Dr. Willie Parker!
(cheering and applause)
Welcome, Doctor.
Before we get into, really, everything that's in the book,
just give somebody who has no clue
what is it like for a woman
who is trying to have an abortion in the Deep South,
you know, places like Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi.
If you're not familiar with all of the barriers
that are in place, uh, the laws
that have been put into place,
even though abortion remains legal based on the Roe decision,
uh, there have been lots of hurdles p-placed
-in the path of women, um, -Right.
things like waiting periods.
In Alabama, it's a 48-hour waiting period.
Once you decide to have an abortion in Louisiana,
it's 72 hours.
Uh, in Mississippi, 24.
So there are long waiting periods.
There are financial barriers.
Uh, those are just the institutionalized things.
There's the stigma and the shame.
Women are made to feel, um,
that they are doing something immoral by choosing their lives
over the ambitions that other people have for them.
If someone were to counter and say,
"Why are you in such a hurry?
"Why not have a waiting period?
"Why not have 24 hours or 48 or 72 hours
or any amount of time to wait on?"
What would your response be to those people?
Well, it sounds good. Like, uh... it's a common...
It passes the common sense test,
but it's not informed by the reality.
Uh, there's not a woman that I know who doesn't say
that when she pees on that stick and it's positive,
she says, "I'm pregnant, oh, great,"
or "I'm pregnant, oh, (bleep)."
And so, as a result, uh,
women have to...
uh, being forced to wait,
uh, to indulge somebody else's sensitivities, um,
is to say that we don't trust women
with their important decisions.
-And I just beg to differ. -(applause)
You...
you talk about, in your book, how it took you 13 years,
coming from a very religious background,
to change how you viewed a woman's right to choose.
Why and how did you change your mind?
Well, uh, I've always been, uh,
uh, pro-life
but-- what I mean by pro-life-- pro-life of the woman.
Uh, I've never been, uh, opposed to a woman making that decision,
but I was conflicted, because I wasn't clear
about what it meant to me personally to provide that care.
-Right. -So I had to think about my religious understanding
and my religious conviction a little bit differently.
So, um, I-I think "pro-life" is a misnomer
for people who are against abortion.
People who are opposed to abortion are pro-fetus.
Uh, I'm pro-life. I'm pro-life of the woman,
and you can't have more of an interest in a pregnancy
that a woman's carrying than you have in the woman herself.
-(applause) -Now...
In-in the past six years,
there have been over 300 abortion restrictions
that have been enacted by states.
This year alone, there have been
at least 46 anti-abortion bills that have been introduced
or are pending in about 14 states.
What's really interesting is you have compared this,
the control over women's bodies,
to slaveries, which, to many people,
would be a bombastic term.
Why would you say that?
I think if you've never lived with your back to the wall,
it would be really, um, hard for you to understand
what it's like to have the most essential aspect of your being,
the ability to make decisions about your lives... your life,
to have hopes and aspirations and dreams,
-and to have that controlled by someone else. -Right.
Uh, I, as a man, will never face an unplanned pregnancy,
but I feel like I'm in the same position
that Abraham Lincoln was
when someone asked him, "Why did you free the slaves?"
There are many reasons the Civil War was fought,
but I like it when he said that,
"As I would not be a slave, so I will not be a master."
As a man, I refuse to participate in a system
that would deny women the same agency and the same right
to make decisions about their lives that I have as a man.
(applause)
You...
You obviously face a lot of opposition taking this stance.
Um, you know, traveling around,
helping women who don't have access to abortions,
women who are forced to travel to other states.
The president said, if a woman under Roe,
or if they change the laws,
is in a state where they don't allow abortion,
then she can just travel to another state.
Why is this such a big issue?
Well, the problem with that is that, uh,
people in this country under our constitution,
everyone should have equal access
and equal protection under the law.
So that means that one state is not free
to impose its responsibility
to ensure the health of its citizens to another state.
-Mm-hmm. -The bottom line is, nobody's health
or aspirations should depend on their zip code.
And if you say that a woman can just simply go to another state,
that sounds nice, but it's not informed by the reality
that many women face hurdles,
and if the clinic's 500 miles away,
it might as well be a million miles away.
Or if a woman doesn't have the resources to travel...
Many women don't have the resources to travel in state,
let alone going to another state.
So, I think it's a very callous statement
to say that, uh...
It's almost like Marie Antoinette.
"Just let them eat cake." It's callous.
It's callous, and it doesn't take into account
the realities of the situation that many women are in.
You spoke earlier today about why, on a day like today,
and this day every single year
has significant importance to you.
Why is that?
Well, it occurred to me, Trevor, that this is April 3,
the day before my book launch, and when I was told
that the book would be launching on April 4,
there's a tab set in my heart
around the fact that that was the day
that Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated.
So, it struck me that tonight, 49 years ago,
was Dr. King's last night on earth.
For me, what that means is that I like to imagine
that I was the little kid living in Alabama
who he had hopes and aspirations for
that my dreams wouldn't be determined
by the color of my skin.
And so, this book,
my career is really a recognition
of the vitality of the movement that he gave his life for.
-(applause) -You, uh...
tell an amazing story.
It is a beautiful book.
Thank you so much for being on the show.
-Thank you. Thank you.