Hillary Clinton Rips Justice Clarence Thomas, Condemns Overturning Of Roe V. Wade

“Women are going to die,” the former secretary of state said.
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Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ripped Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas this week for suggesting that the court reconsider cases on same-sex relationships and contraception access after it overturned Roe v. Wade.

“I went to law school with him,” said Clinton, a 1973 graduate of Yale Law School, during an interview with Gayle King that took place Monday and aired Tuesday on “CBS Mornings.” “He’s been a person of grievance for as long as I’ve known him. Resentment, grievance, anger.”

Thomas was part of a majority opinion released on Friday that struck down Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, ending the decades-old legal precedent that protected abortion rights. In a concurring opinion, Thomas urged justices to reconsider other cases dealing with the right to privacy, potentially imperiling same-sex marriage and other rights.

Clinton, a former first lady and Democratic presidential candidate, warned that the court’s conservative majority will continue to try to “turn back the clock” on constitutional rights.

She said that she believes the “ultimate goal” of the decision is “truly to erase the progress that women have made from the last 150 years.”

And the result will be deadly, she warned.

“There are so many things about it that are deeply distressing, but women are going to die, Gayle,” Clinton said. “Women will die.”

Clinton noted that the Supreme Court’s decision, though disturbing, was not a surprise, since the right has worked for years to put more conservatives on the court. The current Supreme Court has a 6-3 conservative majority, with three justices appointed by former President Donald Trump.

Clinton said she hopes the controversial decision will “wake up a lot of Americans.”

In the wake of the Supreme Court ruling, multiple states quickly acted to dismantle abortion rights. Declaring the ruling a “terrible travesty,” Clinton said the government should not be involved in personal decisions.

“I don’t care what political party or religion you are — the question is, who decides? Is the government going to be in your bedroom? Is the government going to be making these decisions? We’re only at the beginning of this terrible travesty that this court has inflicted on us,” Clinton said.

Clinton expressed support for eliminating the filibuster, a procedural rule in the Senate that allows the minority party ― in this case, Republicans ― to more easily block legislation. She argued that if lawmakers didn’t have the political backing to eliminate the filibuster completely, they should do so for abortion legislation and other constitutional questions, such as voting rights.

King asked Clinton how she would respond to people who consider the abortion ruling a way to protect “the rights of unborn children.”

“That is predominantly a belief rooted in religion, which I respect. And that’s why, in a pluralistic democracy like ours, the court in Roe v. Wade said the government is not going to make this decision,” Clinton said.

“If it is your personal belief, based on whatever, that there is no legitimate basis for abortion — even if you’re in the hospital and you’re bleeding out, even if you’re told that you have cancer and chemotherapy is necessary and therefore an abortion is necessary — no matter what, you get to make that decision,” she said.

Watch the full interview below.

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