Watch: Cecile Richards condemns Texas' 'inhumane' abortion restrictions as lawsuits loom

14 March 2023

On Tuesday's edition of Deadline: White House, MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace and former Planned Parenthood Federation of America President Cecile Richards discussed the extraordinary health risks posed to women by Republican anti-abortion laws.

Specifically, Wallace and Richards spoke about a lawsuit filed by the Center for Reproductive Rights on behalf of five women, led by Amanda Zurawski, who was refused an abortion under Texas' draconian restrictions on reproductive autonomy.

The case, Zurawski v. State of Texas, "is the first lawsuit brought on behalf of women denied abortions since the US Supreme Court eliminated the constitutional right to abortion and cleared the way for states to ban it entirely," the organization explains on its website. "Since the Court's ruling in June 2022, 12 states have made abortion illegal and many others have restricted it."

Wallace recalled details about Zurawski that clash with right-wing anti-abortion rhetoric.

"Cecile, it took a minute, but now there is no looking away from the horrific second-class citizenship that is being female in America. Amanda lost her daughter Willow. She was as pro-life as could exist on planet Earth. She wanted Willow to live. When she lost Willow, she almost lost her own life," Wallace said. "And you heard her say there, she may or may not be able to have babies again because of what she went through medically. I can't imagine there's only one Amanda. There are four other co-defendants in her, four other plaintiffs in her lawsuit. Just talk about what has been put in motion and what's happening in America right now."

Richards fully agreed and expanded upon those points.

"Well, unfortunately, Nicole, I feel like Texas is kind of ground zero in all of these matters. And you're right. So there are the five Texas women who filed suit against the state. One of them was Amanda, but each one of their stories is so compelling. These are women with desperately wanted pregnancies that became medically complicated or unsustainable that risked their lives and in one case, risked the life of one of their twins that they were carrying, women who had to leave the state, in some cases. And as they say themselves, they were fortunate. They had the resources and the means to actually access medical care outside of the state of Texas," Richards said.

"But as you say, it's inhumane what the state is doing, and certainly the thought that it's potentially depriving women of having a future healthy pregnancy is horrific, but that's not all that's happening," she continued. "Of course, we saw, as you mentioned, this case where, uh, an ex-husband is now trying to, is suing, friends of his ex-wife who assisted her potential, you know, allegedly, in accessing medication, abortion. The fear, you can see it through all the text messages that have been released. This is someone who was trying to take care of herself and he, he is using this and using the power of the state to go after her and her friends."

Richards stressed that "of course, as we're all, we're all waiting for this hearing tomorrow, where one judge appointed by President Donald Trump confirmed on a completely party-line vote by Republicans of the United States Senate is poised to potentially take away access to the most commonly used form of medication to end a pregnancy. And that would be true as you know, not only in the state of Texas, but all across the country."

Watch below or at this link.

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