Yahoo Movies ‘Last Week Tonight’: John Oliver Gutted Over Roe V. Wade Reversal, “Heartbreaking, Enraging And Supreme Injustice”
Last Week Tonight host John Oliver had few jokes regarding the Supreme Court reversal last week of Roe v. Wade, a landmark decision which guaranteed women’s access to abortion for the last 49 years.
At least twenty states are expected to legislate some restriction to abortion access.
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After wishing he could have a carefree expression like the recent Westminster Dog Show winner, Oliver said the recent SCOTUS decision to restrict women’s healthcare options is preventing that.
Oliver went on to raze anybody rejoicing in this decision, including a Texas Attorney General who made the day of the Roe v. Wade reversal into an office holiday.
“You don’t get a holiday to celebrate the loss of rights for millions of people when you already have one and it’s already called Columbus Day,” Oliver quipped.
In response to Mike Pence’s recent statement that “life won,” Oliver pointed out to the former vice president that for “disabled people and other vulnerable groups, pregnancy can be a death sentence.”
Oliver explains that on top of abortion bans, certain states will start criminalizing those who seek out-of-state abortions.
“We’re in uncharted territory here,” Oliver says. “When you hear people say we’re returning to a pre-Roe landscape that’s not entirely true.”
Since there have been so many technological advances in the last half-century, Oliver claims that soon prosecutors will employ phone-track data if they believe the loss of pregnancy is deliberate.
“The message it sends is pretty clear: we don’t care if pregnancy kills you, we don’t care if you don’t want to pregnant, we don’t care about you at all,” Oliver said.
Oliver concludes with some hope saying the moment can be an opportunity to help create a movement to win back women’s rights, but offers little condolences to the audience.
“The only thing I know for sure right now is that this week was heartbreaking. It was enraging. It was a supreme injustice. And it was, if I may quote the Michigan Legislative Black Caucus, ‘some absolute bulls***.'”
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