'Horrifying' Michelle Obama, others denounce Roe ruling

Abortion-rights activists reacts outside the Supreme Court in Washington, Friday, June 24, 2022. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

By Martha Ross | Bay Area News Group

PUBLISHED: June 24, 2022 at 9:25 a.m. | UPDATED: June 24, 2022 at 12:41 p.m.

Politicians, actors, authors and other celebrities expressed their anger, heartbreak and distress over the Supreme Court’s decision Friday to overturn Roe v. Wade, rolling back the rights of American women in half of U.S. states to obtain safe and legal abortions.

As the decision is expected to transform American life, former presidential nominee Hillary Clinton posted on the heels of the announcement: “Most Americans believe the decision to have a child is one of the most sacred decisions there is, and that such decisions should remain between patients and their doctors. Today’s Supreme Court opinion will live in infamy as a step backward for women’s rights and human rights.”

In a lengthy statement, former first lady Michelle Obama said she was “heartbroken that we may now be destined to learn the painful lessons of a time before Roe was made the law of the land — a time when women risked losing their lives getting illegal abortions.”

Obama said the ruling takes the United States back to a time “when the government denied women control over their reproductive functions, forced them to move forward with pregnancies they didn’t want, and then abandoned them once their babies were born.”

“So yes, I am heartbroken — for the teenage girl, full of zest and promise, who won’t be able to finish school or live the life she wants because her state controls her reproductive decisions, for the mother of a nonviable pregnancy who is now forced to bring that pregnancy to term, for the parents watching their child’s future evaporate before their very eyes; for the health care workers who can no longer help them without risking jail time.

“This horrifying decision will have devastating consequences, and it must be a wake-up call, especially to young people, who will bear its burden,” Obama said. “I know this is not the future you chose for your generation, but if you give up now, you will inherit a country that does not resemble you or any of the values you believe in.”

Former President Barack Obama tweeted that the decision doesn’t just reverse nearly 50 years of precedent, “it relegated the most intensely personal decision someone can make to the whims of politicians and ideologues — attacking the essential freedoms of millions of Americans.”

Monica Lewinsky was more blunt in an expletive-filled tweet that name-checked each justice who voted with the 6-3 majority: “(Expletive) you Roberts. (Expletive) you Thomas. (Expletive) you Alito. (Expletive) you Kavanaugh. (Expletive) you Gorsuch. (Expletive) you Coney Barrett.”

From its official Twitter account, the band Pearl Jam said: “No one, not the government, not politicians, not the Supreme Court should prevent access to abortion, birth control, and contraceptives. People should have the FREEDOM to choose.”

No one, not the government, not politicians, not the Supreme Court should prevent access to abortion, birth control, and contraceptives. People should have the FREEDOM to choose. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/zo67xyzex5

— Pearl Jam (@PearlJam) June 24, 2022

Top Chef presenter Padma Lakshmi tweeted, “We knew this was coming, but the news is nauseating nonetheless. I feel completely gutted. State and local elections are more vital now more than ever before. We need to keep fighting.”

In a series of tweets, former Obama speechwriter and “Pod Save America” co-host Jon Favreau called the ruling an “enraging, tragic catastrophe.” He also warned that the ruling by the right-wing Supreme Court could embolden “right-wing extremists to legislate bans on birth control and repeal LGBTQ rights.”