-Last week, in a shocking and sadly predictable move,
the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade.
I was angered, saddened by the news.
And before we get started, I just want to be clear
that abortion is not only a women's issue,
it's not only a pregnant person's issue.
It's everyone's issue.
We all benefit from reproductive freedom
and from access to legal and safe abortions.
I think it's possible that men hear, "My body, my choice,"
and we take away the message
that it's not our issue to speak about,
but it's everyone's job to advocate
for reproductive rights. So I asked my writers, Amber,
Jenny, and Ally, what I can do to help
and they said, "You can start by shutting up."
-That's right. We did. -Okay.
Okay.
Because, you know, if something like this happens,
we should center the voices of people
who are most affected by it.
-We said to shut up. -Okay.
-We are devastated and disappointed
in our country right now. We're joke writers,
but we didn't want to come out here tonight
and tell jokes or do goofy bits that didn't feel right.
-Instead, we could share our feelings.
-We could talk to an expert on reproductive rights.
-Or we could burn it all to the ground.
-But -- But we're not going to do that.
We're going to do the second one.
So please welcome the president and CEO of Planned Parenthood
Federation of America, Alexis McGill Johnson.
♪♪
-Alexis, thank you so much for being here,
especially on today of all days.
-Thank you so much for having me.
Look, it's just not an honor. I really appreciated
your opening and saying that we all have a stake in this fight,
and I'm just grateful to be here in this conversation with you.
-Alexis, we wanted to ask you some questions.
First off, what does this Supreme Court decision
mean for Americans?
-You know, what the Supreme Court did on Friday
is essentially tell us that half the population
is not free and equal, right?
26 states will be moving very quickly in the next few weeks
to few months to ban access to abortion
or severely restrict it,
meaning that if you live in one state
like New York or California, you will be free and equal.
And if you live in a state like Texas or Oklahoma or Missouri,
it may be that you won't have access
to the care that you need.
That would affect upwards of 36 million people, right?
And we've already seen a little bit
of what that looks like,
because we are living in a post-Roe world
in states like Texas and Oklahoma.
We're seeing people having to get in their cars
and drive thousands of miles out of state
just to get access to care.
We are seeing people who can't get out of state
for many horrible reasons,
and they're essentially being forced into pregnancy.
And, you know, it just means that, you know,
that freedom is something -- it's a practice.
We have to continue to fight for it over and over again.
Yeah.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-I've heard a lot of people say that this ruling
is not just about abortion. Can you explain what that means?
-Yeah, absolutely. It goes far beyond abortion, right?
I mean, you know, first we have to ask, you know,
in some of these states -- I don't know if you've seen
kind of what the restrictions look like, right?
Some of them are banning access to abortion after fertilization.
You know, Texas has a six-week ban, which is after -- you know,
before actually many people know that they are pregnant.
But we've also seen introductions of laws
in states like Missouri
that are trying to ban moving across state lines
to get access to care.
We've seen states like Louisiana that are banning access to IVF
and IUDs and emergency contraception,
Plan B, right? They're introducing these laws
that are so incredibly, you know, extreme.
And so when we talk about the kind of notion of like,
this is just about abortion,
it is really about control over our own bodies.
When you look at the way the law --
the opinions are written,
you know, there are also kind of indications
that there are other opportunities to go
after things like marriage equality,
like interracial marriage,
you know, like access to contraception,
all of which has enjoyed federal protections
as well, constitutional protections.
And that's where we really need to be concerned
of overreach here.
-So what are you hearing from your patients right now?
-Just devastation, right?
I mean, the ruling came down on Friday
when we had patients who were,
you know, making their way to the clinic.
And, you know, we all thought that the decision
would come down sometime this week, right?
Which would be the full end of the term,
which meant that we were rushing to get as many patients in
to be seen as possible.
They are scared. They are confused.
They are worried about criminalization
because we don't know what the other spate of laws
is going to look like, right?
We don't know how they're going to enforce
the other abortion bans
that they are going to put in place.
And they're concerned, you know. Most people who seek access
to abortion care are already parents,
so they're worried about, you know,
how to take care of their families
and how to ensure that they have what they need to move forward
for their own, you know, self-determination.
So, you know, we're trying to reassure them.
There is a website called AbortionFinder.org
that we have, you know,
connected to with an organization called
Power To Decide, where people can find access to appointments.
But the reality is, you know, 24 states,
you know, just can't absorb the nation's care, right?
So we're looking at a health care crisis coming upon us.
-Alexis, what role does sex education play in all of this?
-Oh, I mean, sex education is everything, right?
I mean, in order to control your body,
you have to understand how it works. Right?
In order to advocate for your body and your freedoms,
you have to understand kind of
how your body works and what that looks like.
I think it's one of the many tools
that we have to essentially raise this next new generation
to understand kind of what's at stake.
The states that don't teach sex ed, for example --
the states that are abstinence-only -- are states
where we see higher rates of unintended pregnancies
because of course, people don't know how to control them, right?
So I think that all of the ways
in which we think about how our bodies,
how our gender, how our sexuality,
how our race intersects with our kind of our own advocacy
is the opportunity that we have to kind of raise
a new, different generation.
-So I have a question from the perspective of men,
and I know there are many of us who support this issue.
We aren't exactly sure the best way to show it --
how -- what is the best,
the most effective way to show that we're allies in this fight?
-Well, look, a good ally is an active ally,
not a passive ally, right? You're a great ally right now,
kind of centering this conversation
as the opening of the show.
And it's important for men to talk about
what's happening and what's at stake, right?
You're, you know, also affected by the impact to abortion.
You're also hurt by patriarchy. You're also hurt by misogyny.
And I think it's kind of actually sexy
when people support reproductive rights.
I don't know about you.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-So we've all had a few days to be very, very angry now.
And I -- But if we want to move from anger to action,
what can we do?
-Well, look, I think we all started off
incredibly sad and devastated, and that devastation
turned very quickly into that rage,
right, where we have to channel that right now into action.
It is really important right now if you want to care for patients
and get patients to care,
support your local Planned Parenthood organization.
Support independent clinics in those states
that are going to see abortion bans be restricted --
abortion be restricted.
You can go to KeepOurClinics.org to support them.
You can go to AbortionFunds.org,
which are resources that help get patients --
you know, it's travel money, gas money.
You know, just to get out of state is critically important.
You can share about your fight for access
by going to #BansOffOurBodies
to find places that will be a place
to update you around all of the things that are going on.
And then of course, you can share your own stories,
right, at #WhateverTheReason,
because part of why this conversation is so important
is because of stigma, right?
We are here because we have stigmatized
a very normal procedure,
one that one in four women in their life
will have an abortion,
and the fact that we have stigmatized --
the fact that we don't talk about it means
that people can make policies that codify our inequality.
And if we want to stay free, we have to talk about our freedom
and we have to ensure that people understand
what is critically important here.
-Alexis, we cannot thank you enough
for being with us here tonight.
I also want to thank Amber, Jenny, and Ally
for being here and helping us out.
And we're going to be right back with more "Late Night."
[ Cheers and applause ]