MSNBC host Joy Reid recently featured a segment on her show, The ReidOut, with abortion activists Shannon Brewer and Mini Timmaraju. The segment was focused on the second anniversary of the Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned the controversial Roe v. Wade case. While Reid, Brewer, and Timmaraju lamented the decision and its effects on women, the conversation quickly turned to outrageous claims and racial allusions.
Reid began the segment by playing a video of Vice President Kamala Harris claiming that former President Donald Trump was guilty of “stealing reproductive freedom from the women of America.” She then cited a statistic from Planned Parenthood, a strong advocate of abortion, to highlight the “cruelty of the post-Dobbs world.” According to Reid, “21 states have enacted some form of abortion ban, impacting more than 28 million women, trans, and nonbinary people of reproductive age.”
As the discussion continued, the panel became fixated on racial disparities. Timmaraju made the audacious claim that the US had become a “segregated society” due to the Supreme Court’s decision. She stated that “we’re essentially living in a segregated society again. We have states rights and states where you can live as a pregnant person with freedoms and states where you cannot.” Reid also jumped on the racial bandwagon, citing statistics that supposedly showed the disproportionate impact of the end of Roe on women of color.
However, the panel conveniently ignored the disturbing history of organizations like Planned Parenthood, which was founded by outspoken racist and eugenicist Margaret Sanger. It is hypocritical to argue for reproductive rights while ignoring the racist ideologies of the organization fighting for them.
Timmaraju then spoke about a “moral obligation” to fight for federal protection for abortion, claiming that women have to “risk their lives” by traveling from state to state to access the procedure. This language paints women seeking abortions as heroic victims, rather than acknowledging the fact that they are making a choice to end a human life.
Brewer joined in, echoing Reid’s outrage at the fact that the majority of legislators who make decisions on abortion rights are male. She went on to falsely state that the majority of protestors outside of abortion clinics are also male and suggested that the pro-life movement is primarily driven by men who want to control women and keep them at home.
Towards the end of the segment, Reid and Brewer continued to push the narrative of a politicized Supreme Court, expressing their disappointment in the unanimous decision in the Mifepristone case, which favored the pro-abortion side. However, instead of acknowledging the strength of their win, they claimed that the decision was motivated by the upcoming election.
The segment on The ReidOut was a prime example of the bias and manipulation often seen in the mainstream media. Reid and her guests used outrageous claims, twisted statistics, and inflammatory language to push their pro-abortion agenda. It is clear that they have little regard for the rights of the unborn and are willing to manipulate the truth to push their agenda forward. Such biased reporting only serves to divide us as a society and perpetuate harmful narratives. It is time for journalists like Reid to start reporting the facts, rather than promoting their own personal agendas.