in the summer of 1994, i was raped. i became pregnant, and i chose to have an abortion. choosing to have an abortion was the hardest decision i had ever made, but at 18 years old, i knew it was the right decision for me. i m compelled to speak out because of the real risks of the clock being turned back to those days before roe versus wade, to the days when i was a teenager and had a back alley abortion in mexico. i was one of the lucky ones, madam chair. a lot of girls and women in my generation didn t make it. they died from unsafe abortions. i consulted with my doctors who told me that any future pregnancy would likely also be high risk to me and the child, similar to what i had gone through. i very much wanted to have more children, but i simply could not imagine going through that again. the supreme court has allowed a new texas law restricting abortions to go into effect and
protect rights would be dismantled if this texas technique prevails. so what s going on in the district court in texas has importance independent of what happens in the u.s. supreme court in the mississippi case. professor, quickly before you go, i want to get your reaction to hearing dr. moi yet tee say and i ve heard this from people in states like texas before that roe versus wade didn t apply in texas anyway, that even though there was a victory for abortion rights in the supreme court for roe versus wade, that never really got enforced in states like texas. well, in a certain sense that s undoubtedly true, and dr. may yet tee is closer to the ground level here than i am, and i ve certainly heard stories throughout the the country that roe v. wade was true in theory, but not always true in practice. certainly the poorest women who might have needed medicaid or other help to pay for abortions
it did not have to be this way. those things did not have to be on the supreme court s agenda tonight, but they are there because the supreme court has never been enough for democratic voters. the supreme court has never been enough in and of itself for democratic voters to turn out and vote in presidential elections, and so now we see large demonstrations this weekend protesting what the supreme court might do, what the supreme court seems poised to do, overturn roe versus wade. the last three presidential elections won by a republican were won by tiny margins that were achievable only because republican voters care about the supreme court enough to turn out and create that very tiny winning margin voting for the kind of supreme court justices that they want, and now republican voters have the
were cut out by the hyde amendment and all kinds of so-called trap laws imposed obstacles to the enforcement of roe v. wade by saying that you had to have certain waiting periods, sonograms. you had to have a procedure done in a hospital that was equipped for full surgical procedures in case something went wrong, and all of those laws made it much harder. but still, roe v. wade was the law and that s what s very much in danger now. because if roe is completely hollowed out, then the women of this country are going to be in terrible danger. harvard law professor lawrence tribe, thank you very much for joining us tonight. always appreciate it. thank you, lawrence. thank you. coming up tonight, chuck schumer, nancy pelosi, and members of the biden white house team are meeting at the capitol for another late night of the negotiations. we ll be joined tonight by congresswoman aya na presley and