this opinion is dark
it is incredibly dangerous and it is not
just about a woman's right to choose it
is about much more than that and i hope
people now are fully aware of what we're
up against because the only answer is at
the ballot box to elect people who will
stand up for every american's rights and
any american who says look i'm not a
woman this doesn't affect me i'm not
black that doesn't affect me i'm not gay
that doesn't affect me once you allow
this kind of extreme power to take hold
you have no idea who they will come for
next
former democratic presidential nominee
hillary clinton warning that many rights
we enjoy as a society not necessarily
individually are at risk if the supreme
court overturns roe v wade her concerns
echo that of jim obergefell the
plaintiff in the landmark a burgerfel
versus hodges case that established
same-sex marriage as a constitutional
right when asked about justice samuel
alito's leaked draft opinion burgerfeld
said quote i'm terrified i really can't
put it any more simply than that i am
terrified i've been asked if i believe
what he says in that decision that this
is specific to a woman's right to an
abortion and really should not be used
on marriage equality i don't believe
that whatsoever because so many of the
things he says in that decision opened
the door to using those arguments
against marriage equality
and where does it stop
end quote
and where does it stop
while the supreme court's draft decision
on reproductive rights has prompted fear
republican-led states appear more
emboldened to go after other rights
other rights missouri is one of 13
states with a so-called trigger law that
would outlaw abortion the minute roe v
word was wade was overturned without
anybody doing anything but
it could also criminalize
contraception
it's 2022 and we're talking about
criminalizing contraception because
under the law the definition of a
child's life would begin at conception
texas having already effectively banned
abortion within its borders now wants to
challenge
another difference supreme court ruling
which states that all children have a
constitutional right to a free public
school education regardless of their
immigration status
we're seeing a wave of book bans across
the country amid concerted efforts to
curtail free speech in schools lawmakers
in more than two dozen states have
drafted
250 voting bills with restrictive
provisions according to the brennan
center and today a federal appeals court
reinstated florida's senate bill 90 that
would restrict drop boxes and vote by
mail and make it illegal
to help people register to vote
or to hand out water and food as people
wait to vote why would that be why would
something like that be illegal
as secretary clinton said i hope people
now are fully aware of what we're up
against
joining us now is ruth ben guiad she's a
history professor at new york university
she's the author of strong men mussolini
to the present so there may be some
people in america agree with it or not
who say this is an isolated matter um
the the the canceling of roe v wade
you're an expert on democracy and the
taking away of rights how do you look at
this
yeah i i
thanks for having me on uh i want to
repeat something that hillary clinton
said because it's backed up by history
and that is she said when this form of
extreme take power takes hold you can't
predict who they're going to come after
next
and the tragedy of authoritarianism is
not only country after country said oh
it's not going to happen here our
democracy is strong or we're not gonna
have a coup
but when it did start to happen people
either didn't see the warning signs or
they thought it wasn't gonna apply to
them exactly what uh
hillary clinton was saying
and now we're at the point where we are
starting to lose our rights these are
these and it's all related because
authoritarianism is about control
of speech you know we have the bans you
mentioned on on what we can say what we
can read it's about control of our
bodies it's about control of sexuality
and it's about taking away our right to
decide our future and that's with voting
so control of mind emotions bodies it's
all one thing and that's why we
shouldn't see any of these measures as
you know just something that doesn't
bother us
what do you say to people who say it's a
discreet matter i i believe in all these
other rights i just i believe that uh
abortion is wrong uh i i don't support
all these other things how do you make
them understand that a vote for this or
support political support for this and
endangers other
rights because because these things are
never taken in in isolation
um in fact uh you know
the policing of sexuality always
involves in in the history of
authoritarianism going after women
even stalin who you know was supposed to
be communism and gender equity he he
banned abortion and and also policing
sexuality so you always also have
another perennial
strongman target is gay people
and it's very reliable throughout the
whole century and and it's no accident
that the gop is trotting off to budapest
and that mike pence you know attended
this quote demographic summit of orban
in hungary and there he said openly that
he hoped that abortion rights would be
appealed and so it goes with the
remodeling of the population to have as
orban says we only want certain kinds of
babies
um and so all of this is um if you study
the history of these things and how they
link together how propaganda links with
these social policies you see that it's
all related
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