Transcripts For MSNBCW Andrea Mitchell Reports 20240707

restrictive, to prohibit access to drugs that the fda has authorized as safe and effective for women to use. we are also hearing from the justice department on the issue of access to abortion clinics and the fact that it's not legal under the freedom of access to clinic entrances act to block people's physical access to walk into an abortion clinic. the justice department saying it's going to make sure that that right is protected. as you can see, these are steps around the margins. this is not the biden administration saying we are going to enforce the ability for women across the country to get an abortion. that's something that only congress can do. that's why we expect a key element of what president biden will have to say to be about the election and making sure to elect politicians who will ensure a woman's right to choose in future. >> thanks to you, josh. this is "andrea mitchell reports" with our continuing breaking news coverage of the supreme court's decision overturning roe v. wade, the law of the land for nearly half a century. the first time in american history that the high court has taken away a constitutional right once it has been granted. saying the constitution does not confer a right to abortion. president biden, as we just said, is expected to be speaking about the 6-3 opinion to uphold the mississippi law banning abortion after 15 weeks with no exceptions for rape or incest. chief justice roberts joining the majority but issuing his separate opinion. the court was 5-4 saying he would not have gone so far as to ban roe outright. the decision came despite the fact that all three trump justices, gorsuch, kavanaugh and coney barrett, when questioned during confirmation about abortion, told the senate that they considered roe v. wade to be precedent. today, justice thomas went further, specifically writing in his opinion that he believes the court should reconsider other rights, including same-sex marriage, contraception and private consensual acts between two adults. the country will be split on abortion, becoming illegal in many states. other states will keep protections for a woman's right to choose. this morning, nancy pelosi with her immediate reaction to this unprecedented decision. >> this morning, the radical supreme court is eviscerating american rights and endangering health and safety. the republican-controlled supreme court achieved their dark, extreme goal of ripping away a woman's right to make her own reproductive health decisions. american women today have less freedom than their mothers. what this means to women is an insult. it's a slap in the face to women about using their own judgment to make their own decisions about their reproductive freedom. >> let's go to our panel, tom goldshtein, ken dilanian, kathy park, dasha burns and claire mccaskill. first, tom. let's break this down. confusing to some. 6-3 on overturning the mississippi law, which banned abortion after 15 weeks, not the 23 weeks that had been in roe, which was considered viability for nearly 50 years, then upheld by casey. then by 5-4 the justices deciding to ban roe outright. that was with justice roberts parting with the conservatives and joining the liberal four members now of the justices saying he would not have gone so far as to ban roe outright. tom, break it down. you are the expert. >> well, today, the conservatives on the day that roe was decided set out to get it overturned succeeded. they made it their mission. the presidents who are republican have committed to appointing justices who they believed would vote to overturn roe eventually. they did so today. in a very categorical and sweeping way. there is no constitutional protection for abortion in any circumstance, including rape or incest. only possibly to save the life of the mother. immediately, in a huge proportion of the country, abortion is now illegal. the one small glimmer for pro choice forces is that justice kavanaugh, who is a critical vote here, said the state cannot ban a woman from going to another state for an abortion, but the dissenters saying that's really not much of a solace at all because for the poorest women in america, they are not going to have access to it. >> tom, let me clarify that justice roberts certainly is taking a different stance, that doesn't mean there's a legal right, but it does mean that the court is divided in a slightly different way and it will affect the court going forward in terms of the way the court is viewed across the country. >> the chief justice would have gone slower. he said he would have upheld this significant abortion restriction, but left for another day whether to overrule roe entirely. probably in a few years after a few more cases, he would have voted to get rid of it. he thought that this was too aggressive, more so than the court needed to. but the more conservative justices have absolutely made this commitment. they view roe as an abomination, as inappropriate. they were committed to overturning it as soon as they could. the next questions are going to be about particular kinds of restrictions, like on travel, what states can do to prevent their own citizens from getting abortions elsewhere, abortion pills and the like. then as you suggest, new debates over other rights that we thought were settled, right to contraception, the right to same-sex marriage, all of those are thrown into question today, even though the majority says it doesn't necessarily mean that they will be overruled. >> stay with us, of course. we have ken dilanian at the justice department. merrick garland has just issued a statement saying he strongly disagrees with this and explaining what the justice department can or will do going forward. ken? >> i'm actually at the supreme court right now. i don't have visibility on merrick garland's statement. i'm here with about 2,000 people wedged into this first street area between the capitol and the supreme court. there were about 100 people when the decision was announced. folks from both sides have flooded in here. there are some carrying signs and wearing t-shirts. there are other people who just came over from the hill, it looks like staffers and members of congress, prominent people from both sides of the aisle. this has been a passionate, rowdy crowd but peaceful. the capitol police is here on the outer edges of the perimeter. they appear to have the situation in hand. we haven't seen anything approaching violence. it's been largely peaceful. a lot of passion on both sides here. >> let me just -- with you at that location, we can expand on that. i was there the day that -- the morning after the draft opinion was leaked, which was sotae. that's when we started seeing large protests and the fence going up around the court. similar to the fence that had gone up after january 6 around the capitol. that now is likely to become semi-permanent. access to the court is now going to be very controversial going forward. ken? >> i think that's a good bet. that black fence is keeping people away from a part of this building that used to be open to the public. now it speaks to the divisive nature of our politics. intelligence agencies have warned that this is one of the issues that extremists have seized on as a potential flash flashpoint for violence. right now it's peaceful. more and more people try to come into this very small space. there's not a security perimeter as far as we understand around this area. people can just walk in here. as i said, there are many, many capitol police officers on the outskirts. >> ken, i know you will remain there and reporting on all of the immediate reaction there. let's go to mississippi where this case began. it was clearly a case that was thought to be unconstitutional. it was deliberately written to challenge roe. this was a case, the dobdobs ca. kathy? >> here in mississippi, the law was a challenge to roe v. wade and it brought us to where we are today. we are right in front of the state capitol building. we have seen law enforcement activity. no demonstrations just yet. however, a few miles away, as you mentioned, the abortion clinic, it's the last remaining abortion clinic here in mississippi. the state has already been very restrictive when it comes to gaininging access to abortions. a crowd has gathered in front of the pink house. groups have both sides of the debate. we are being told that folks are being reminded this clinic is open for the next ten days, because here in mississippi, it's a trigger law state. every state has a different set of rules that they will be following when it comes to banning abortions here in mississippi. specifically, there's a ten-day window when abortions will be banned. essentially, the attorney general will have to weigh in. we actually saw a statement that was released by the attorney general, lynn finch, a few moments ago. she called this a victory for the state of mississippi, commended the court for their decision and said the work to empower women truly begins today and looking ahead she said they will work on bolstering resources for adoptions as well as foster care. you have abortion rights advocates, we spoke to a lot of them on the ground. they knew since may and even before then that this decision, this day would eventually be here. they have a lot of resources in play and funding that they have been able to pile up to help those women who will try to continue getting abortion access outside of the state of mississippi legally and safely. >> thanks so much. to michigan, which is a key state, dasha burns is there. michigan is one of the states. i can think of pennsylvania, wisconsin, other states have democratic governor races, open seats or democratic governors for re-election and republican legislatures. these are key states, not necessarily red states, where we are likely to have very tough bans if republicans are elected to the statehouses. dasha? >> that's exactly right. we have been talking about southern block states where there are trigger laws. we talked about the blue states where governors have tried to fortify abortion rights. you have states like michigan, a purple state where you have a democratic governor and you have a republican held legislature. you are seeing this battle grow and become really tough. we look towards november and an election where abortion rights will be on the ballot. michigan has a 1931 law that lay dormant for decades. after roe, it became irrelevant. now that roe has fallen, that law is going to take affect once again. it's a law that criminalizes abortion without exception. the governor filed a lawsuit to try to eliminate that law. the republican state legislature has intervened trying to defend that law. we will this play out in courts. we will see this play out on the campaign trail. in the meantime, i have been talking to women here this morning in michigan who are trying to grapple with what they have heard today. i spoke to one republican woman who actually voted for trump in 2016, did not vote for him in 2020. she told me she's having a hard time reconciling what the gop is doing here. she says she was against vaccine mandates, because she believed in medical autonomy and medical freedom for individuals. she says she doesn't see how that sort of wreckreconciles wie government telling women what to do with their bodies. as we were talking to voters, a woman named virginia walked up to me. she was in tears. she was 18 years old when roe took affect. she was struggling to comprehend what has just happened. take a listen to what she told me. >> i cannot -- i cannot put into words the fury that i feel and anger because this has nothing to do with the constitution. how do they have the right to tell me or any woman what she can do with her body? >> we are about to hear from attorney general danah nestle at 1:00. we will have more after that. >> dasha burns, thank you so much. claire mccaskill is with us, the former senator and prosecutor from missouri. a key state in this debate. senator, your fellow senators, specifically questioned all of these three trump justices and were told in terms -- amy coney barrett left out some academic loophole saying she's written about this. but saying they would uphold precedent and specifically saying in the case of roe, because that was the specific question in several of the cases, gorsuch, kavanaugh and coney barrett. >> yeah. i want to speak to that. give me a moment of personal here. >> please. >> i have taken tearful calls from -- i grew up in a house with a strong mother who worked very hard for women's rights. she told me before she died, i thought we had this covered for you. this was whether we were having the debate about birth control in missouri. today, i have taken calls from my family, the women in my family who -- that range from sobbing to just white hot anger and fear. fear for their daughters. i don't think we should leave out the human part of this, that it feels to most women in america that this is a violation. in my state, right now, as of right this minute, the young 13-year-old girl that i dealt with as a prosecutor, who had been raped repeatedly by her stepfather and was told she would be killed if she told anyone, finding out to her mother's horror that she was pregnant from that series of brutal rapes at the age of 13, that young girl is now going to be mandated by the government to carry that child in my state. if that doesn't motivate people for november, i don't know what it's going to take. i will tell you that, yes, die an feinstein and aimy klobuchar and many others did their very best to hold these nominees' feet to the fire. probably the senator that is frankly in the most pain right now is the one who was lied to and that is susan collins. i know there's a lot that people that watch our shows have to criticize susan collins about. but she's not a liar. when she said that kavanaugh assured her that he respected the precedent of roe v. wade, i believe her. which means not only is kavanaugh a politician masquerading in a row, he is a liar on top of that. which makes sense, since he was appointed by donald trump. >> let me follow up on that. i really appreciate what you are saying. i was an adult before roe v. wade. i lived as a young woman with the ramifications, i was fully aware of the issues and of the illegal abortions. and of what women went through. i know that there are very passionate feelings on both sides of this issue, which we cover. today is a day whereas you point out, where two if not three -- i concede coney barrett was more circumspect in the way she answered or equivocating in the way she answered that, but two out of the three said so under oath. let me read a statement from susan collins, since you brought that up. this was handed to me. decrying the fact that the supreme court abandoned a 50-year precedent whether the country is desperate for stability. she says, this decision is inconsistent with what justices gorsuch and kavanaugh said in their testimony and their meetings with me. reaffirming what claire mccaskill, what you just said, where they were both insistent on the importance of supporting long-standing precedence the country relied upon. we are seeing the anger by opponents of this decision right now outside the court, claire. earlier this year, senator collins points out that senator ma could you ski and her worked with senator cane on a bipartisan bill to do that. i'm not sure -- you are the lawyer. i have just covered this for decades now, for more than 50 years. whether the court's decision is so ironclad, claire, that it can't be legislative, i don't know. but i want to point out what tom goldshtein confirmed in my opening to this broadcast today which is that justice thomas in his writing today said that this now should take the court to reconsider same-sex marriage, contraception, which presumably would include in vitro feltization and other medical procedures and adult consensual sexual relations. claire? >> first of all, thomas' dissent was a clarion call. they are also written to signal people out in the country, bring a case. i think there will be cases that will be brought. in my state now, i believe when you look at two existing statutes taken together, that a woman can be prosecuted for ivf, a woman can be prosecuted for an iud, using an iud birth control device. i believe there's certainly questions about the morning after pill. in missouri right now. if there's a prosecutor that's crazy enough, which missouri there probably is, to try to prosecute someone under these laws, then clarence thomas might get his chance to affirm that the states have the right to limit women in such an extreme way. i don't know what to tell you about these justices that said one thing in the hearings and now are doing something much, much different. the irony is, the hypocrisy of the court, andrea, they just issued an opinion saying that the states cannot have rights when it comes to regulating guns and now they are saying the states can mandate pregnancy. forget about man dating masks. they are now giving the green light to states like mine that they can mandate pregnancy. that is a startling development in a country that doesn't believe that. they are way out of step with the majority of this country. i only hope that people will channel their anger into political activity. this can be fixed. yes, congress can pass a law codifying roe in spite of what the supreme court did today. >> claire, thank you so much. the former senator from missouri. joining us now, cecile richards and former president of planned parenthood federation of america. your reaction? >> this is a devastating day, andrea. i relate to what claire said. the calls that i have gotten this morning from not only my own daughters but other young women around the country who realize they are now no longer in charge of their own pregnancies. they no longer have -- are in charge of their own bodies. this was avoidable. had is the incredible thing. i think justice sotomayor's -- they believe that people should be able to make decisions about their pregnancy, not politicians. the only thing that changed was republicans put five justices on the supreme court who are now using the most outrageous justification for overturning a right that people have had for nearly 50 years. one of the things that struck me in this was to say that this is a sad day for the court, which it is. but this is a sad day tore millions and millions of american women who woke up this morning and just found out that the supreme court took away their right. you and i know that making abortion illegal does not mean that abortion goes away. it simply means it goes underground and becomes dangerous. talking to folks in texas, we didn't know when this opinion would come down. the terror that people feel not only the inability to provide safe and legal abortion access in the state of texas, but the criminalization now of anyone helping anyone leave the state to get the kind of health care they need, this is what we're going to see. this is what the republican party has meted out on american women. >> let me ask you about next steps for you. merrick garland's statement says this will not stop women from being able to travel to states where abortion is legal. that, of course, affects the poor women, the women who cannot afford that kind of travel or the women who have jobs and families and can't take the time to travel. what can planned parenthood and other groups do? what can they do to protect these women and the providers from what presumably will be an increase in the counter reactions? we have seen violence, particularly violence from the anti-abortion side over the years. >> i think that's really important. claire mentioned this. you take a state like missouri or a state like texas, it's one thing to say what you think the law is. when you have an overzealous attorney general in texas, willing to prosecute doctors, anyone who has helped a woman get access to abortion services, obviously, we have a bounty system in place where the republicans have made it part of the law, part of the legal system that you could turn in your neighbors, you can't even ask your sister, your clergy, your health care provider for assistance. it literally is becoming a blackout state where people cannot get access to the most fundamental care. of course, we have seen stories in texas, a young woman thrown in jail in south texas for allegedly attempting to miscarry. another story just -- i think it was in the "washington post" this week of a young woman trying to get access to abortion but could not, now has baby twins as a teenager. these are the kinds of human -- real human impact that we're going to see. i think to claire's point, it's critical that people understand, this did not have to happen. it happened because the republican party prioritized making abortion illegal and i mean in all cases. i don't care about the health of the mother, the danger to the pregnancy. in all cases, illegal and dangerous for women. there are a group of people who did it. that's the republican party. it's time the people wake up and realize, we can vote them out. i hope that people take this seriously this november. >> thank you very much. thanks for being with us today. joining us now is cori bush, who is outside a st. louis abortion facility where she had her abortion. congresswoman bush, talk to me about your experience and the experience of other women, especially women of lesser means who may not have the option of traveling to states where they can get abortions, for the immediate future? >> i'm thinking about every single person right now who just found out they are pregnant or has been toiling over their decision over the last few days or couple of weeks but knew that they had an option, at least right here in our state and other trigger states. they knew right now i have an option. i have time to make this decision and to act on my decision. now today, for this decision to come down and for people to -- in my state, completely lost abortion services. for those that appointments this weekend, that's done. people are able to go to illinois to get services. i think about when i had my own. i was 17 when i was -- when i found out i was pregnant after a rape. had abortion services at this clinic. i lived 20 minutes away. i got a ride to here. it took two weeks to come up with the money to be able to get the abortion. i thought about how i wasn't mentally ready. i wasn't in a space to take care of a child at that point. when i did finally have children, i was making $6 an hour. formula was $12 a can. i couldn't afford to pay -- it took me two hours to make enough money for one can of formula. that's only the formula. poverty is expensive. folks dealing right now with the decision of what do i do, they now have to think about where they will travel to. we are thankful there is money and abortion funds to help with transportation costs, childcare, lodging and the money for services. but that does not absolve this far right racist, sexist supreme court that made this decision based on politics, not thinking about the 80% of the people of this country who said, we don't want this, we don't want roe v. wade overturned. they said, no. but they made the decision. we will go ahead and take somebody else's decision for themselves and put it in our hands. these are the folks that are supposed to speak for this country. all of the people making decisions for all of the people and they chose to cower. they chose to bend and compromise and allow states like mine to figure out how to out trump each other, out republican, out true conservative one another. it's absolutely horrible. it's horrifying that 36 million people are being affected. when i think about the criminalization, we already know that the health disparities, black maternal health is -- the disparities in the morbidity rates are unbelievable. we add criminalization, black and brown folks are already disproprorgsally harmed whether it comes to criminalization. now we add this piece of someone taking care of their own body. i will say this. none of the folks that make this decision are showing up when somebody is having their baby. they are not showing up at the table making sure the baby comes out okay. none of them are showing up at the abortion clinic making sure that the person holding their hand through a procedure. none are coming up with the olympian to make sure that insurance -- the insurance is covered or somebody has leave. none of them are making sure that childcare is happening. none of them are actually doing the work to make sure that this person, that this very private moment, this private decision, that they have help through it. they can be the ones to strip that. talking about almost 50 years of our protected right. this decision that none of them have to deal with. i sat here talking to some young women and one of them talked about -- she talked about how -- we talked about how they won't know her name. she's crying about this decision. those people that made the decision will never know she exists on this planet. >> congresswoman bush, thank you so much for joining us on a very emotional day as the political winds are shifting so drat mattekly. joining us now, amy klobuchar. we are waiting for the president, so i may interrupt you. he is coming out. >> yes. >> we can -- i think we have a shot up of the room he is going to be coming out through the blue room door to the cross halls there. not expecting him to take questions. but one doesn't know for sure. senator klobuchar, a member of the judiciary committee, senior member, a key member. we have been citing the fact that at least in two instances with justices gorsuch and justice kavanaugh, they specifically both testified during confirmation and assured senator collins as she put out in a statement today afterwards in private meetings that they would not overturn this precedent of roe v. wade. there was a little bit more wiggle room in a comment when specifically asked about abortion by diane feinstein of amy coney barrett. she did acknowledge there was precedent. she said she's written scholarly articles. at least two of those three justices did commit to the judiciary committee on which you serve that they would not do this. the first time in american history hey conferred right has taken away. your reaction? >> this is outrageous, andrea. i asked amy coney barrett if it was suppress dent. she said it wasn't. i am fwhot surprised at all by this decision. i think the leaked opinion gave us the guide posts. the question here is what's going to happen. look at this map. 13 states have automatic triggering so that abortion will be banned. the darker states right here, these states have no exceptions for rape or incest. the red states right here, they literally ban abortion as well. that's what we will be looking at. a patchwork of laws across the country. basically, the supreme court with the support of republican senators who put these justices on there has clearly said that they believe a woman shouldn't have this right to make her own decisions. they believe, i guess, it should be the government and politicians. guess what? as you are seeing today by the outpouring of opposition to this decision as we know from the public opinion polls, 80% of the public with us here, they don't want to take away that right, they don't want the women of today to have less rights than their mothers and grandmothers. they, despite what justice alito thinks, do not want to go back not just to the 1950s but to the 1850s which is exactly what this decision does. >> senator klobuchar, merrick garland talked about protecting women who want to travel from one state to another. some of the people we have interviewed talked about length lating. senator collins says that they will attempt -- i think senator cane's bipartisan bill to codify roe v. wade. can congress do that? considering it's a 50/50 senate and that you have got at least 13 states with trigger laws. certainly, nearly half the states, 26 states, as you pointed out, in your map, where it's going to be illegal, with no exceptions in some. >> andrea, the filibuster, which i don't support, i would get rid of it, it's a 60-vote threshold. we have senators out there that are out and out talking about putting in legislation on the republican side to been abortion. to me, the answer is simple. it's november. it's the ballot box. that's what it is. the women of the country and the men that support them -- it's not just democrats. moderate republicans, independents understand, this is a step too far. enough is enough. you cannot get rid of a right that's been there for 50 years with the argument that the word abortion was never in the constitution. the word woman isn't in the constitution. she isn't in the constitution. the air force isn't in the constitution. they are literally taking us backwards. the answer to me is to fight to november and to elect candidates that are going to uphold the woman's right to trust that she can make the decision for herself. between her doctor, with her family. they don't want ted cruz making those decisions. >> we have a note from d.c. police, montgomerie county police, security presence will be increased. we assume that's around the homes of the three conservative justices. there are no -- none of those who voted today who, as far as we know, live in the district. you will see more police presence. you can see the fence now, which has been up since the draft was leaked, shortly after that when protests began. the court itself has now become highly politicized in a way that justice breyer in his dissent today was expressing deep sorrow for. it's something that he has frequently opined against as he leaves the court. senator klobuchar, i see the president has come out. let's hear him. forgive me for the interruption. >> it's a very solemn moment. today, the supreme court of the united states expressly took away the constitutional right from the american people that it had already recognized. they didn't limit it. they simply took it away. that's never been done to a right so important to so many americans. but they did it. it's a sad day for the court and for the country. 50 years ago, roe v. wade was decided and has been the law of the land since then. this land mark case protected a woman's right to choose. her right to make intensely personal decisions with her doctor, free from interference of politics. it reaffirmed basic principles of equality, that women have the pouter to control their own destiny. it reinforced a right of privacy, a right of each of us to choose how to live our lives. now with roe gone, let's be clear, the health and life of women in this nation are now at risk. as chairman and rafrping member of the snar judiciary committee, as vice president and now as president of the united states, i have studied this case carefully. i have overseen more supreme court confirmations than anyone today. this case was always discussed. i believe roe v. wade was the correct decision as a matter of constitutional law and application of the fundamental right to privacy in matters of family and personal autonomy. it was a decision on a complex matter. a careful balance between a woman to choose early in her pregnancy and the state's ability to regulate later in her pregnancy. a decision with broad national consensus that most americans with faith and background found acceptable, that had been the law of the land for most of the lifetime of americans today. it was a constitutional principle upheld by justices appointed by democrat and republican presidents alike. roe v. wade was a 7-2 decision written by justice appointed by a republican president, richard nixon. in the five decades that followed roe v. wade, justices appointed by republican presidents, from eisenhower, nixon and reagan, george w. bush were among the justices who voted to uphold the principles set forth in roe v. wade. it was three justices named by one president, donald trump, who are the core of today's decision to upend justice and eliminate a fundamental right for women in this country. make no mistake. this is a culmination of a deliberate effort over decades to upset the balance of our law. it's a realization of an extreme ideology and a tragic error by the supreme court, in my view. the court has done what is has never done before. expressly take away a constitutional right that is so fundamental to so many americans that it had been recognized. the court's decision to do so will have real and immediate consequences. state laws banning abortion are automatically taking affect today. jeopardizing the health of millions of women, some without exceptions. so extreme that the women could be punished for protecting their health. so extreme that women and girls who are forced to bear their rapist's child, child of a consequence -- it stuns me. so extreme that doctors will be criminalized for fulfilling their duty to care. imagine having a young woman having to carry the child of incest. no option. too often the case, poor will be hit the hardest. it's cruel. in fact, the court laid out state laws criminalizing abortion that go back to the 1800s. as rational. the court literally taking america back 150 years. this is a sad day for the country, in my view. it doesn't mean the fight is over. let me be very clear and unambiguous. the only way we can secure a woman's right to choose and the balance that existed is for congress to restore the protections of roe v. wade as federal law. no executive action from the president can do that. if congress, as it appears, lacks the votes to do that now, voters need to make their voices heard. this fall, you must elect more senators and representatives who will codify a woman's right to choose into federal law once again. elect more state leaders to protect this right at the local level. we need to restore the protections of roe as law of the land. we need to elect officials who will do that. this fall, roe is on the ballot. personal freedoms are on the ballot. the right to privacy, liberty, equality. they are all on the ballot. until then, i will do all in my power to protect a woman's right in states where they will face the consequences of today's decision. the court's decision cast a dark shadow over a large swath of the land. many states in this country still recognize a woman's right to choose. if a woman lives in a state that restricts abortion, the supreme court's decision does not prevent her from traveling from her home state to the state that allows it. it does not prevent a doctor in that state from treating her. as the attorney general has made clear, women must remain free to travel safely to another state to seek care they need. my administration will defend that bedrock right. if any state or local official, high or low, tries to interest fear with a woman's exercise and her basic right to travel, i will do everything in my power to fight that deeply unamerican attack. my administration will protect a woman's access to medications that are approved by the food and drug aadministration, the fda. like contraception, which is essential for preventative health care. the fda approved it 20 years ago to end early pregnancy and commonly used to treat miscarriages. some states are saying that they will try to ban or severely restrict access to these medications. extremist governors and state length lay tors are looking to block the mail or schl a person's medical cabinet or track data on an app she uses are wrong and extreme and out of touch. with the majority of americans. the american medical association, the american college of obstetricians and gynecologists wrote to me and vice president harris stressing that these laws are not based on evidence and asking us to act to row tekt access to care. they say by limiting access to these medicines, maternal mortality will climb in america. that's what they say. today i'm directing the department of health and human services to take steps to ensure these critical medications are available to the fullest extent possible. the politicians cannot interfere in the decisions that should be made between a woman and her doctor. my administration will remain vigilant as the implications of this decision play out. i have warned about how this decision risks the broader right to privacy for everyone. that's because roe recognized the fundamental right to privacy. that has served as a basis for so many more rights that have come to -- that we have come to take for granted that are engrained in the fabric of this country. the right to make the best decisions for your health. the right to use birth control. a married couple in the privacy of their bedroom, for god sake. the right to marry the person you love. justice thomas said as much today. he called to reconsider the right of marriage equality, the right of couples to make their choices on contraception. this is an extreme and dangerous path the court is taking us on. let me close with two points. first, i call on everyone, no matter how deeply they care about this decision, to keep all protests peaceful. peaceful, peaceful, peaceful. no intimidation. violence is never acceptable. threats and intimidation are not speech. we must stand against violence in any form, regardless of your rationale. second, i know so many of us are frustrated and disillusioned that the court has taken something away that's so fundamental. i know so many women are going to face incredibly difficult situations. i hear you. i support you. i stand with you. the consequences and the consensus of the american people, core principles of equality, liberty, dignity and the stability of the rule of law demand that roe should not have been overturned. with this decision, a conservative majority of the supreme court shows how extreme it,how far removed they are from the majority of this country. they made the united states and outlier among developed countries of the world. this must not be the final word. my administration will use all of its appropriate lawful powers. but congress must act. with your vote, you can act. you can have the final word. this is not over. thank you very much. more to say in weeks to come. thank you. >> with that, the president leaving without taking questions. senator klobuchar, you heard the president saying that protests should be peaceful, that we must act, that people should act, they should vote. what is your reaction to the president's call for action? [ no audio ] we have to get her mike up. >> here we go. >> we've got you. second. just asking you if you heard the president. of course you did. your reaction to his speech. his call for peaceful protests with no intimidation on either side. >> action is what we need and what you're seeing with the peaceful protests in front of the supreme court and across the nation. one thing the president pointed out is there are a number of states that allow for abortion where it is legal and he made very clear that he is going to use the power of the attorney general to make sure that women's right to travel is not limited. that was important. but that is a limited ability. the ability lies with the people of this country to go to the ballot box in november. it is about the senate. the house already passed a law cod fooig roe v. wade. it is also about the senate in states like georgia and new hampshire and nevada and arizona and ohio and wisconsin and pennsylvania and north carolina and florida. the vast majority of the people in those states support women's rights and trust women to make their own decisions about reproductive choice. they don't want politicians making those decisions. that is what the president was getting at. there are things we can always try to do legislatively. he is going to do everything he can with the power of the federal government. in the end this is about the people making clear these supreme court justices that donald trump put on the court are not making decisions for them. >> senator amy klobuchar, thank you so much and with us now on the phone chief white house correspondent kristen welker. back with me claire mccaskill former senator of missouri, joyce vance former prosecutor and professor and francesco soto a long-time resident of texas now as well as arkansas. two red states where this is going to be very much an issue. kristen welker you heard the president's speech. what can he legitimately do other than make this as he has tried now to make it a mid-term election bedrock voting issue? >> that is the key question. i'm joining you from the bavarian alps which is why i am joining you by phone. of course president biden will be traveling to this region tomorrow for the g7 summit. the question is what specifically can he do now? he spoke broadly to what he wants to do. he said he will use his powers to protect women's rights to travel, to seek abortion, and of course to make sure they still have access to medication that allows them an abortion, the fda pill approved. but what is specifically can he do and how will he make sure that happens? he didn't get into the specifics about that, andrea. that is where our reporting threads will go next undoubtedly. i've been speaking with white house officials about this for months. what if any plans are in place in case roe v. wade is overturned? they've been working and talking to the department of justice. what if any steps can doj take? but the reality is he really has quite limited powers in this space. that is why you heard him call on people to elect members to congress who will support abortion rights. that is where i think this discussion and dialogue is going to go next. i've been hearing from democrats and republicans who say part of the fallout is it could ultimately make what is already an incredibly divided election season that much more divisive. >> thanks to you, kristen welker and with us also joyce vance, what are the options legally in a state such as alabama where you live? >> i think amy klobuchar did a great job of laying out the options. the options involve voting, increased voter registration, increased turnout, and dealing with these state and local elections in a very serious, very focused way, because the reality, andrea, is alabama's attorney general already made a statement today saying he will go to court to remove the last few impediments to enforcing alabama law, pre-roe law which now means it is a felony in alabama to obtain an abortion. that is the real state of play in states like mine and many others across the country. it now turns to the voters. the president isn't wrong when he says that. we need to look at it not just as a national issue but as a state and local one. the last thing i'll say is the former vice president mike pence already called for a national ban on abortion but not one done in the u.s. congress. one that is done state by state. that might seem unlikely and even impossible in some of the more liberal states. the republicans have just won a successful 50-year battle step by step very patiently to get to today's result in the supreme court. it is critical and this is not just for democrats. it's not just democrats who favor including women as full participants in our society and giving them equal rights. many republicans favor this, too. it is time for all of these people to begin that fight which begins with voting in the upcoming elections. >> thank you so much, joyce. i also want to bring in victoria francesco soto. so you now live in arkansas. i believe you previously lives in texas. we just heard from the walt disney company saying they're going to try to protect all women employees of walt disney. i assume the corporate world is going to do what they can in terms of benefits as walt disney says it will. obviously a major company in florida as well as california. what are the other possibilities, though? this court's moving is very categorical. >> right. so corporations and your traditional chamber of commerce republicans pushing against measures such as these, also with the trans laws across the country. so there will be that movement but ultimately it comes down to what we've been talking about. election. because elections have consequences and as we think about november and the electoral process one thing that has really struck me is the issue of fear. earlier in the show representative bush talked about that fear whereas before it was hypothetical. this law, this right that existed could be taken away, but now it is real. in terms of knowing what motivates people to turn out and vote we know from research that fear and anxiety are incredibly powerful so i think that now in this new reality that we are living we're going to see the electoral process being key and anxiety and fear a key piece of that. >> finally, let me bring back senator mccaskill, former senator claire mccaskill from missouri. talk about the political landscape with so many head winds against democrats and so many republicans voting in states where there are governors' races and others where this could easily spread well beyond the 26 states that already are leaning toward a total ban. >> i think politically one thing that is very dangerous to success is being an extreme person, holding very extreme views. and what this movement has done is they have gone for it. they have done very extreme things. in my state, when it comes to inflation and gas prices, but extremism is powerful. and they can run against these government mandated pregnancies and what is being done with guns, the extreme positions being taken. i think it might work. i do think the business community has a role here. mitch mcconnell's dark money is by and large funded by corporations. they funnel lots of money into these anonymous pacs to elect extreme senators. they need to stop. they need to take a look around and, frankly, for the states that have gone so far like my state, what major corporation is going to be able to attract the workers they need? if they are going to a state where if their daughter is raped she could be a criminal for pursuing termination of her pregnancy or where a young couple couldn't do ivf because of the laws of a state. they're going to have a real problem, these states, in terms of economic growth and attracting companies and workers and these businesses need to wake up and quit playing red shirt blue shirt and get with a team that is not so extreme. >> thanks to our guests today. that does it for us. chris jansing picks up our breaking news coverage right now. we come on this hour with breaking news. hello everyone i'm chris jansing. we have a growing number of questions right now, including what this ruling overturning roe v. wade could mean for rights ranging from privacy to gay marriage. let's start with what we know now. scenes popping up all across the united states like this. these are the live pictures of protests outside the u.s. supreme court. people started gathering immediately once they announced the decision was coming down. crowds now are only growing. already no action required. there are new restrictions on abortions ready to go in 13 different states, the ones highlighted on your screen. they have what are called trigger laws. they are triggered by the fact that the supreme court just overturned roe. one example, idaho's law would make performing an abortion a felony. we're also going to dig into the passage from the decision from ju

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