MAXWELL: Jennifer, do you think [the shocking result] could be because of some of the stories that we've been reading just in the last couple of weeks? You mentioned earlier the woman in Texas who carried her dead fetus inside of her for two weeks because of the Texas ban on abortion, post-Dobbs. Speak to those unintended consequences and that wake-up call that Cecile [Richards, former head of Planned Parenthood] is talking about. Did the anti-abortion movement perhaps underestimate the backlash that they would receive after Dobbs?
RUBIN: I actually don't think it was unintended. This is exactly what they think of women, this is exactly what they think of abortion. the Supreme Court put absolutely no value on women's fundamental rights, on their health, on their lives, and this is the natural consequence of what they did.
And I think these stories have been arresting, have been deeply disturbing, but more important than a specific case here or there, they have sustained a conversation among women, among men, people who normally would not be discussing this issue or maybe not discussing politics at all. And now they are looking at this and they are having this conversation. Are politicians going to force someone to remain preganant and force them to give birth? This sounds like something out of communist China, and in a sense it is. It's tyranny.
So, I also think, following up on what Cecile said, it's not only national Republicans that are out of touch--all those state lawmakers that have been passing these bans, and the governors who have been signing it, they are completely out of touch with the people in their state. And those people, many of them, are going to be on the ballot as well. And Democrats are certainly going to point out that state lawmakers, governors, all sorts of people up and down the ballot have been promising to enforce these draconian laws. You have prosecutors, you have the attorney general of Indiana who is going to go after a doctor who performed an abortion for a ten-year-old rape victim.
So all of these people are going to be held accountable, they are going to face the voters. This is real, this is not now hypothetical. They may wax lyrically about a future person that is yet to be born, but we are looking at born people, we are looking at women, who have real lives and real interests in maintaining their freedom.
I cannot express how far this exceeds expectations that people in the pro-choice community had. This is Kansas. And I think if you had talked to people yesterday, many people would have been looking just to see if it was close, and to say, well if it was this close in Kansas, look what it could be in another state. Instead, it's winning by 25 points. That's almost unheard of. And if you want a unifying issue for Americans--we're supposedly divided on everything, Democrats and Republicans can't agree on anything--well, over 60% of Kansans agree on pro-choice initiatives.
So I think this is going to be important for every office, for judges who are on the ballot in many states, state Supreme Court justices, and I think we are going to see a real revolution and a real uprising. I think the Republicans maybe expected everyone to roll over and just kind of give up and throw up their hands because the Supreme Court said there is no right to abortion. That was the opening bell and I think you're seeing the real force of the American public come through.
And I will add that the reason you see this so strongly and you don't see the same results in state legislatures and governors who are passing these is because we do not have voting rights in this country. Those state legislators are in districts that are meant to curtail voting, that curtail the rights of the poor, and people of color. So they don't reflect the views of the people they are supposed to be representing.
So I think this is a big wake-up call for pro-choice forces and a big wake-up call for democracy, and if people aren't representing your interest, you can vote them out and get people who are.