Last week the Met Gala was thoroughly overshadowed by a leaked draft Supreme Court decision which would overturn Roe v. Wade, opening the door for U.S. states to ban abortion. Now Last Week Tonight host John Oliver has broken down “what this ruling means, how we got to this point, and where we go now” in an 18-minute segment. In short, the situation is potentially “catastrophic.”
“Long term, we need elected officials to stop tiptoeing around the issue of abortion and take steps to properly safeguard it,” said Oliver. “Now, the dream version of this would be a constitutional amendment that would support people’s fundamental rights to make personal decisions about contraception, pregnancy, marriage, and family life. But until then, we’re gonna need other legislation at the state and federal level.
“And while we’re at it, we may now also need to shore up all the other rights supposedly guaranteed by Supreme Court rulings from voting rights to gay marriage, because the fact is, under the current Supreme Court, your basic rights today could become crimes tomorrow.”
Trevor Noah explains the terrible impact overturning Roe could have beyond abortion access
Noting how overturning Roe v Wade could condemn thousands of people in the U.S. to poverty and death, Oliver urged people to vote. However he also acknowledged that, after years of watching elected representatives fail to govern in their constituent’s interests, many potential voters are tired and disillusioned.
“I also get why ‘just vote’ is an infuriatingly insufficient slogan when voting rights themselves are under siege,” said Oliver. “I cannot defend the system we currently have, but it is unfortunately the one we’ve got right now. So electoral victories are going to be critical here, but they also must be followed by concrete actions by those that we elect. Because Republicans, if nothing else, just grimly demonstrated what committed action can actually achieve.”
