to five millimeters with some electrical activity. This is not a human being at that point, but that is what they are now defining as a human being. And for those on the other side of the legislative arena, I would just say, again, this is about the right to privacy. It is inherent in our Constitution. What if we decided that we were going to take male reproductive parts and start legislating whether or not you can have sperm come out of them. I mean, that is the detail to which these legislatures are taking action. And again, these were all white males in the Alabama state senate.
TAPPER: Democratic Congresswoman Jackie Speier of California, thank you so much for your time. We appreciate it.
