You're listening to Comedy Central, Please welcome Alexis McGill Johnson, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome to the Daily Show. Thank you so much for having me. What a time to have you on UM. Everybody in the country has been shell shocked by what is not an official decision, but unfortunately looks like a looming one. Nonetheless, as the president of Planned Parenthood, I know many people are turning to you to say, what does this mean? What does it actually mean on the ground.
So right now it is still a draft opinion. On the ground, abortion is still legal, and I think that's really important because there are people waking up every day who are going to health centers to get access to care, and there are already enough restrictions out there. So we have to remember that this is a moment where the
final decision isn't in. What we saw on the ground as well, yesterday was an intense set of demonstrations of the rage that people have been experiencing over and over again and the frustration with seeing their rights being chipped away.
When you when you look at that and you look at that fight, do you do you ever think that we could do a better job of maintaining a consistency in these fights for people's liberties as opposed to having it be an on off switch, because you know, I know people have made record donations and know there people are protesting, etcetera. But if you look at conservatives on their side, it seems like they've been slowly chipping away.
They slowly chip away. They plan way in advance, they think of which judges to get into which positions, and now it looks like they're going to read the foods of their you know, you know, of their labor. I'd love to know what you think, like people who believe that women should have the right to choose what they do with their own bodies, what they should be doing constantly as opposed to intimittently. Well, I think you're absolutely right to locate it like in in what the long game?
Is right that the the opposition has spent um fifty years fighting this, but the last twelve years in particular weaponizing jerrymandering um in states, UH, focusing on on justices all the way up to the Supreme Court, and at every turn they have tried to essentially take more power in order to take more rights away. And it is
not just access to abortion that they're coming for. Right, We've heard them openly talk about access to contraception, marriage, equality, interracial marriage, all the things of how we identify ourselves and our bodies. Um is exactly what the long game and the strategy is. So our long game has to be just as relentless, right, it has to be just as strategic. It is not just about being in the streets. It is about capturing that rage and turning it into uh,
into the mid terms. Two. We've got to make sure that we're turning people out. And we also have to think about, you know, the fact that they've kicked us out of the constitution. Right if row we wade is overturned, they're essentially saying you are not equal, you cannot control your body. And so if anybody kicks you out of the constitution, youve got to think about how you're gonna
get yourself back in there. Yeah, when you um, when you think about this fight, I think a lot of the time people think about what they can do to stop the other side, or what they can do to fight back at what's happening. I think there's one thing that I've found really interesting in particular between how many conservatives or Republicans think, and then how many Democrats or liberals think. And that is Republicans hold their own accountable in an interesting way, you know, so they go, either
you're doing this or you out of the party. And we've seen Trump do that, you know without fail. Is this something that people could be doing to put pressure on the Democrats to say, hey, when we have voted you in, we need you to solidify what we voted you in to do. Yes. Absolutely, Look, there is a bill right now called the Women's Health Protection at UH Leader Schumer has will take it up next week again with the Senate to vote on. And what the Women's
Health Protection Act does is it codifies ROW. It's the federal legislation that protects this right UH in into law. And you know, getting people on record, right, we don't have. Unfortunately, we need to perform the filibuster in order to get it past. But at the same time we are going to be able to get people on record hold them to account. To your point, and that's our message, right, the reason you can't have what you want, even though we have of people believe that rose should be the
law of the land. The reason you can't have the things that you want is because you know, essentially these states have um you know, you have got a vocal minority of people who control the levers of power. And the only way to change that is through direct democracy. So we've got to fight to get ourselves back into democracy, and we also have to fight to get ourselves back in the constitution. And this legislation can help us do.
Let's talk about this legislation for a moment. You don't I always get frustrated and confused by why legislation in America has so many things added in. It's like a bundle, you know, because even this Women's Health Protection Act, you know, I love the idea of codifying Roe v. Wade, You go, like, let's get women their rights. But then it adds in a few other things that people can use as an excuse to fights against, you know, like it affects like
waiting rooms and correct me anywhere I'm wrong. It's like it affects doctors in this way, and affects a little thing on this side and a little thing on that side. Do you sometimes not worry that when you create, you know, a law, when you when you help lawmakers to try
and think of these things. It gives people an out where they can say, oh, I didn't vote for that because of this, not because I want women to have a choice, but I didn't like what it did to doctors or their waiting rooms or all these other ancillary issues that are going to affect people. Okay, So here here's the data play right now. Right, we have ROW is the law of the land technically until the full
decision comes down. And even with ROW being the law land, even with it being enshrined in the constitution, states have put restrictions in over and over again. Right, We've got a six week ban in Texas that comes to the bounty hund of provision. We've got a fifteen week ban in Florida and Arizona. We've had laws about you know, whether or not somewhere and will need to see the same doctor within a seventy two hour period. The laws
are all about shaming people. They're about shaming providers, about shaming the patients about the decisions that they want to make about their own bodies. What the Women's Health Protection Act does is actually says all of these laws that are getting in the way of people being able to access the right, their federal right is um. Those are laws that are that would be banned. And that's what's important, right, the fact that that even though we have the right
right now, access itself is so limited. Um. And so that's why we're seeing the outrage right now because it has been not only this chipping away of rights, but also chipping away of access. Rose just you know, the floor right, as my reproductive justice colleagues would say, you know, when when you look at branding, you know, there's no denying that any political messaging, any any messaging that's trying to mobilize society has to think about how it's branded.
When you look at how people approve of or what you know, the polling suggests about people's supports of abortion throughout the United States, I have noticed an interesting trend, and that is it dramatically changes depending on how the question is asked, and it changes depending on where you say the abortion happens or how so I think, you know, the overwhelming majority of people will say they are pro a woman having the right to choose, but in the
first trimester and then second trimesterate almost becomes even maybe flips the other way, and then you know, third trimestate completely flips. Do you do you ever worry that maybe Planned parenthood and and organizations like yours that are fighting
for women's rights to choose. Do you do you ever worry that you may be losing the entire war because you're not willing to concede on some of the battles or do you feel like you have to go for all of them at once, even if you risk losing everything. You know, Look, Trevor, no pregnancy, No two pregnancies end in the same way, right, I mean, it is the reality that people will make decisions about their their pregnancies, whether or not to continue them or determinate them, based
on the circumstances in their own lives. And that is the thing that that we really need to understand here, you know, getting person out weeks in gestation, that is what the opposition has done. They try to to create these wedges around understanding what most people want is to not have a politician in their in their decision right as a you know, right, you don't want them. You don't want them in your exam room, you don't want
them in the conversation with you and your doctor. You don't want in the conversation with you and your partner, with your pastor, and at the end of the day, like that to me is the most important, you know, message that we need to be sending to people. The reason why it also needs to be a private decision is because it's only your business and so right who
from here? So again we are we'll be standing with the Senate next week when they take up this vote to support all of those folks who who support access to abortion codifying ROW. We will be channeling all of the rage through two And then, like I said, you know, we have a long game that we need to play around what it really means to to have you know,
this federal protection um enshrined in the Constitution. And I think that's really important because I think a lot about the fact that you know what it means to be a leader at the time, you know, at the end of ROW, as a leader of a reproductive rights organization. And I think the question we have to ask ourselves now is who are we going to be when we
are no longer defending ROW. How are we going to reimagine and create an affirmative vision right without stigma, the kind of provision that everyone should be able to have the kind of health care they need to have in their own state, not getting in a car driving a thousand miles, putting your kids in the car, and just to get you know, access to basic health care. You deserve it in the state that you live, regardless of your race, class, your ability to pay. All of those
things are really important. And that's what Plant parents had stands for, That's what all the leaders in the movement stand for, and we'll be offering that affirmat a vision as well. I just want to join us in the store your farms to find up bands off our bodies really near you on my four tune bands m What's the Daily Show weeknights at eleven tenth Central on Comedy Central and stream full episodes anytime on Paramount Plus. This has been a Comedy Central podcast