Whitmer on MSNBC: Female officials tell ‘our sad, toughest’ stories to show impact of anti-abortion laws

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said on MSNBC on Monday that the recent wave of abortion bans across the country is about “trying to control women.”

“I think so many of these decisions are made in a vacuum with a bunch of men sitting around a table and deciding what a woman’s rights should be, what our access to health care should be — trying to control women by controlling our bodies,” Whitmer said.

MSNBC played a clip of state Sen. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), who talked about being raped. Whitmer spoke about sharing on the state Senate floor in 2013 her experience being raped as part a different abortion debate on the so-called “rape insurance” law.

She said that unfortunately, it often falls to female legislators who have to “go to the microphone and tell our most personal, sad, toughest stories because we want to put a face on this.

“This is not just an issue in a vacuum — this is about families and women and our rights and our autonomy. That’s why it’s so important that women are standing up and our … male allies, too. This is about control and autonomy and freedom.”

“It’s critical that people understand the real-world impacts of cruel, poorly informed laws,” she added.

At the beginning of the interview, Whitmer told MSNBC host Hallie Jackson, “Thank you for highlighting this issue. It’s really important.”

She noted that her “veto pen is ready” for the bills banning the dilation and evacuation abortion procedure the GOP-led Michigan Legislature passed last week.

“They moved last week before Right to Life was in town and it’s one special interest group that’s pushing this. And it’s a distraction from all the other really important things we need to be tackling,” Whitmer said.

“This is a safe medical procedure that has saved women’s lives — that has protected their reproductive ability in the future — that is now under attack here in Michigan,” she said. “The good news is we have three pro-choice Democratic women at the top of state office here in Michigan right now and we are all absolutely committed to protecting a woman’s right to choose.

A coalition of women’s groups is holding a rally in Ann Arbor on Tuesday as part of a national day of action called “Stop the Bans.”

Jackson ended by asking Whitmer about the politics of the abortion issue, noting that now-President Donald Trump won Michigan in 2016. She asked if this could help the Democratic presidential nominee in 2020. Whitmer said she thought it could, but turned to her stump speech.

“Well, you know, people in Michigan want the roads fixed,” she said. “They want opportunities to get the skills to get into a higher-paying jobs and to clean up drinking water and protect the Great Lakes. These are the fundamentals that people are focused on here.”