In a segment on Texas' omnibus antiabortion-rights law (HB 2), comedian Samantha Bee interviews Ilyse Hogue, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, and Texas Rep. Dan Flynn (R), one of the bill's authors, for TBS' "Full Frontal with Samantha Bee," Vox reports. The Supreme Court on Wednesday heard oral arguments in a legal challenge against two provisions in the law.
During the interview, Hogue notes, "The ultimate goal of HB 2 is to close clinics down and end legal abortion by burdening them with medically unnecessary regulations about how wide the hallways are, how big the janitor closets are, really impossible to-meet-regulations." According to Bee, "[t]here are 90 pages of prohibitively expensive renovations that clinics have to adopt to qualify as [ambulatory] surgical centers."
Bee also debunks the claims behind HB 2. When Flynn says the goal of HB 2 "was to be sure that we provided ... safe health care for women," Bee responds, "How does removing access to health care increase health care?"Bee explains that antiabortion-rights lawmakers have based HB 2 and other state abortion restrictions off of model legislation from the antiabortion-rights group Americans United for Life. Citing the increase in abortion restrictions since 2010, Hogue said, "We're hearing from doctors that more women are asking them" how to self-induce an abortion (Bee, "Full Frontal with Samantha Bee," TBS/Vox, 3/2).


