office, and it just took us long to get there. i remember saying on our air, in 2018, when justice kennedy retired, that one of the consequences of that would be that abortion would be illegal in half the country within two years. and i was wrong, it was four years. but the fact that this is foretold doesn t make it any less shocking. i m gonna go watch your show now. thanks, chris. good to see you, my friend. thank you. and thanks to you at home for being with us this hour. it s a big day. when the supreme court first handed to overturn the decision in roe, just shy of 50 years ago, it s not that it was not controversial when it happened. there were definitely people who are opposed to the roe v. wade decision in 1973, in particular the catholic church, would always been staunchly anti abortion. but it wasn t as controversial in 1973 yesterday s politics about what it might make you think. for example, it was not a particularly controversial decision among american eva
gretchen whitmer, london lamar, and senator elizabeth warren all join me live. all in starts right now. good evening from los angeles. i am chris hayes. it is a brutal day for american democracy, for american women, specifically, for all americans could become pregnant. for all americans, really. it right enshrined in the constitution as intimate as any right one could imagine. it has been discarded and destroyed by five unelected justices. three of whom were appointed, of course, by the last president, who got about 3 million fewer votes than his opponent. in american democracy, it is truly rare to see rights taken away in this fashion. the proverbial moral arc of the universe, justice, striving for a more perfect union, to watch these things born backwards towards a reactionary pass, as starkly as this, and one moment to the next, it makes you feel physically nauseous. speaking only for myself, as a person who can become pregnant, a man, it s not even a tiny sliver
regularly during the 1970s, including after the roe decision in 1973, the southern bout this. when roe was handed down in 73, though, the former president of the southern baptist convention welcomed it and explained why. he said, quote, i was about that it was only after a child was born and had a life separate from its mother that it became an individual person. it is always there for seem to me what is best for the mother and for the future should be allowed. southern path this convention. reaction to roe v. wade, we are also really heterogeneous for a long time between two political parties, there were plenty of antiabortion democrats and lots of pro-choice republicans. republican governors are at the forefront of decarbonizing abortion in states in the 1960s, including the governor of california, a man named ronald reagan. in 1967, ronald reagan signed into law the most liberal abortion rights bill in the country in california. it is not that there was not disagreement ov
longer governor of california, he was running for president. in august 1980, reagan gave a speech to 10,000 cheering evangelicals in a dallas arena, and he talked about creationism, and the bible. he talked about how evangelical institutions ought to be able to remain racially segregated, if they wanted. that s nice. but even then, he did not mention abortion. the plan to use abortion as a right-wing political organizing tool, to try, for example, to move catholics to the republican party, to give a focal point, a policy focus, to right-wing, republican organizing against women s rights. it was a choice for them. it was a project that did not emerge organically. it was something they didn t really start working on in earnest until the 19 80s. ronald reagan, for example, he personally had to do a u-turn. he had to repudiate the abortion rights bill that get signed as a california governor, when he became the first president to make opposition to abortion a central part of his
it s important to know that today. the anti-abortion movement as an explicitly local project, a movement married to the republican party, that had to be deliberately created. it did not organically emerge. and it actually did not happen until years after roe was decided. i mean, the influential right-wing pro segregation religious leader, jerry falwell, his first antiabortion segment was not until 1978, more than five years after roe. even as late as 1980, when ronald reagan biden was no longer governor of california, he was running for president. in august 1980, reagan gave a speech to 10,000 cheering evangelicals in a dallas arena, and he talked about creationism, and the bible. he talked about how evangelical institutions ought to be able to remain racially segregated, if they wanted. that s nice. but even then, he did not mention abortion.