Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton criticized her fellow Democrats in a new interview for their response to the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade, arguing that they “could have done more.”
“We didn’t take it seriously and we didn’t understand the threat,” Clinton said in an interview with The New York Times published Saturday. “Most Democrats, most Americans, didn’t realize that we are in an existential battle for the future of this country.”
“We could have done more to fight,” she added.
The former first lady issued a dire warning in the interview, conducted in February, claiming that Democrats have spent decades in a state of denial that abortion rights — established for generations under Roe v. Wade — could be repealed . While in that state, Clinton said the anti-abortion movement could chip away at legal precedent until it was too late.
“One thing I give proper credit for is that they never give up,” Clinton said. “They are ruthless. You know, they take a loss, they get back up, they regroup, they raise more money.”
“It’s extremely impressive how they work. And we don’t have anything similar on our side,” she added.
The former presidential candidate also lambasted the conservative Supreme Court justices who handed down the landmark Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health ruling, which returned decisions about abortion access to the states. She also slammed Senate Democrats, who she said did not do enough to stop the appointment of these judges.
“Our side was complacent and took it for granted and thought it would never go away,” she said in the interview, according to the Times.
Clinton, who lost the 2016 presidential election to former President Trump, said she tried to raise the alarm about anti-abortion efforts during her campaign but was largely dismissed as an alarmist. The Times noted that polls and focus groups from the time showed that voters really did not believe Roe v. Wade was at risk.
With Trump in the middle of his third campaign, Clinton warned that this fall’s election is “existential” because it could mean a small group of conservatives would “turn back the clock on women.”
Following the Alabama Supreme Court ruling that resulted in controversy surrounding in vitro fertilization, Clinton warned that contraception would be next on the to-do list of Republicans seeking to restrict women’s rights.
In the same interview, the former secretary also indicated that she faced sexism during her campaign, claiming she was abandoned by female voters because she was “not perfect.”
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