People who defend abortion rights have tried almost everything to get their point across—from rallies and marches, #shoutyourabortion, and moving testimony at the Supreme Court, to Hollywood comedies, celeb involvement, and high school valedictorian speeches. It shouldn’t be hard to energize people around the idea that the government shouldn’t force women to carry pregnancies—but it is.
On November 6, Saturday Night Live tried something new: a clown act.
Don’t think clowns are funny? Well, neither are the legal restrictions that make it nearly impossible to get abortions in many states. And it’s only getting harder. With the appointment of three conservative justices to the Supreme Court under President Donald Trump, anti-abortion state leaders are passing increasingly cruel laws.
If the 1973 landmark Supreme Court ruling Roe v. Wade is overturned, at least 26 states are predicted to ban abortion, according to the Guttmacher Institute. In Louisiana, for example, that would cause people seeking abortion to have to drive 630 miles to reach a legal clinic. For most people, that’s just not feasible.
With parts of American life becoming increasingly indistinguishable from The Handmaid’s Tale, what else is there to do but send in the clowns? In a performance on the show’s satirical news segment, Weekend Update, comedian Cecily Strong, supported by Weekend Update anchor Colin Jost, performed a deeply unusual bit. In it, Strong, as Goober the Clown, sprays water in Jost’s face, fails to make a balloon animal, and discusses getting an abortion the day before her 23rd birthday.
“I wish I didn’t have to do this, cuz the abortion I had at 23 is my personal clown business, but that’s all some people in this country wanna discuss all the time!” she laughs, adding, “Did you know that one in three clowns will have a clown abortion in their lifetime?” (That statistic actually represents the number of women who will have an abortion.)
Saturday Night Live Explained Abortion Rights in a Way You’ve Never Seen Before
Pinas Flash Report
0 Comments