Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton offered a stark warning if the Supreme Court votes to overturn Roe v. Wade, saying that no American should be complacent because “once you allow this kind of extreme power to take hold, you have no idea who they will come for next.”
The former first lady spoke to CBS News’ Norah O’Donnell in the wake of the leaked draft opinion, first published by POLITICO earlier this week, which suggests that a majority of justices on the high court intends to overturn the landmark 1973 decision, which guarantees the constitutional right to an abortion.
Chief Justice John Roberts confirmed that the draft is authentic, but said it doesn’t constitute a final decision by the court.
Clinton called the opinion “dark” and “incredibly dangerous.”
“It is not just about a woman's right to choose,” she said. “It is about much more than that.”
"Any American who says, 'Look, I'm not a woman, this doesn't affect me. I'm not Black, that doesn't affect me. I'm not gay, that doesn't affect me' — once you allow this kind of extreme power to take hold you have no idea who they will come for next," Clinton continued.
A number of previous sentiments from the former Democratic nominee for president have surfaced on social media this week in the wake of the leaked opinion, including a 2018 Twitter thread in which she alleged that, if confirmed to the high court, Brett Kavanaugh would "help gut or overturn Roe v. Wade."
"Anti-abortion groups have endorsed Kavanaugh, considering him a reliable vote to overturn Roe," she wrote at the time. "His confirmation would be a victory for activists who want to end a woman's right to make her own health decisions."
Maine Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican who supports abortion rights, said earlier this week that "if this leaked draft opinion is the final decision ... it would be completely inconsistent" with what Justice Kavanaugh and Justice Neil Gorsuch, both appointees of former President Donald Trump, "said in their hearings and in our meetings in my office" regarding overturning Roe v. Wade.
Clinton, who ran against Trump in the 2016 presidential election, said that she warned about the possibility that Roe could be overturned should her opponent win.
"I warned about it in the campaign," Clinton told O'Donnell. "I could see that the man I was running against would literally do anything to get the votes of the extreme faction of the Republican Party, who were willing to totally upend precedent and deny women their rights. So I did warn about it. But you know, it's hard to warn in the abstract, and I think a lot of people would say, 'Well, that'll never happen.'"
Clinton told O'Donnell that she hopes the leaked opinion motivates Democrats at the ballot box in November’s midterm elections, which will determine control of Congress for the remainder of President Joe Biden’s first term. Democrats and abortion rights advocates are hoping that the issue will encourage voters in an election cycle that looked initially precarious for the party.
“I hope people now are fully aware of what we’re up against, because the only answer is at the ballot box, to elect people who will stand up for every American’s rights,” she said.