Most Americans fear Supreme Court will limit birth control and same-sex marriage after overturning Roe, poll shows: Arkansas GOP governor stands by his abortion ban without rape or incest exceptions but vows contraception is ‘not going to be touched’
- A new poll from CBS News shows more than eight in 10 Americans believe things in the US are going ‘badly’ in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision
- On Friday the high court issued a ruling overturning Roe v. Wade abortion rights
- Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson defended his state’s abortion ban on Meet the Press even when asked about a hypothetical 13-year-old incest victim
- Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said Hutchinson’s ban ‘will kill’ women
- Meanwhile South Dakota’s Republican Governor Kristi Noem suggested she would defy the Justice Department’s restriction on limiting abortion pills
- A combined 64% of people said abortion should be legal in all or most cases
More than half of American voters believe the Supreme Court will limit access to birth control and same-sex marriage after it overturned Roe v. Wade, a new poll found on Sunday.
Fifty-seven percent of respondents to a new CBS News poll said it was ‘likely’ that the case legalizing same-sex marriage will now be overturned and fifty-five percent said the body could limit contraception.
The high court’s conservative majority voted 5-4 that the right to an abortion is not enshrined in the Constitution on Friday, reversing five decades of judicial precedent. Whether the medical procedure is legal will now be decided on a state-by-state basis.
As of Sunday, nine states have now banned abortion and at least a dozen are expected to see limits in the near future.
Asa Hutchinson, Arkansas’ Republican governor, insisted that birth control methods were ‘not an issue’ in his state’s ban during an appearance NBC’s Meet the Press.
During the interview he and host Chuck Todd clashed over Arkansas’ new law, which only permits abortion if the mother’s life is in danger. It does not allow exceptions for rape or incest.
‘So if a 13-year-old though in Arkansas is raped by a relative, that 13-year-old cannot get an abortion in Arkansas. Are you comfortable with that?’ Todd asked.
Hutchinson said he would have ‘preferred a different outcome.’
‘But that’s not the debate today in Arkansas. It might be in the future,’ he continued. ‘But for now, the law triggered with only one exception.’
Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson’s state is one of nine that has enacted immediate bans on abortion so far in the wake of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade in its ruling on Mississippi’s abortion law
‘While you can debate whether there ought to be additional exceptions, every state’s going to make a different determination on that, under our Constitution. And this is going to continue to be discussed.’
Hutchinson repeated: ‘But at this particular point, the only exception in Arkansas is to save the life of the mother.’
Democrat Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said point-blank that Hutchinson’s ban ‘will kill’ women in an interview on the same program.
‘It will kill them, especially in the state of Arkansas, where there is very little to no support for life after birth, in terms of health care, in terms of childcare, and in terms of combating poverty,’ the progressive firebrand said.
‘This decision and this policy will kill people no matter what their—what the their spin and what their talking points are.’
Nationwide protests – and celebrations – were sparked this weekend after Justice Samuel Alito wrote in the majority opinion that abortion was not protected by the Constitution.
A concurring opinion by Justice Clarence Thomas set off shockwaves through the country when he suggested the Supreme Court could re-examine the landmark rulings that legalized same-sex marriage, same-sex intimacy and contraception.
‘In Arkansas, the right to contraception is important. It’s recognized. It’s not going to be touched,’ Hutchinson said on NBC.
‘And that’s, that’s the outcome here. And again, every state can debate that. But I don’t see that’s a threat. And it’s very important now to assure women that the access to contraception is going to be able to continue.’
And while the seismic decision was celebrated by religious conservatives and pro-life groups, the new CBS News poll indicates that it dealt a heavy blow to Americans’ general outlook on the country.
More than eight in 10 people said things in America today are going badly in the survey taken June 24 and 25, while just 19 percent said the opposite.
A combined 64 percent of respondents believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases in their state.
And a 52-percent majority said the high court’s decision was ‘a step backward for America.’
Nearly a third, 31 percent, called it a ‘step forward’ for the nation.
Democrats at all levels of government have reacted with outrage. Shortly after the decision was handed down, President Joe Biden said it was a ‘sad day for the court and for the country.’
The Friday decision sparked fierce protests and unrest across the country
Congressional Democrats have vowed and tried to bring legislation codifying abortion to the floor, though their window to act is rapidly shrinking before lawmakers’ Fourth of July recess. Any effort to pass a law is also virtually certain to fail in the Senate, where at least 10 Republicans are needed to move it forward.
Meanwhile Hutchinson’s fellow Republican governor, South Dakota’s Kristi Noem, also went on air on Sunday where she announced her intent to crack down on oral medications intended to induce abortions.
Attorney General Merrick Garland explicitly forbad states from banning Mifepristone, an abortion pill approved by the Food and Drug Administration, in a stunning public statement criticizing the Supreme Court’s ruling on Friday.
‘I brought a bill that would ban telemedicine abortions, which means a doctor of the internet or over the phone could prescribe an abortion for an individual,’ Noem said on CBS News’ Face the Nation.
She claimed without evidence that the medication was ‘very dangerous’ despite it meeting the rigorous standards for FDA approval.
‘In South Dakota we’ve already had a bill passed that set on telemedicine abortions, that we don’t believe it should be available, because it is a dangerous situation for those individuals without being medically supervised by a physician.’
Her state, like Arkansas, only allows abortions in a medical emergency where the mother’s life is threatened.
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