MSNBC Anchor Accuses Shocked GOP Rep. Marsha Blackburn Of ‘Pandering’ On Abortion Ban

The debate over the Republican House of Representatives has already included surreal moments involving rape pregnancies and masturbating fetuses, but a crackling exchange on MSNBC Live Monday morning yielded yet another WTF moment. Toward the end of a segment on the proposed ban on abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, anchor Craig Melvin bluntly accused Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and her party of “pandering,” which sent Blackburn into a shocked response in which she concluded that the anti-abortion-right’s movement should be using Kermit Gosnell‘s attorney as its co-pilot.

Melvin asked Rep. Blackburn to respond to Rep. Charlie Dent‘s (R-PA) comment that the Republicans pushing the law, which only recently added exceptions for rape and incest, are exhibiting “staggering stupidity.”

“Why are Republicans still going down this road right now, Congresswoman?” he asked. “Even though we both know that this has no chance of ever passing.”

Blackburn responded by cracking wise about senate gridlock, then added “This is something that the American people have said, ‘You need to do something about this.’ Women have said, ‘You need to do something about late-term abortions. There’s a tremendous amount of public support for taking an action, for putting a ban on late-term abortions.”

Polling has consistently shown support for abortion being legal “under certain circumstances,” but the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision sets the mark at 24 weeks, and there is no reliable polling to suggest there is support for a more restrictive ban, which would also be unconstitutional.

“Congresswoman, is this purely pandering?” Melvin blurted out.

“No, it is not pandering at all,” Blackburn said, taken aback. “Is saving the life of women, and of babies, pandering? Absolutely not. I can’t believe you would say something like that. My goodness!”

Melvin pointed out that “The President is not going to sign it, the Senate won’t take it up, so clearly this is a measure that is symbolic, is it not?”

“You know, it would be terrible if we sat on our hand, knowing what we learned through Kermit Gosnell’s trial,” Rep. Blackburn replied. “Even his own attorney says 24 weeks is a bad determiner, that the law needs to be moved back to 16 or 17 weeks. We’re not moving this back as far as Kermit Gosnell’s attorney said it should be moved back.”

Blackburn continued to push through to the end of the segment, which gave Melvin no chance to point out that a 20 week ban is unconstitutional, or that Kermit Gosnell attorney Jack McMahon only suggested a shorter time limit in order to evade responsibility for his client’s actions. Blackburn’s citation of McMahon is a bit like taking recipe tips from Jeffrey Dahmer‘s lawyer.

Aside from that bizarre talking point, which mainly seems to be the result of a conservative belief that the mere mention of Kermit Gosnell’s name scores them piles of Super Mario coins, Blackburn’s performance was another example of skillful maneuvering by an anti-abortion-rights activist. She seemed genuinely shocked by Craig Melvin’s accusation, and she probably was. While the vote on this measure is many things, “pandering” implies a lack of sincerity, and these people are nothing if not sincere in their beliefs. She channeled that shock into a volley of talking points that ran out the clock, giving Melvin no opportunity to correct any of them, even if he had wanted to.

As ThinkProgress notes, the anti-abortion-rights crowd is not to be dismissed lightly:

Even though the national 20-week ban has no chance of becoming law, the fact that Republicans in the House brought it to a vote illustrates the fact that abortion opponents aren’t backing down from the fight. Over the past decade, anti-abortion Republicans have relied on an “incremental” strategy to limit abortion access, passing dozens of state-level restrictions couched in terms of “women’s health and safety” rather than attempting to ban the procedure altogether. Lawmakers used to be wary to advance stringent laws that overstep Roe and are likely be struck down in court. That’s not the case anymore. This session, state legislatures have passed increasingly harsh abortion bans — like a six-week ban in North Dakota and a 12-week ban in Arkansas — and they’ve made it clear that they want to test the boundaries of Roe v. Wade.

Even with no chance of passage, this vote is much more than symbolic. This is a long game that these people have been playing for forty years, and every vote that a Democrat makes against this bill has the chance to serve a purpose down the road.

Here’s the clip, from MSNBC Live:

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.