A story that Democrats were so quick to exploit, pointing their fingers at Republicans for forcing a 10 year-old Ohio child to have to travel to get an abortion because red states banned the procedure, turned around and blamed the GOP for trying to “make hay.”
During a segment of PBS Newshour, anchor William Brangham believed that the shocking story could give Democrats a running chance to beat Republicans in the November midterms.
Recounting what happened, Brangham said “Democrats seem to believe that this could be one of the things that might give them at least some trace of a fighting chance in the midterms. And we saw we this week this sort of horrendous case of a young 10-year-old girl who had been raped. She got pregnant. She was — then had to leave her state and go to another state where abortion would still be allowed.”
He then accused Republicans of doubting the story actually happened, questioning if it will actually help Democrats.
“And GOP officials tried to make hay of it. They doubted that that story really existed. The local A.G. said, we're going to go after the doctor that performed this. Do you think that — that issue and the extremity of the way that this is being handled will actually benefit Democrats?”
Brangham really wanted to drive that question home to viewers because he repeated it once more.
“This was an incredibly extreme case, in some ways crystallized the sharpness and the horribleness of this division in this country. Do you think it will redound to the Democrats' benefit?” Brangham asked.
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Jonathan Capehart then took his views on the topic to the extreme, claiming that the child was being “persecuted and prosecuted” by the right for getting an abortion, comparing it to the Handmaid’s Tale and what America looked like under the Trump administration.
“We are in Handmaid's Tale territory here. We are turning into Gilead. And if there are people out there who are upset by the Supreme Court decision, by what Republican legislators around the country in states and localities are doing to further restrictions and bans on abortion, I don't know what else could push people to the polls more than not just being stripped of a constitutional right, but having your right to — right to freedom, right to privacy, right to liberty not just taken away, but local officials doing everything they can to ensure that you don't have autonomy over your own body,” Capehart said.
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