Senator Tina Smith (D-Minn.) joined Cheddar News to talk about her reaction to the leaked draft of the Supreme Court opinion that could overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973  landmark abortion rights decision. "It felt like a gut punch. It felt so fundamentally disrespectful to women to say that you don't have the capacity, you can't be trusted — we can't be trusted — to make these most important decisions about abortion and what is best for ourselves, our bodies, our lives, our families," she said.

Cheddar Politics

Senator Tina Smith on 'Gut Punch' From Leaked SCOTUS Opinion on Roe v. Wade

Welcome back to cheddar politics. The leak of a draft Supreme Court opinion that would undo roe versus wade sent democrats and abortion rights advocates into a scramble this week trying to find anything that democrats and president joe biden could do to protect abortion rights. Earlier, I sat down with Democratic senator tina smith from Minnesota to talk about the ramifications of the court's potential decision and the options democrats have to protect abortion rights. But first we just started with her reaction to the bombshell report that dropped earlier this week. Well, of course this, um, this opinion from this right wing, you know, Supreme Court um of overturning roe versus wade, it would be hard to argue that it was completely unanticipated. But I have to say that when I first read the first words of the draft opinion, it felt like a gut punch. The the boldness, the bald faced, this, the aggressiveness of this opinion saying that the court must overrule roe versus wade was really stunning in its how, how aggressive it was. And then as I thought more about it. And certainly as I've talked to more women around the country, the the sense of anger that people are feeling right now. I really understand. I mean this felt as I said, it felt like a gut punch. It felt so fundamentally disrespectful to women to say uh that you don't have the capacity, you can't be trusted. We can't be trusted to make these most important decisions about abortion and what is best for ourselves, our bodies, our lives, our families is it has that feeling of being disrespected that I think women frankly experience in a lot of different ways. But in this particular way the autonomy over our own bodies was really unbelievably wrenching and infuriating. One of the conversations that we've seen a lot over the last few days since this draft opinion did come out is what can anyone do? Right? So you're a democrat in the U. S. Senate and there are conversations about what do you do in the Senate, what does the House do is that the women's Health Protection act? What can president biden do? So I'm gonna I'm gonna put that to you. What can you do? What can democrats do? And what can the president do to sort of blunt the effect? You you mentioned it feeling like a gut punch. What can be done to blunt that gut punch effect? Yeah, well first let me just acknowledge that it is the job of the United States Supreme Court to protect our fundamental freedoms. I mean, and this is uh there is nothing more american than the freedom of autonomy and control over your own body. So it is the job of the United States Supreme Court. I believe that that is a right that is enshrined um That is reflected in the constitution that people have had in this country for about 50 years. So this argument that somehow the decisions about who can access abortion should be handed back to the states is just fundamentally flawed. The question of what we can do with the United States Senate and here in Congress is of course an important one. And that's why I believe that we should pass the Women's Health Protection Act, which would have the impact of taking the the settled case law of roe versus wade and put it into statute, put it into law itself. But we know we know that we do not have the votes to accomplish that in the United States Senate, we don't have a a pro choice majority in the Senate. And because the Senate doesn't allow any legislation to go through without it meeting a supermajority 60 vote hurdle, We are not going to be able to get that accomplished. So here's what I'm looking at. I mean, first of all, I'm looking at all the ways that we can work with the biden administration, two administrative, administratively um try to protect access to abortion um for as many women as possible. A lot of people don't think about medication abortion, which is now the primary way that um that that the primary tool that women have um to access abortion care, what can we do to make that medication abortion as readily available as possible. Even in a world where the Supreme Court isn't upholding abortion rights for everybody in every state. Um The other thing that we have to do. And this comes from my own personal experience as an organizer and a campaigner is that we have to go out and win elections. We have to have um there is a clear choice between democrats and republicans on this issue, democrats are aligned with where americans are, which believe americans believe that roe versus wade should be upheld, and so elections are going to be vitally important, this um this coming november and and we need to go out and organize and win. I want to talk about those elections a little bit because they are a little teeny tiny bit more than six months away, and that means that there's a lot of time for public opinion to change for attitudes about abortion to change. How do democrats hold on to this momentum? And is it going to be more of an impact than just along the margins bringing out some extra people? Can this energized voters for democrats in a year that otherwise might not have been as strong for your party? Yep, Well, I would first, I would point out that americans attitudes about abortion and the fundamental agreement amongst a majority of americans that abortion should not be banned. Um and that abortion should be available to people. That is a very um consistent value that we've seen in this country for a long time. So I do not believe that we're going to see that um kind of erode over the months that we have between now and the election. That's the first thing, the second thing is that there's a fundamental difference between republicans and democrats on this issue and the Republican party, extreme right wing members of the Republican Party have been waging a multi decade campaign to overturn roe versus wade and to put right wing anti choice justices on the Supreme Court and that is right out there for everyone to see it. I think it's really telling that are republican senators are not wanting to even talk about the issue of overturning roe versus wade because they know that it is a bad issue. They know that they're that people don't want to see this happen. So the organizing challenge for us is to continue to connect this issue to everybody's lives in ways that um that are about talking about the fundamental values of freedom and autonomy that I think that this choice really reflects now. There are a lot of issues that are on american's minds right now as we are emerging from this pandemic and we are dealing with, you know, so many, um I think a sense of sort of exhaustion that so many people feel and in that sense, I think this is going to be another example of something that people are looking at and saying, I don't want this to change, this is not what I have in mind for the direction of my life. And I'm looking to elect people that are going to stand up for my values Sen. Smith. I have about 30 seconds left, but I want to ask you about the potential patchwork of state laws and what you see as a us senator, looking at the country beyond Minnesota, Minnesota and beyond. How do you mitigate the effects of a patchwork of laws, especially that large abortion desert, that we're gearing up to c across the southern United States? Well, I mean, it is a crisis for women who and even in my home state, women have to travel in some cases hundreds of miles to access this safe and um and um common procedure, one in every four or five women will have an abortion in their lifetimes. This is going to be unbelievably challenging for women who have to travel long distances. And it is, I think another example of why it is so important that we have a national standard that upholds this national um this national right and value, and that's what we have to keep working towards. Thank you as always to Senator Tina smith, democrat from Minnesota. And I do want to mention that Senator schumer has said on thursday that they will take up legislation codifying roe versus wade. But we already know as you heard from Senator smith, they don't have the votes