There is no better illustration of why the "both sides need a voice" approach is a lie and does a disservice to viewers than seeing Jim Acosta try to correct Students for Life president Kristan Hawkins' persistent lies and finally getting fed up enough to just cut her off.
She never should have been on in the first place. There was absolutely no need for a "both sides" approach to the Supreme Court ruling that women have the right to emergency abortions when they are bleeding out on the floor of the waiting room. Seriously, this is a no-brainer and was also an opportunity for SCOTUS to affirm women's right to reproductive health care across the nation, which they did not do.
Dr. Chris Pernell, Director of the NAACP Center for Health Equity, was clear about that, saying "I agree with Justice Jackson, this was a moment for the Supreme Court to decide clearly and compellingly in the favor of the universal rights of all people, especially women. And that didn't happen."
Yes, that's pretty much the sum of it. Just to recap, an Idaho hospital was sued because they refused to treat pregnant people who came to the Emergency Room in need of a D&C or other reproductive health services, citing Idaho's ban on abortion and fear of liability as a result.
And of course, CNN had to bring Kristan Hawkins on for "balance," which is absurd. And Hawkins was there just to spew misinformation about everything abortion-related.
When asked for her reaction to the decision, she said, "Well, I think President Trump, the GOP needs to take note. The Biden administration continues to make the case to weaponize federal agencies to make abortion a federal issue."
This wasn't a case involving federal agencies. It was a simple case where EMTALA, the law that requires emergency rooms to stabilize patients when they come in, overrode Idaho's stupid abortion ban. But wait, there's more.
"If Idaho, while this is tragic, saying Idaho must allow for abortions to prevent infertility, future infertility, the FDA must now change its policy to do the same, given their no-test online distribution scheme of chemical abortion pills, which we know harm women's future fertility as 15 percent of women of our population are R.H. negative," she blathered. "And there is no testing now because of the Biden administration and their FDA on these dangerous chemical abortion pills that she's having these pill abortions."
See how she did that? There is NOTHING that she said that has anything to do with this case. Literally nothing. She immediately just used the platform she never should have had to spout off and fight some culture wars.
After some more back and forth and more bullshit, Acosta had enoughl "I'm sorry, mifeprestone has been proven to be safe," he said. "It's been that way for years."
"But thank you for coming on," he added. and with that, he cut off the interview.
Kristan Hawkins never should have been invited to comment. There was no need for her to comment, especially when everyone understands what her (and every right-wing nutjob's) position is. But given that she was there, I'm glad he cut her off before she could spread more lies.
