Cecile Richards Whines That No Congressional Republicans Voted for Abortion

National   |   Brad Wilmouth   |   Oct 1, 2021   |   4:07PM   |   Washington, DC

On Wednesday afternoon, Andrea Mitchell used her MSNBC show to discuss the strategy radical Democrats might use to overturn the new heartbeat law in Texas as she hosted liberal pro-abortion activists Cecile Richards and Joyce Vance. Mitchell introduced the segment by making a point of highlighting arguments used by liberals to argue against the Texas heartbeat law, while refusing to inform viewers that the law bans abortion after a fetal heartbeat can be detected:

The restrictive Texas abortion law on the Supreme Court’s so-called shadow docket were both a big topic of the Senate hearing this morning. Just days from now, a federal judge is going to consider whether to temporarily block the near total abortion ban in Texas following an emergency request from the Biden administration. The Texas law bans abortions after only six weeks when many women don’t even know they’re pregnant, providing also for no exceptions for rape or incest, and empowers citizens to enforce the law via civil lawsuits potentially awarding them $10,000 bounties.

Vance — a legal analyst for MSNBC who has defended abortion in court in the past — suggested that it was inappropriate for the Supreme Court to use the “shadow docket” to allow the Texas law to go into effect, leading Mitchell to follow up:

And, of course, the Texas decision was just a very quick measure basically in the middle of the night — late one night. Cecille, the House passed an abortion rights bill that codified protections against challenges with threats to Roe v. Wade, but it certainly is not going to get a vote in the Senate or survive in the Senate. If it comes to a point where Roe is overturned, what other avenues do Pelosi and Congress have given the divide in the Senate?

Richards — former president of Planned Parenthood — complained about congressional Republicans refusing to vote in favor of more abortion: “Well, it was great to see that bill pass the House, although I will note not a single Republican voted basically to support the right of people to safe and legal abortion. That’s how far the Republican party has gone, and, as you say, this is probably not going to get a hearing in the Senate.”

Keep up with the latest pro-life news and information on Twitter.

She soon further took aim a Republicans as she added:

Overnight women in that state lost access to safe and legal abortion. This was not something that just happened by chance. This was a Republican governor and a Republican legislature putting their own partisan political ambitions ahead of the women of Texas. And, as you know and as you all have covered, it has created total chaos for women, particularly women in rural Texas, young women, women who can’t drive 250 miles to get to another state to access what is a constitutional right in this country.

Mitchell then wondered how much chance the Biden administration Justice Department would have in trying to get the law overturned in her next follow-up:

The law in Texas, Joyce, was so carefully crafted to be outside of government authority giving the ability to bring it up in civil cases, as you know, and bounty hunters who don’t even have to know the person involved. So, what chance does the Justice Department have in an upcoming hearing — I think it’s on October 1st — to try to challenge the Texas law since it’s not the government that’s enforcing this.

This episode of MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell Reports was sponsored in part by Verizon. Their contact information is linked.

LifeNews.com Note: Brad Wilmouth is a news analyst for the Media Research Center and a graduate of the University of Virginia. This column originally appeared on the NewsBusters web site and is reprinted with permission.