‘Do We Need to Hit Rock Bottom?’ Mika Brzezinski Livid Over ‘Horrendous’ Arizona Abortion Ruling

MSNBC Morning Joe co-host Mika Brzezinski asked a pertinent question in the fallout of the Arizona Supreme Court upholding an 1864 abortion ban: “Do we need to hit rock bottom to realize what’s happening here?”

Brzezinski hosted a panel discussion on Wednesday, which included co-host Willie Geist, former Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO), Politico’s Sam Stein, and Rev. Al Sharpton to discuss the ruling and its reactions. Also at play was former President Donald Trump’s statement on Monday in which he said abortion laws should be left to the states while bragging that he was responsible for the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade.

The overarching message from the panel? Republicans have no interest in leaving abortion up to voters — they want to let courts decide, including the highest court in the land.

The discussion followed the report by NBC’s Laura Jarrett, who spoke with Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), who celebrated the notion of abortion laws being handed back to “voters” while his wife Erin Hawley is arguing in favor of a nationwide ban on mifepristone, the medical abortion pill, in front of the Supreme Court. McCaskill pointed out the hypocrisy:

They’re not letting the voters decide. They’re trying to get the courts to decide. If they wanted the voters to decide, then why isn’t Josh Hawley out here helping people get the initiative petition on the ballot in Missouri so the voters can decide instead? The Republicans are fighting getting these issues on the ballot. They don’t want voters to decide.

That led McCaskill to point out how weird it is that 19th-century laws are being cited more often as a way to further enact abortion bans (and other legal matters):

Think about this. We’re talking about the Insurrection Act. We’re talking about abortion law that was passed before women could vote. We’re talking now about the Comstock Act? You know what is happening to this country? What is happening to the progress we made around freedom and equality? It’s like now going back to the dark ages. There’s a pattern here. People need to pay attention and not listen to anybody who says Donald Trump has softened his position on abortion. BS.

Geist put the antiquated nature of those laws in perspective when he pointed out that the Arizona abortion ban in question was “a territorial law put in place by a judge appointed by Abraham Lincoln.”

In the background, Brzezinski can be heard saying, “Oh my god,” out of sheer frustration, disbelief, and pure emotion. After a discussion about the political impact the ruling may have, Brzezinski punctuated the conversation with a question:

[O]n a policy level, this is horrendous. This is absolutely horrendous what’s happening. The question is, do we need to hit rock bottom to realize what’s happening here? That’s going to be the question in this 2024 election.

Watch the video above via MSNBC.

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