On Wednesday, the “big three” of ABC, CBS, and NBC all led off their flagship morning news shows with coverage of the Arizona state Supreme Court ruling reinstalling an abortion law dating back to 1864 that protects unborn babies unless the life of the mother is threatened.
Given the liberal media’s ebullience toward killing babies, they were giddy about this “bombshell ruling” and argued this “game changer” ensure abortion — not the economy, inflation, national security, or anything else — will “define” and “be at the center of this presidential election” to help elect Democrats.
They weren’t really interested in the facts, including the reality that while this was framed as something originally enacted during the Civil War before Arizona became a state, our friend Erick Erickson noted this was around for over a century until Roe v. Wade in 1972.
CBS Mornings was all-in on wanting to use abortion to fear-monger voters, giving it a hefty 12 minutes and 42 seconds.
Co-host and Democratic donor Gayle King reacted to a riff on the ruling from Tuesday’s Daily Show to sound all crestfallen about what “unfortunately…is not a joke” because the Arizona might end up “reinstating a law from the 1800s – the 1800s — that bans nearly all abortion in the state.”
On the flip side, she reveled in the fact that “it could have a big political impact and a very important swing state this November.”
Senior White House correspondent Weijia Jiang concurred by calling it “a game changer” for 2024 in “a battleground state that has been trending Democratic” and led by a Democratic governor in Katie Hobbs who “blasted the state’s conservative Supreme Court.”
In the second half-hour, the show brought in Hobbs and, aside from a question about a 15-week limit on abortion from co-host Tony Dokoupil, were pathetically soft and even argued Arizona is now a real-life Handmaid’s Tale (click “expand”):
KING: You called yesterday’s decision a dark day in Arizona. I’ve heard people use the phrases like “Is this Handmaid’s Tale come to life in real life?” How should we all be processing this? What are you thinking?
(….)
KING: Governor Hobbs we’ve heard what it is. I’m just curious about what do we do now? Even Kari Lake who challenged you for the governor’s race during the last election has come out against it? Are you talking to your top legislative leaders? What are you trying to do to make sure this does not actually happen?
(….)
DOKOUPIL: Governor, I want to get into that ballot initiative and the politics of this particularly come November because that’s a very big deal. But on the question of what to do right now, do you support a 15-week ban that your predecessor signed that was the law there in Arizona before this court ruling?
HOBBS: Well, that’s the ban that will be in place if the 1864 ban is struck down, but Arizonans don’t support extreme abortion bans and this 15-week ban is still extreme. Again, no exception for rape or incest, no regard for complications of pregnancy. That’s what will be in place. And again, Arizonans will have the ability to weigh in on this with a constitutional amendment in November.
DOKOUPIL: So it sounds like you’re saying repeal the 1864 law and go back to the 15 week-ban until November when you want to push it to the voters.
HOBBS: Absolutely, yes.
DOKOUPIL: So this — the health complications and women’s right to access, all that is important. I want to put it to one side, though for a question to just ask politically. Bottom line, is this advantageous for Democrats strategically, politically with the White House, the Senate and Congress potentially on the line with Arizona’s outcome in November?
(….)
NATE BURLESON: Governor, a couple of questions before we let you go. Vice President Kamala Harris will be visiting Arizona following this ruling. Have you talked to the White House about this?
(….)
KING: You know, Governor, when the interview started, you used the word “reeling.” I think a lot of people are feeling that way. How did it come to this? I think many people who woke up and heard this news yesterday, woke up this morning and heard more of it were thinking, this was a Civil War — that was around during the Civil War.
HOBBS: Yeah.
KING: Women couldn’t even vote, how does what’s happened in 2024 in your state, with you at the helm?
ABC’s Good Morning America was also licking its chops at what this means for their party. Co-host Robin Roberts groused about Arizona “bracing for one of the strictest abortion bans in the country” with “President Biden calling it extreme and dangerous.”
Co-host and former Clinton hack George Stephanopoulos proclaimed that “the bombshell ruling on abortions rights out of Arizona” means “[i]t is very clear that this issue is going to be at the center of this presidential election.”
Chief congressional correspondent Rachel Scott is a progressive tool in her own right, so she too bragged that Arizona’s state Supreme Court handing down “one of the strictest abortion bans in the country” has “turn[ed] up the heat on an issue that could define this election.”
For good measure, Scott doubled down on this deciding 2024 in the second hour.
Finally, on NBC’s Today, co-hosts Savannah Guthrie and Craig Melvin also played along. In opening teases, Melvin called it “a bombshell ruling” while Guthrie said the decision sent “shockwaves” across the country and “[t]hrust[ed] the abortion issue front and center”
“Battleground, a new ruling by Arizona’s Supreme Court sending shockwaves. Judges upholding a near total abortion ban dating back to the civil war, punishing doctors who perform the procedure…Just ahead, how some Republicans distancing themselves from the decision…and Democrats ready to pounce,” she added.
Correspondent and NBC News NOW anchor Hallie Jackson also used the “shockwaves” bit and proclaimed it further emphasized why “abortion access will be” such a “critical…issue” in the presidential election.
After her report, Guthrie dubbed abortion “a potent political issue” for November and, as if the liberal media aren’t interested in also making abortion the #1 issue, Jackson boasted about “Democrats…hoping to press this issue from now until November” (click “expand”):
GUTHRIE: Hallie, as mentioned, this is a potent political issue —
JACKSON: Yeah.
GUTHRIE: — with major repercussions for the 2024 presidential election in Arizona, a key battleground state and there’s an effort to have an abortion issue — a ballot issue in November. What’s the status of that and what’s the implication?
(….)
JACKSON: Since the midterms in 2022, when this has been on the ballot, voters have voted to provide some level of abortion access. We’ve seen that in polling too with the majority of Americans saying that this is something they support. This is why this is a tricky issue for Republicans to walk right now. We saw some in the GOP trying to thread that needle even on reproductive rights when the Alabama/IVF issue came up, for example. Keep in mind. Democrats are going to make this front and center. They’re going to try to highlight this now through November. We’ve talked about that new ad out from the Biden campaign — that emotional abortion ad going after Donald Trump. A senior Biden campaign adviser tells me overnight that, since this Arizona court ruling came out just yesterday, they have decided to spend what they call significantly more money on that ad in the state of Arizona, Savannah, which is a real indication how the Biden team, how Democrats are hoping to press this issue from now until November.
To see the relevant CBS transcript from April 10, click here.