On Wednesday, the “big three’ of ABC, CBS, and NBC had full stories on their flagship morning news shows to reiterate their joy over Biden regime being so “eager” to make “abortion care” “front and center in the fight for the White House” and “drive voters to the polls” with the latest case being the focus on Florida’s six-week pro-life law being “one of the strictest abortion bans in the United States.”
As these round-ups usually go, ABC’s Good Morning America was the giddiest thanks to the team of co-host/former Clinton official George Stephanopoulos and chief White House correspondent/chief Biden apple polisher Mary Bruce.
“Abortion rights fight. As Florida’s six week ban takes effect this morning, President Biden puts the issue front and center in the fight for the White House,” Stephanopoulos boasted in an opening tease.
Later on with the chyron reading in part “Abortion Showdown Takes Center Stage”, Bruce gushed that her friends are “eager to put the issue of abortion front and center in this campaign, and today, sending the Vice President, Kamala Harris — t heir chief messenger on this — down to Florida”.
Bruce made sure to highlight Trump’s Time magazine interview and that gotcha question about states surveilling pregnant women and even did her President a solid by not playing a campaign video released overnight and instead reading a portion herself (since it’s littered with jump cuts thanks to Biden’s inability to string together coherent thoughts).
“[T]he Biden campaign is hoping all of this will drive voters to the polls for them in November,” she later concluded, to which fill-in co-host Gio Benitez conurred it’s “[a] major issue to be sure.”
Over on NBC’s Today, co-host Savannah Guthrie called Florida’s law an “abortion showdown” in a tease and said NBC will get into “[w]hat it means for millions of women” (as opposed to babies).
During a segment about the raging anti-Semites creating chaos on college campuses, White House correspondent Peter Alexander told Guthrie they’ve distracted voters “away from the issues the Democrats want to talk about, issues like reproductive rights, issues more broadly about health care” and the Trump indictments.
NBC then did the Biden team a solid by talking about what they want. Co-host Hoda Kotb relayed that abortion was “front and center today” (says who?) “as one of the strictest abortion bans in the United States takes effect in Florida.”
Correspondent Marissa Para bemoaned the lack of access for “abortion care” in the Sunshine State and only footnoted the pro-life cause with sound from one of the law’s state House sponsors (who correctly declared “abortion is not health care”) (click “expand”):
PARA: Clinics like the one you see behind me have been preparing for today. Today is day one of Florida’s new law banning abortion after six weeks of pregnancy and the vast majority of cases with some exceptions for things like incest and rape. But with former President Trump making controversial new comments to issue, Hoda, we are already seeing how much abortion rights will play a role come November. This morning, an abortion ban with ripples far beyond the Sunshine State.
PRO-BABY KILLERS: Our body, our choice!
PARA: After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, states began to form their own rules. Many women from surrounding states in the south, which have the strictest rules in the country, traveled to Florida seeking abortion care. Florida, now banning the procedure before most women know they are pregnant. Starting today, the closest drivable options for abortion care are North Carolina and Virginia. Florida clinics like A Woman’s World in Ft. Pierce have been working overtime, trying to squeeze in every patient over six weeks pregnant before it became a felony to do so.
A WOMAN’S WORLD MEDICAL CENTER OWNER CANDACE DYE: Last week, the phones were crazy. We couldn’t answer the phones fast enough.
PARA: Supporters of the ban point out the law has exceptions for rape, incest, fetal abnormalities, and life of the mother. State Rep Mike Beltran, one of the bill’s sponsors, says the days of what he calls “abortion tourism” from other states are over.
FLORIDA STATE REPRESENTATIVE MIKE BELTRAN (R): Abortion is not health care. There are many countries where abortion is illegal or more restrictive than the Florida rules.
CBS Mornings also checked the box. Fill-in co-host Jericka Duncan teased in the Eye Opener a report on “Florida’s new restrictive abortion law tak[ing] effect today” and words from “ Florida doctor who’s bracing for the fallout.”
Co-host Nate Burleson had the open to said segment: “A new abortion law goes into effect today in Florida, sharply restricting the procedure after six weeks before many women know that they are pregnant. That means almost every state in the south has severe limits on abortion In most, it’s nearly outlawed.”
Political correspondent Caitlin Huey-Burns decried Florida putting to a stop the “influx of patients from out of state as it was one of the last remaining places in this region with fewer restrictions” and made an abortionist the focus of her piece (click “expand”):
DR. SHELLY TIEN: There’s fear. There’s uncertainty.
HUEY-BURNS: Jacksonville Dr. Shelly Tien stood ready to see patients until the stroke of midnight when Florida’s six-week abortion ban was set to take effect.
TIEN: It is, in essence, a total and a complete abortion ban.
HUEY-BURNS [TO TIEN]: As a physician, what is it like for you operating under these circumstances?
TIEN: Sure, you know — and I — I think, you know, certainly, it’s — it’s stressful. We see physicians that are scared to take care of basic issues and we’ve seen patients turned away from emergency rooms, delivering in public floor bathrooms. I mean, really, really awful, scenarios.
HUEY-BURNS: Florida’s new law includes exceptions for rape, intest, fetal abnormalities, and life of the mother.
FLORIDA STATE REPRESENTATIVE DEAN BLACK (R): It’s a victory.
HUEY-BURNS: State Republican lawmaker Dean Black voted for the six-week ban.
BLACK: We think we have a good law, a compassionate law, a moral law. It can serve as a guide for other states.
After quoting Trump’s comments about surveilling women and an excerpt of the Biden ad (which featured three jump cuts for two sentences), Huey-Burns touted Florida as some sort of battleground as the pro-life law “has attracted the attention of the Biden campaign” with Vice President Kamala Harris flocking to Jacksonville “as part of her nationwide reproductive freedom tour.”
To see the relevant transcripts from May 1, click here (for ABC), here (for CBS), and here (for NBC).
