CNN on Tuesday unearthed interview clips of House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) describing abortion as an “American holocaust” and agreeing with Justice Clarence Thomas’ concurring opinion overturning Roe v. Wade in which he argued that the Supreme Court should revisit past rulings establishing gay and contraception rights.
When asked about abortion in a May 2022 appearance on a Washington, D.C. radio show, Johnson made his views crystal clear, CNN’s Andrew Kaczynski explained on OutFront.
“It is truly an American holocaust,” said the Louisiana congressman, whose stance on the topic led him to receive an A-plus rating from the anti-abortion group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America.
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“I mean, the reality is that Planned Parenthood and all these big abortion [providers], they set up their clinics in inner cities. They are, you know, they regard these people as easy prey,” he continued. “I mean, it’s true. This is what’s happening across the country now.”
On the day that the Supreme Court’s conservative majority rolled back a half-century of abortion rights, Johnson was thrilled, and suggested that the court go further if given the chance.
“There’s been some really bad law made. They’ve made a mess of our jurisprudence in this country for the last several decades. And maybe some of that needs to be cleaned up,” Johnson said on the ToddCast Podcast. “And what Justice Thomas is calling for is not radical. In fact, it’s the opposite of that.”
In his concurrence, Thomas claimed that the rulings in Griswold v. Connecticut, Lawrence v. Texas and Obergefell v. Hodges “were demonstrably erroneous decisions.”
When asked about his reaction to Thomas’ opinion, a spokesperson for Johnson told CNN that the congressman “views the cases as settled law.”
His response is quite similar to what two of Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominees said about Roe v. Wade before they voted to overturn it.
