SNL’s Jones leads charge against abortion ban
Trump says he favors exceptions, a contrast with Alabama’s law
Though the “Saturday Night Live” season finale opened with members of the Trump administration singing a corruptionthemed parody of Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now,” the episode’s most heated political moment arrived during the “Weekend Update” segment, stepping angrily into the abortion debate.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump differed with Alabama’s near-total abortion ban, signed by the governor earlier last week, saying he favors some exceptions.
SNL cast member Leslie Jones rolled in wearing a red cloak and white bonnet recognizable to most as the attire of handmaids, or fertile women forced into childbearing enslavement from Margaret Atwood’s 1985 novel “The Handmaid’s Tale” and its Hulu adaptation. The garment has become a symbol of resistance in recent years to anti-abortion efforts.
“Well, basically, we’re all handmaids now,” Jones said, adding: “This is how it starts. I’m out living my life, and then I see on the news (that) a bunch of states are trying to ban abortion and tell me what I can and can’t do with my body.
“Next thing you know, I’m in Starbucks and they won’t take my credit card because I’m a woman — instead of the regular reason, which is, I don’t have no money on there.”
Only male Alabama senators voted on Tuesday to pass the country’s most restrictive abortion bill, which criminalizes the procedure in nearly all circumstances, including rape and incest.
“This look like the casting call of a Lipitor commercial,” she said as a grid of the senators’ faces appeared on screen. “This look like the mug shots of everyone arrested at a massage parlor . ... You can’t control women because I don’t know if y’all heard, but women are the same as humans.”
Late Saturday, Trump implored anti-abortion activists to stay united heading into the 2020 election even as he laid out where his personal views differ from the legislation.
In a series of tweets posted just before midnight Saturday, Trump said gains by anti-abortion activists will “rapidly disappear” if, as he put it, “we are foolish and do not stay UNITED as one.”
Trump did not say whether he is for or against Alabama’s law, underscoring the fine line a president seeking re-election is trying to walk between a conservative base that favors criminalizing access to abortion and potentially angering women who already are skeptical of him.
Trump laid out personal views that differ from the Alabama law, saying he supports the right to an abortion when rape or incest is involved, or when the pregnant woman’s life is at risk.
White House officials did not respond Sunday to emailed requests seeking additional comment on the president’s position.