Scientifically-Challenged Coates Compares Abortion To A Vasectomy

CNN may portray itself as a network that believes in science, but senior legal analyst Laura Coates destroyed that façade on Monday’s Don Lemon Tonight As she responded to the leaked draft of her opinion suggesting that the Supreme Court might have overturned it Roe v. Wade by alleging that women won’t be equal to men in post-Roe America by pointing out that Justice Alito did not mention vasectomies.

After being asked by Lemon for her thoughts, Coates declared that the draft opinion “seems to be in line with how women are losing their rights in this country. If true, this opinion could be shortened and simplified. Women are not viewed as equal to men.”

Coates also lamented that abortion is not treated the same way as simply traveling between states or getting married, “Well, in this instance, the Court already said that there are some areas, if you believe fundamental rights include things like marriage, include things like interstate travel and include things like contraception and the like, well then, surely, you would believe that within that same umbrella of thought that things related to one’s health and agency over one’s body should also be in that privacy sphere.”

Coates retorted on her earlier themes of women becoming second-class citizens.

You have justice. This codification says that when it is about a woman’s body, agency over our choices and bodies, and when we have to follow through to the conclusion of an official opinion, this code will not be accepted. Politico’s draft opinion doesn’t contain any reference to vasectomies. It does not mention a man’s inability choose whether or not to have a baby. However, I think that that is what the point of the article.

Coates could be charged with transphobia in another setting, but she has shown that she doesn’t follow science. Vasectomy can be more likened to a hysterectomy, as neither of these procedures takes away the life or innocence of a baby.

Coates then took to lamenting federalism, “that we do not want to give individual states the autonomy to decide because then we would not be the United States of America. Our countries would become separate entities and citizens in different states would have different rights. That is simply not how this nation is supposed to operate.”

Concluding her rant, Coates showed no concern that somebody leaked the draft, presumably for the purposes of pressuring the justices, “But if I can just say, on the backdrop of thinking about all these aspects, it’s quite telling that in the United States of America people are in far more shock about the leak of a Supreme Court opinion more so than they are about the fundamental rights of women evaporating with the stroke of a pen.”

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The transcript of the May 2, 2012 show is available here:

CNN Don Lemon Tonight

5/2/2022

10:00 PM ET

DON LEMON: Laura Coates. I would like to call you. Your reaction?

LAURA COATES : I’m sorry. You’ll notice that I am losing my voice. It seems that it is in keeping with the way women lose their rights in this nation. This view can, if it is true, be narrowed and clarified quite easily. It is not common for women to be viewed equally with men.

In a country, the right of privacy is a way to talk about a fundamental rights. This means that we don’t want anyone’s rights infringe upon another’s. My rights end at mine and it’s all about consent.

The Court has already stated that certain areas are protected by fundamental rights. For example, interstate travel, marriage and contraception would all be covered.

You have instead this justice. If this draft opinion is believed and followed up to an official conclusion, you will have the codification. It states that women have no agency over their bodies and therefore cannot be equal with men when it come to the control of our body.

The draft opinion I received from Politico and elsewhere does not mention vasectomies. It also mentions a woman’s inability or inability to decide when and how to give birth.

When you consider this, take into consideration all aspects of society on which we depend. We have stated that we don’t want individual states to make decisions for us. It would make us separate nations and individuals in each state wouldn’t have the same rights in any other state.

This is not the way this country is meant to function. While there may be differences in laws, the most important aspects are the autonomy and agency over privacy decisions that last for fifty years. That means that my grandma, grandmother, and great-grandma still live at that time. It is time for the States to decide. I have no idea what country this would be.

However, I think it is telling to say that the United States of America are more upset about the Supreme Court’s opinion being leaked than the loss of fundamental rights for women.