Welcome back to the show.
It's neat that Donald Trump might get impeached.
But if he actually gets pushed out of office,
let's remember who would take his place.
This tall glass of creamed corn.
Trump has always been equal parts destructive
and ineffective as president.
But Pence already knows how to use the powers
of the executive branch.
He's already quietly changing how
our country's Department of Health and Human Services
operates.
There's been a big social conservative shift
in the country's health policy.
What we found is Pence has played
a quiet, behind the scenes role in making all that happen.
Vice President Mike Pence really making
good on a promise that they campaigned on,
which was to really remake women's reproductive health
care in the United States.
Yeah, it's that last that Pence is remaking
women's health care as much weight
as it is sending it back to the 1600s.
Vice President Pence has been quietly racking up the wins
by turning Health and Human Services
into his own personal Stepford department,
which is really troubling because HHS
is a huge organization.
In fact, HHS has more grant money
than every other federal agency put together.
And somehow, it now all goes to sweatshirts
that say virginity rocks.
Mike Pence is the absolute scariest person to be calling
the shots at this agency.
He's also the absolute scariest person in any situation.
As a reminder, pence was one of the most
radical anti-choice congressmen ever to hold office.
He's basically dedicated his career
to restricting family planning to the rhythm
method, which by the way, is also
the name of his cappella group.
And a 1, and a 2, and oh, I ejaculated.
I'm sorry.
With Christ's help, I'll make it to three next time.
As congressman, pence tried to amend the Constitution
to ban same sex marriage.
As governor of Indiana, Pence slow-walked
a needle exchange program which facilitated
a massive HIV outbreak.
He also passed a cruel and stupid law
requiring funerals for fetuses.
And if you think that's bad, it was even more disturbing
when Pence went to all of them.
So yes, Pence has had a devastating impact
on health and human rights.
As a politician, which no one could have seen coming back
in '99 when he published an essay saying Disney's "Mulan"
sets a poor example because women in the military
are a bad idea.
They'll get me wrong, I also disliked "Mulan,"
but because it made me want to F a cartoon character.
Not this guy, this guy.
Yes.
But here's the thing.
Pence doesn't even have to make these sweeping changes
directly.
He does it Hollywood style, and just hires his friends.
Pence's most powerful hire is current HHS
secretary, and first Google image result
for business dad, Alex Azar.
Azar and Pence go way back to Indiana,
where Azar was a cartoonishly evil big pharma
goon who was largely responsible for the price
gouging of insulin.
Pence almost made a czar his lieutenant governor,
and Azar has called Pence's friend
and mentor, at which point Pence said I'm sorry, I'm married.
Azar's biggest accomplishment as HHS secretary
has been revamping HHS is Title 10 program in order to strip
Planned Parenthood of funding.
He's really putting the Christ back in Jesus Fucking Christ,
this shit again?
ANCHOR: A new Trump administration rule
says clinics accepting Title 10 funds
can talk to patients about abortion,
but they can't refer women to an abortion provider,
or suggest where to get an abortion.
ANCHOR 2: Abortion rights supporters
called it a gag rule.
While the decision is being appealed,
Planned Parenthood officials say they
will pull out of the program.
You know things are bad when Planned Parenthood's
only option is to pull out.
Now, over a million and a half low-income women
are at risk of losing access to affordable contraception
and cancer screenings.
Planned Parenthood's already had to close two clinics in Ohio.
It's hard to believe these health care stories are real.
And I even believe that episode of "Grey's Anatomy"
where the dude had a bomb in his chest.
Meanwhile, Azar is pumping money into faith based
and abstinence focused organizations
like Obria, which says reproductive decisions should
prioritize the couple, as opposed
to the needs and desires of the woman as an individual.
Hey, how about this?
I prioritize what to do with my body,
and if you're feeling really left out,
you can push a watermelon through a garden hose.
Azar is only one of at least a dozen
HHS staffers with direct ties to the vice president or Indiana.
In fact, there are now so many Hoosier connections in HHS
they're collectively known as the Indiana
mafia, which I'm guessing is the only mafia with a swear jar.
That jar would be empty but, Pence stubbed his toe
once and said great snakes!
Other Hoosier mafiosos in HHS include former health advisor
to Governor Pence, Seema Verma, former Pence health
commissioner and current Surgeon General
Jerome Adams, Pence's former legislative director,
Brady Brooks.
And Rebecca Armstrong, who first oversaw domestic policy
in the VP's office, and now is stationed at HHS's
legislative affairs office.
It's the most fucked group to come out of Indiana that
wasn't formed by Joe Jackson.
So what else has Pence's Indiana mafia accomplished?
Way too much, beginning with a whole new office.
Health and Human Services Department
announcing a new division, one that
will make it easier for doctors, nurses,
and other medical professionals to opt
out of providing services that violate
their religious beliefs.
ANCHOR: This new division at HHS called the Conscience
And Religious Freedom Division within its Office
of Civil Rights.
We are a nation of tolerance, and that we
will not allow people of faith to be
bullied or targeted anymore.
Ah, yes.
Just like the Hippocratic oath states, first do no homo.
This is really just scratching the surface.
The HHS has tried to create exemptions
so employer-provided insurance plans don't have to cover birth
control, effectively ended funding for fetal tissue
research, canceled a scientific grant for contraception
research and proposed a reversal of protections
for transgender patients.
He also completely overhauled X-ray machines
to make them more decent.
Pence's influence goes beyond our borders, too.
The US has reinstated the Mexico City policy, which forbids
any foreign nongovernmental groups that receive US
health aid from providing, referring,
or canceling on abortions.
Every Republican president over the last 34 years
has implemented this rule, but Trump has expanded it
so that it applies to almost all of US global aid,
including programs to fight HIV and malaria.
It is, in effect, a global gag rule.
And we know it wasn't Trump who masterminded this.
When he heard global gag rule, he definitely
thought it was a sex thing.
Mike Pence doesn't give a shit that a godless president
is disgracing his party.
Because if anything, it gives him the room and influence
to do what he cares about most, gutting reproductive health
care and protections for trans people.
But unlike Trump, Pence isn't doing
this just to satisfy a base.
He is a true believer.
So I guess you could say he's doing this to satisfy himself.
Oh boy, Mother does not like the sound of that.