Hillary Clinton has warned “women will die” as a result of Roe v Wade being overturned and has said other rights will soon be under threat.
Speaking to Gayle King on CBS This Morning, Clinton said she wasn’t surprised by the supreme court’s decision to revoke the constitutional right to abortion because it was the result of 50-year campaign from the conservative side of politics.
“I was not surprised, because I think that was the goal of packing the court with justices that were on the record for many years of being against women’s constitutional right to make decisions about their own bodies,” Clinton said.
“But now that it has happened, I think everybody understands that this is not necessarily the only effort that we’re going to see this court undertake to turn back the clock on civil rights, gay rights, women’s rights beyond abortion.”
Clinton said she hopes the Roe v Wade decision will “wake up a lot of Americans”.
“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 reiterated that the supreme court justices who voted to overturn Roe v Wade were “selected for this purpose”, noting it was the result of a long campaign to restrict the right to abortion.
“You’ve got to give the other side lots points for their relentlessness, their total commitment to getting what they want done, regardless of who is hurt by it and regardless of who is stripped of rights,” she said.
Clinton referenced Justice Clarence Thomas, who has floated the idea that the supreme court could soon challenge other rights, like access to contraception and same sex marriage.
“I went to law school with him,” Clinton said. “He’s been a person of grievance for as long as I have known him — resentment, grievance, anger.
“Women are going to die, Gayle. Women will die.”
Back in 2016, when Clinton was vying for the presidency against Donald Trump, she said she would defend Roe v Wade if elected as president, and would always fight for the constitutional right to abortion.
“We have come too far to have that turned back now,” she said, facing off against Trump in a debate after he indicated he would appoint anti-abortion judges to the supreme court.
“Indeed he [Trump] said there should be some form of punishment for women who obtain abortions, and I just could not be more opposed to that kind of thinking.”