Kelly Clarkson sat down on her NBC talk show with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to discuss women's reproductive rights following the Arizona Supreme Court's recent decision to return to an 1864 law that serves as a near-total abortion ban. The only exception to the law is "if the mother's life is in jeopardy." Women who are victims of rape or incest cannot terminate their pregnancies.
The American Idol alum asked Clinton if the former presidential candidate thought she would see a law like this go into effect in her lifetime. Clarkson said that the decision is "just insane to me."
She pointed to the fact that the Arizona law is from 1864.
"It's a very different world. We know a lot more now. We are going backwards."
In June 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court made a monumental decision when it overruled Roe v. Wade after hearing Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization. The Dobbs decision returned the power to regulate abortion to the states, which quickly led to restrictions on abortion in over 20 states. Near total bans of varying severities have been implemented in fourteen of these states.
Clarkson and Clinton discussed the implications of Arizona's return to this Civil War-era law, with Clarkson detailing her own harrowing experiences with pregnancy and childbirth. The singer revealed that she was hospitalized during both of her pregnancies. She has two children, River Rose and Remington Alexander, with ex-husband Brandon Blackstock.
"I literally asked God, this is a real thing, to just take me and my son in the hospital for the second time, because I was like, 'It's the worst thing,'" Clarkson said. The songstress became emotional as she described her difficult pregnancies.
She continued, saying that having children was her decision and she's "so glad" she did it and that she loves her "babies." Clarkson emphasized her appreciation of the autonomy involved in her decision to have children, explaining that: "You don't realize how hard it is. The fact that you would take that away from someone, that can literally kill them. The fact that if they're raped by their family member and they have to...it's just, like, insane to me," she said, flabbergasted.
Clinton remarked on the Arizona law, saying that "the danger to women's lives as well as to our right to make our own decisions about our bodies and ourselves is so profound."
She described the "cruelty" in such a law, something that she finds "so troubling."
Clarkson admitted that it's "hard to preach at someone that you have to care about something."
She continued saying that she feels "we're going to end up in some kind of, not to sound dramatic, but, some kind of civil war over things that I feel like we shouldn't be divided on."
Clarkson and Clinton emphasized the importance of participating in local and national elections, with the latter telling viewers that voting is "your superpower."
This November, abortion will appear on ballots in Florida, Maryland, and New York. Several other states, including Colorado and Montana, may turn the issue over to voters this fall.
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