On the Frontline of the War Against Abortion in Alabama I w/ Anita Sarkeesian | Brut - video Dailymotion

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In May, the Alabama State Senate voted to outlaw nearly all abortions — including for victims of rape and incest. YouTuber Anita Sarkeesian, aka Feminist Frequency breaks down what’s happening on the frontlines of the war against reproductive rights.

Transcript

00:00Hi, I'm Anita Sarkeesian.

00:02Today, I'm with BRUTE, and we're going to the front lines of the war on reproductive rights in Alabama.

00:07Don't let these BRUTE beasts rip your child apart!

00:11They're monsters, they don't care!

00:13In May 2019, the Alabama State Senate voted to effectively outlaw nearly all abortions,

00:20including for victims of rape and incest.

00:22The ban sparked a wave of activism.

00:24Women are fighting back, especially rape survivors.

00:28In 2017, I was raped by a co-worker.

00:32When I went to get my abortion, there were protesters outside of the clinic.

00:38Do not murder, ma'am.

00:39For the murderer will not see the kingdom of heaven.

00:42You're a murderer.

00:43You're going to hell.

00:45You know, how could you kill a baby?

00:47This is a place of death.

00:49No trust in this clinic.

00:51Trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.

00:53When this ban was introduced was to appease extreme conservative evangelical people.

01:01Now for the first time, America has a pro-life president.

01:05That is pretty good.

01:07You may have already seen footage and interviews of anti-abortion extremists,

01:11but with BRUTE, we decided to show you another side.

01:14Alabamans who are standing up, defending the rights of Americans to freely control their own bodies.

01:20As long as there are people out there on that sidewalk,

01:23treating people in the way that they do at this clinic, I will be here.

01:26Since the law's passage, protests outside of clinics have increased,

01:30making clinic escorts more important than ever.

01:33Each day, they come to shield patients from anti-abortion protesters

01:37who do not hesitate to directly broadcast them on social media.

01:41This is what is happening in Montgomery,

01:43in front of one of the three remaining clinics that perform abortions in Alabama.

01:49Five o'clock in the morning, seven or eight people are already here,

01:52here to kill their baby.

01:54Jesus Christ is Lord, miss. Welcome to the gates of hell.

02:06My friend, look to Jesus today.

02:08Y'all trust the Lord, ma'am, and love your baby.

02:10God knows you, man. He made you.

02:13In case we are walking in, baby, OK?

02:17OK.

02:19Ignore these jerks over here.

02:22We use the umbrellas to shield the patients from our protesters.

02:27We use it like this to stop them from filming and taking pictures

02:30and otherwise violating their privacy.

02:33Surrender to Jesus today.

02:36Best of care.

02:37We had a student at a local university here that was kicked out of her school

02:42and had her whole entire school paid for,

02:46and they took that away from her.

02:48So there are real world consequences to being out here and being filmed

02:52and having your picture put on Facebook or Twitter or Instagram.

02:56That person could get hurt, possibly even killed.

03:00If their family is anti-abortion or, you know, their church is anti-abortion,

03:05their employer is anti-abortion, they can get fired from their job.

03:09They can lose their whole community because of the stigma

03:12that they face around abortion care in Alabama.

03:18Where is the lamp?

03:22Most of my girlfriends, for the same reason you have a camera,

03:25show other Christians here in Montgomery.

03:27Look what takes place.

03:28Look what people look at the way people act apart from Jesus.

03:31I'm not trying to shame the women, but I tell you this.

03:33I don't have a problem showing their face.

03:35These women, I love them,

03:37but they are committing a crime.

03:40They're committing a crime of murder.

03:42But I do show the world just like you guys.

03:45Ma'am, I love you today.

03:47Listen, this ain't the answer, ma'am.

03:49Fearfully and wonderfully made is your baby, right?

03:52You got your whole life.

03:53You got your career, ma'am, and you can do it with your baby, right?

03:56Ma'am, look to Jesus.

03:58Don't look to the clinic.

04:00Choose life.

04:01There's still 25 babies killed almost every week.

04:05A kindergarten class exterminated.

04:08Everybody's worried about guns.

04:09What about murder of the innocent every week?

04:16Today, I join my faith with other believers and commit myself to pray

04:21to never be silent and to be active in the pro-life movement.

04:25May you deliver the river region from this evil in Jesus name.

04:34Even before Alabama passed one of the most restrictive bans on abortion in decades,

04:38the procedure had been in decline after years of further limits.

04:42Leaving the clinic, we met the single mother who had just received abortion care.

04:46She asked to keep her anonymity.

04:48She told us she has two children to take care of while also juggling two jobs.

04:52For her, abortion is a choice of whether or not to bring a child

04:56into the world that she can't adequately support.

04:59My choice is my choice, regardless if you like it or if you don't like it.

05:02You can scream and yell at me all you want to, and you can tell me I'm going to die

05:04and burn in hell, that I should want to take care of this child like I do my others.

05:08I do. That's why I'm opting to do this, because I cannot do for that child.

05:13And so you're pro-life, you're anti-abortion.

05:15But what about this baby once it's here?

05:17You're not going to be here to take care of this child.

05:19Yes, you say you can help me.

05:20How are you going to help me?

05:22I'm going to help you.

05:23I'm going to help you.

05:24I'm going to help you.

05:25I'm going to help you.

05:26I'm going to help you.

05:27I'm going to help you.

05:28I'm going to help you.

05:29Are you going to be there every step of the way?

05:30Are you going to pay for my hospital bills?

05:32Are you going to pay for this child's upbringing?

05:34No, you just don't want me to go into this clinic and they suck this baby out, because

05:40after the baby is born you don't give two about what happens to that child.

05:46Since 1993, anti-choice extremists in the US have murdered at least 11 people.

05:51Alabama has a distinct history of violence when it comes to anti-abortion activism.

05:56Even doctors who performed abortions have been killed.

05:58There was a guy, you know, he just…

06:00The guy just appeared out of nowhere, jumped on the doctor and shot him in the head.

06:05The first doctor that anti-sexuality protesters killed worked at our clinic.

06:10Alabama has a bad history with violence towards abortion providers.

06:14We have that history, you know, that says, you know, violence is something that could

06:29pop off at any minute.

06:31You just never know.

06:33The anti-abortion movement has been gaining ground, and men have dominated the debate

06:36around reproductive health at the highest levels.

06:39Alabama's legislature is comprised of only 15.7% women overall, the sixth lowest rate

06:45in the country.

06:47The abortion ban was passed by a group of 25 Republicans, all white men.

06:52Do you know what it's like to be raped?

06:54No ma'am, I don't.

06:55Do you know what it's like to have a relative commit incest on you?

07:00On me?

07:01No ma'am.

07:02Yes, on you.

07:03If you were to take that choice away from that person who had such a traumatic act committed

07:13against them, to be left with the residue of that person, if you will, why would you

07:22not want a woman to at least have that exception for such a horrific act?

07:30Senator Chambliss, do you have a baby girl?

07:33Senator, this is not about my family.

07:35I'm just asking a question.

07:37Let me just say, to those of you who have a baby girl, just close your eyes for a moment.

07:45You just said to my little girl, my little loving little daughter, that you can just

07:52be raped, or one of your uncles or your cousin or somebody could just rape you and impregnate

07:59you and you've got to carry this baby under Alabama law.

08:18It's important that there are no exceptions for rape and incest because that would be

08:22inconsistent with the legal argument that the unborn child is a person.

08:27We use the definition out of our criminal code that already exists for homicide, for

08:33murder.

08:34If you murder a woman who is pregnant, and say she's two, three months pregnant, then

08:39you are charged with a double murder.

08:41And so similarly, we're saying that if you take that child's life through an abortion,

08:46then it's murder.

08:47Today, we have kept another promise.

08:50My administration has proposed a new rule to prohibit Title X funding from going to

08:57any clinic that performs abortions.

09:00Now, for the first time, America has a pro-life president, a pro-life vice president, a pro-life

09:10house of representatives, and 25 pro-life Republican state capitals.

09:17That is pretty good.

09:20Trump, he just goes around making a lot of noise and everything, but the people around

09:25him that are making decisions and doing things for him, I think they're doing a good job.

09:29And I agree with that.

09:31Like the justices he put on the Supreme Court.

09:42The October 2018 Supreme Court confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh spurred many state legislatures

09:47to pass abortion bans and restrictions.

09:50Their goal?

09:51To persuade the Supreme Court to reconsider the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling, which

09:57legalized abortion nationwide.

09:59While a lawsuit is ongoing in Alabama to block the extreme ban before it can take effect,

10:04women have decided to speak up and share their own abortion stories.

10:09Among them is Samantha Blakely, who was raped by her co-worker two years ago and had to

10:13terminate the pregnancy.

10:17People don't really understand what happens to your body when you're pregnant.

10:28It goes through changes and you're reminded constantly.

10:32I felt sick and I felt awful and I could not deal with that for nine months.

10:40I just couldn't.

10:44I did not tell a lot of people about my rape or my abortion because I was afraid of the

10:50shame and the stigma that comes with both of those.

10:54People don't believe you when you say that you were raped here sometimes.

10:58People don't believe that there's any reason to ever have an abortion.

11:06I've heard people say that it's like we're living in the Stone Age or we're going backwards

11:11instead of going forward.

11:13And I think that is a method of control that a lot of the extreme conservative party is

11:20trying to push.

11:25That is something I wrestle with a lot, whether I should stay in Alabama and try to make it

11:32better or if I should just run away.

11:36I definitely feel like I have to go through the trauma again because I feel moved to tell

11:45my story to the lawmakers, even in public, lots of people know my story, but it's very

11:52important to me that they know how this affects people like me, Alabamians, everyday people.

On the Frontline of the War Against Abortion in Alabama I w/ Anita Sarkeesian | Brut

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