nicole wallace remember this very vividly. when mccain and others realized, oh, look what we created, this is now sarah palin s party, it s not john mccain s party, this is a different party than today s republican leaders know what they ve got. david jolly, mona, good evening, chris. thank you, my friend. much appreciated. thanks for joining us this hour. 1973. that s when the united states supreme court guaranteed abortion rights nationwide. that, of course, is the landmark roe versus wade decision. that law blocked states, any state in the country, from banning abortion. it said american women have a right under the united states constitution to get an abortion if they want one. and that right can t be infringed even if politicians in individual states feel differently. after that ruling in 1973, the very first abortion clinic to open its doors in the great state of texas was a clinic in
as of last night, roe versus wade is now a dead letter. it s inoperable in the state of texas at least. a whole women s health is among the texas reproductive health providers and advocates that pleaded with the supreme court to issue an emergency injunction last night to stop this new texas law from taking effect, this new texas law that makes abortion effectively illegal. but the supreme court just didn t respond. they did nothing. they sat silent, let the new texas ban go into effect and in so doing as of right now, they essentially let the protections of roe versus wade come to an end. the law in effect in texas right now bans abortion after about six weeks, most women do not even know they re pregnant before six weeks, something like 85% to 90% of abortions take place after six weeks. this outlaws 90% abortions. there is no exception for rape or incest. but what that means is that a woman who is forcibly impregnated by a rapist, that woman will be forced to bear the rapist s child
court ruled that premise was basically a sham. justice stephen breyer said in part, in that opinion, we have found nothing in texas s record of evidence that shows that the new law advanced texas legitimate interests in protecting women s health. justice ruth bader ginsburg wrote a short concurrence of her own in which she said, quote, laws like hb2, the law in texas at the time, laws like this that do little or nothing for health, that they d rather stru impediments to abortion, cannot survive judicial inspection. thanks to that united states supreme court ruling in 2016, a bunch of texas abortion clin ukz were able to stay open or reopen after having been shut h i can tell you that the whole women s health clinic in mcallen, texas, did reopen and it is open and offering services right now today. but even on that day in 2016
clinics five states including the state of texas. i know you have not slept. this has been an incredibly intense time. thank you for making time to be here tonight. thank you so much for your thorough coverage, rachael. i appreciate it. let me ask i know you said today that your clinics are all in compliance with the law. what does that mean? what can you still do for your patients. so today has been a rough day. all four of our texas clinics are open. we can provide abortions only until the point of embryonic cardiac activity which is usually about six weeks. we are providing ultra sounds for folks and providing counsel. the vast majority of people who have come into our clinics today have had to be denied abortion care services. as you covered the vast majority of people don t know they re pregnant before six weeks. and don t access abortion especially in the state of texas
they re pregnant before six weeks and don t access abortion especially in the state of texas with all the restrictions you described, they are not able to even get to the clinic prior to the sixth week in pregnancy. and so today we did have folks come in who were providing ultrasounds and support. i mean, we had i think 55 patients on our schedule in ft. worth. and only five patients are able to be seen under the new restrictions in texas. what do you think is going to happen in the short term? i think about the 50 of those 55 patients you just mentioned that had clinic appointments today in ft. worth. for those who are able or for those who may not be personally able but can be helped will there effectively become a plin some sort of pipeline that tries to move texas women into other states where their rights are protected since in texas they can t access this service?