MSNBC "Hardball with Chris Matthews" - Transcript: Interview with Sen. Amy Klobuchar

Interview

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SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN): What they have done in Georgia and Alabama is

dangerous, it is wrong and it is unconstitutional. 73 percent of Americans

do not want to overturn Roe v. Wade. Think about that.

So why are they doing it? One, they want to put politics with women`s

health to impress their base, but, two, they want to set up a case to go to

the Supreme Court. And when you think about the facts here, abortions

actually were at an all-time low during the Obama administration. That`s

the last study I could find that the CDC had done.

MATTHEWS: Why is it low?

KLOBUCHAR: Because contraception was made available, because we reduced

the number of abortions, because of the fact that we funded Planned

Parenthood where in their lifetime, one out of five women will visit at

some point for cancer screenings, for birth control. Think about that.

So we have literally reduced the number of abortions during the span of the

Obama administration and this administration comes in, want to take away

the funding for Planned Parenthood, thus and takes away women`s access to

contraception and then at the same time, in a number of states across the

country, republicans are trying to get rid of their right to choose. It`s

an outrage and the women of America and the men of America, the majority of

them do not agree.

MATTHEWS: Let me ask you about the politics in this. I know you are

running for president. Maybe this isn`t the most politic thing to say, but

seems stupid on their part, not just wrong, because if you have

prohibition, if you actually had a regime in this country of a woman could

not get a safe legal abortion and had to go overseas or whatever to get

one, what would that -- wouldn`t that just destroy the Republican Party

politically based upon your numbers?

KLOBUCHAR: I believe that this is against their best interest politically,

but they don`t care about that. What they care about, it appears, is not

women`s health or they wouldn`t be trying to overturn the Affordable Care

Act and getting rid of the ban on kicking people off their insurance for

pre-existing conditions or getting rid of this idea that we used to have

that being a victim of domestic abuse was a pre-existing condition. All of

these things make no sense for the people of America.

But when you are trying to attract a certain base in their own party, you

don`t seem to care about that. And that`s what all of those men in the

legislature in the State Senate, none of the women voted for, all of those

men said today.

MATTHEWS: You know, there`s a contradiction we`re going to get to right

now with Donald Trump because he never understood this contradiction. The

pro-life movement, if you will call it that, anti-choice movement, if you

will, basically says that the doctor should go to jail who performs a

procedure and the woman is clean. There is no problem even though she

asked for the procedure, like any other mental (ph) procedures. So it`s a

weird way. 99 years in prison for the doctor, no mention of the woman.

This is just an inconsistency in their thinking.

Back in 2016, here`s the President trying to be president, then candidate

Donald Trump who, had supported abortion rights in his life after about

(INAUDIBLE) calls to ban abortion and how he would enforce it, how he would

make it work. Watch it. Here`s Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATTHEWS: Do you believe in punishment for abortion? Yes or no, is it

principle?

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: The answer is that there has to be some form

of punishment.

MATTHEWS: For the woman?

TRUMP: Yes. There has to be some form.

MATTHEWS: A fine or imprisonment for a young woman who finds herself

pregnant?

TRUMP: It will have to be determined, and it hasn`t been determined.

MATTHEWS: What about the young man or is he not responsible for an

abortion?

TRUMP: It hasn`t -- different feelings, different people. I would say no.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTHEWS: Well, later, that same day, the Trump campaign walked back in

his comments in that statement saying, if Congress were to pass legislation

making abortion illegal and the federal courts have held this legislation

or any state were permitted to ban abortion under state and federal law,

the doctor or any other person performing this illegal act upon a woman

would be held legally responsible, not the woman.

This afternoon, by the way, a White House spokesman put out a statement on

the Alabama Abortion Bill that didn`t even mention the legislation, instead

saying, unlike radical Democrats who have cheered a legislation allowing a

baby to be ripped from the mother`s womb moments from birth, President

Trump is protecting our most innocent and vulnerable, defending the dignity

of life, and called on Congress to prohibit late term abortions.

So there you saw the conflict because the President never gave it five

seconds thought. Although he knows he`s a little slow there on what the

responsibilities of the father would be. I mean, I just thought that was

fascinating. Your thoughts?

KLOBUCHAR: And I also think when you talk about innocence, they don`t have

exceptions in here for rape, incest victims. It`s unbelievable to me.

And the other thing I know --

MATTHEWS: In Alabama?

KLOBUCHAR: Yes, in Alabama, in that piece of legislation. The other thing

I`d say is there are pro life people in this country where it is their

personal belief and they have that personal belief and that is their right,

but that doesn`t mean for a lot of them who have supported Democrats in the

past, by the way, they don`t think that that personal belief means that it

has to be applied to someone else.

So you have to remember, there are people who are pro-life that wouldn`t

agree with this kind of legislation that they are passing right now. And

that`s why I think you see 73 percent of Americans do not believe that Roe

v. Wade should be overturned. And that is what they are messing with here.

It`s dangerous, they`re trying to send doctors to jail and they`re taking

away a woman`s right to make a decision about her own healthcare.

MATTHEWS: So, Senator, you are happy with the way Roe v. Wade is now

thanks to the Casey decision, you know, a new burden, you are happy with

the law as practiced right now, Roe v. Wade?

KLOBUCHAR: I am concerned. I think some states have done a better job

than others in terms of how they made contraception and reproductive

choices available. So what I would like to see is to make sure that any

kind of right is cemented and that could be by court, that could be by

legislation. But right now, you have a situation where you are not even in

that territory, Chris, because you`ve got a Republican Party that is

basically trying to reverse Roe v. Wade for the sole purpose of banning

abortion. That is clear by these cases that they`re setting up and the

bills they are passing. So we have got to look at this as the reality.

They have been trying to talk about all kinds of nuances of this. But the

reality is what we saw today with that bill that was signed into law in

Alabama that takes away completely a woman`s right to choose. This is no

longer nuances about third term or what they are trying to say. No, no,

no. They are banning it, they did it in Georgia effectively with the six

weeks and they did it in Alabama.

MATTHEWS: Thank you very much, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota running for

president.

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KLOBUCHAR: Thank you.

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