Samantha Bee Just Perfectly Explained What’s Wrong With the War on Women


Today, the Supreme Court heard opening arguments for Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt, a case many are describing as the most consequential abortion decision to face the high court in decades.

To help explain what’s at stake for women and how the case could could affect abortion clinics nationwide, Samantha Bee recently dedicated a segment of her new show to a conversation with one of the legislators who crafted HB 2, the 2013 Texas anti-abortion law central to the dispute. But once Bee sat down with Texas Rep. Dan Flynn, it became obvious that he didn’t know too much about women’s health, reproduction, or the lack of evidence that the HB 2 restrictions, which have radically curtailed reproductive rights in his state, are medically necessary.

“I’m not a doctor,” he said at one point. “I don’t know, but I’ve listened to many doctors tell me about the procedures that happen when you do an invasive surgery.”

Bee looked stunned. “You don’t seem to know anything specifically about abortion really at all, and yet you did all this with building regulations,” Bee responded.

For more on the war on women and background on Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt, read our deep-dive here.

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In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

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