Governor Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI) said Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that President Joe Biden should be fighting for so-called abortion rights by more.
Partial transcript as follows:
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, you won reelection by 10 points, Democrats swept the government here. And you tied a lot of your candidacy to the issue of abortion, which was also on the ballot. How much of a democratic win do you attribute to that one issue?
WHITMER: I think it really did mobilize a lot of people and brought a lot of people who are not traditional Democratic voters to the conversation and- and gave me their support as well, because I was the one fighting for these fundamental rights that we’d had for 50 years that were at risk of being ripped away. I’d held roundtables all across the state and listened to people, I think that’s an art. And it was really maybe sometimes lost in this moment, in this country. But it was fascinating to hear women who showed up who said,”I didn’t vote for you in 2018. I’m not a Democrat. But I’m out knocking doors for you, because you’re the only one fighting for my rights, my daughter’s rights.” And it was a powerful motivator. So I do think that people understand this fundamental right is absolutely crucial.
BRENNAN: And that you think you saw crossover vote- voters here in Michigan?
WHITMER: I believe that for sure. And I would also say I- if you look at what happened in Ohio last year, in Kansas, was the first state, we’ve seen pretty red states pretty conservative, you know, leaning states robustly support the right to abortion. The right for a woman to make her own decisions and reproductive freedom is a motivator.
BRENNAN: So there are roughly nine states, maybe more, but battlegrounds like Arizona, where access to abortion may be on the ballot as well this year. Why do you think that that may benefit Joe Biden and his reelection? Why do you think?
WHITMER: Alright, you know, those nine states have a specific thing at the state level, but abortion is on the ballot in all 50 states. Abortion is on the ballot for every one of us. Because if we–
BRENNAN: –Theoretically speaking you’re saying?
WHITMER: Well if we elect a Donald Trump or a Nikki Haley, or a Ron DeSantis, they all have pledged to sign a national abortion ban. And so in a state like–
BRENNAN: –They haven’t signed, no, Donald Trump hasn’t said what he’s going to do. He just said six weeks is too much for him.
WHITMER: He’s also the one out there taking credit for the Supreme Court ripping this right away with the Dobbs decision that overruled Roe v. Wade. So it is very clear that abortion is on this ballot for all of us. And I think that’s why it’s so important that we are out barnstorming Michigan, because in a state where we just not rejected Dobbs, but we took it a step further by expanding access to reproductive freedom, we also are at risk of losing that if Joe Biden’s not the president of the United States after this next election.
BRENNAN: So you brought up Nikki Haley, she makes the point that to pass a federal law, you would need- to restore what was in Roe vs. Wade, Democrats would need 60 Senate votes, they’d need to be able to get through the House and they’d need the presidency. That math isn’t there. So that claim that Democrats could secure the right, isn’t that giving people false hope? Just like promising to ban it is a false pledge. It’s just – the math doesn’t add up.
WHITMER: I don’t think so. Because right now, one in three women in this country live in a state where they have no access to reproductive freedom, to make their own decision. If they have a partial miscarriage at home or sepsis, or they’re at the- reproductive health is at risk. They have no ability to get that- that service. And so this is why I think if a Donald Trump is president, or any of the people on the Republican side right now, unfortunately is, they are going to promote an abortion ban for all of us. Right now, this president has said he is absolutely going to fight for reproductive freedom, even if he doesn’t have a Congress that will send that bill to his desk. Him being in the White House keeps a national ban from happening.
BRENNAN: You’re saying if, somehow, Republicans were to sweep the Senate and sweep the House, Joe Biden would veto that bill. But–
WHITMER: Yes.
BRENNAN: You actually think that that’s a legitimate promise to make to voters? Because Joe Biden doesn’t talk about abortion much, and in fact, he has said he’s not big on it because of his faith. Does he need to talk about it more?
WHITMER: I think it would be good if he did, I know that one tenet of his belief system is that women and only women at- with their families and- and healthcare professionals are the ones who know what decision is right for them. And that he is fighting and going to continue to fight to make sure that that is squarely the ability of- of an American woman to make that decision.
BRENNAN: You think he needs to be the messenger on that more?
WHITMER: I don’t think it would hurt. I think people want to know that this is a president that is fighting. And I think he has said that, to use maybe more- more- you know, blunt language, maybe that would be helpful. But he’s- that’s his position. And that’s why I am absolutely confident that when people see this matchup and really understand the stakes of this upcoming election, that, too, could be a motivator for people to come out and vote.
BRENNAN: So here in Michigan, it is now protected under law, access to abortion. Viability is decided by a health care professional who determines the likelihood of the fetus’s survival outside the uterus. Practically speaking, science is going to improve. Viability is going to move closer and closer to conception. This is one of those challenges. Is this an issue that just gets litigated again and again, and again?
WHITMER: I think I have come to the conclusion that a right that was there for almost my whole life, I’m 52, is now very much in jeopardy, and that I’m gonna have to continue to fight to protect this right. The Roe standard was a question about viability, did have, I think, real- made a lot of sense. And- and I think that’s why you see people coming out in states all across America and saying we’re demanding this right. And that should be the standard.
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