Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

WNBA Teams Pair With Opill To Raise Awareness Of New Birth Control Option; Arizona Supreme Court: State Must Adhere To 123-Year- Old Law Banning Nearly All Abortions; Trump Days Away From First Criminal Trial After Delay Bids Fail. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired April 09, 2024 - 15:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

CARI CHAMPION, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: And to me, this is a perfect relationship because women who play sports more specifically than any other industry, in my opinion, are constantly worried about: What happens if I have a child? What about my reproductive health? Will I not be able to work? What systems are in place for me?

This is a constant conversation that's being had in the WNBA and other professional sports leagues for women. This is a perfect marriage, if you will, in terms of advocacy and getting the word out and giving these women the power, putting it back in their hands.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Yes, family planning is important for so many women and obviously for athletes, as you said.

And we are having this moment in women's sports, no doubt. How does this change the conversation around access to contraception, do you think, Cari?

CHAMPION: The conversation now, especially since Roe versus Wade was overturned, I think the conversation has always been, well, where do I fit in? Where's the power for me as a woman who - and, again, this partnership is targeting anyone who could - at the ages of which they could be pregnant. To me, the conversation now is, I have the power. I should be able to share this information with other people. I should be able to take care of myself in a way in which I feel is needed.

I don't feel that many women in the WNBA, more specifically, thought that they had the proper access, the proper healthcare nor did they have the proper information. And for them to partner - the WNBA to partner with Opill, that's a really bold move. They are making a statement in a lot of ways.

And for so long - and I don't know if the WNBA had the attention that it deserved - but for so long, these women have been advocates. They have been at the forefront of so many social issues. And I think that this is a really empowering moment, not only because women's sports is having this proper time in which they are being praised in honor for the work that they do, but there's a new generation of young women - girl - young girls watching these ladies play and think, okay, I want to do that. These women are heroes, in effect, in so many instances.

And so now they're saying it's okay to have this conversation about reproductive health. It's okay to talk about birth control. It's okay to be informed about your body and have a say-so in the process. This is a bold move to me for the WNBA as well as Opill.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: And Cari, you mentioned the previous causes that female athletes especially have stood up and voiced a specific position on an advocacy for. Previously, we've seen some blowback, some criticism for taking those positions. Do you imagine that there might be some criticism now over this?

CHAMPION: I absolutely do and I want to take a moment to give kudos to Cathy Engelbert. She's the commissioner of the WNBA.

I think that these women - and by the way, the WNBA is comprised of women from all over this world. It is the - one of the diverse league - one of the most diverse leagues, in my opinion that we have when it comes to women's sports. And for the commissioner to take a stance that says, we have a say over our bodies is going to be something that other people, especially conservative groups won't necessarily be particularly happy about. And the messaging that it's sending into Middle America and people who feel this should not be an - should not have access, women should not have access to over-the-counter birth control.

This particular conversation is going to force the WNBA to talk about other issues that are on the precipice for them in terms of politics. Because I know that they are specifically creating initiatives that go with voting. They're creating initiatives that go with education. They're creating initiatives at the collegiate level. This partnership will create initiatives at the collegiate level that tell women that they have to really take part of this process.

And people are not going to want to hear about it. There are those who don't believe that we should have Opill. There are those who don't believe, obviously, as we saw Roe versus Wade overturned, that there should be a conversation. And for the WNBA to take a side, essentially, it's going to put them, there's going to be some blowback, but I don't think it's going to be the type of blowback that will make them back down. This is something that is so important for women and women's rights.

And I am, in this moment, saying I am proud of the WNBA because for so long, they've sat quiet. They didn't want to say too much. They've been in the middle. They've taken a stance of, let us be neutral. And now they're taking their power back as they have been given the power because they are having such a powerful moment in this country right now when it comes to basketball. And I love that they are taking this momentum and using it towards something that they truly believe in.

SANCHEZ: Cari Champion, always great to get your perspective. Thanks, Cari.

CHAMPION: Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN BREAKING NEWS.

KEILAR: We're following breaking news out of Arizona after the state Supreme Court there had a historic ruling just moments ago that would ban nearly all abortions.

[15:04:59]

We are learning, and this has come together quite quickly ...

SANCHEZ: Yes.

KEILAR: ... that Vice President Kamala Harris will now be visiting Arizona on Friday as the White House makes reproductive rights a pillar of the Biden reelection campaign.

Today's decision reverting back to a 123-year-old Arizona law that can be traced even further back to the Civil War, and it would enforce some of the most extreme abortion restrictions there are. There is an exception in the case of saving the life of the mother, and this would punish abortion providers with a penalty of up to five years in prison. Here's the state's governor, Katie Hobbs, talking about the ruling.

We're having a problem - a technical problem there with the sound.

SANCHEZ: Yes. We'll try to get that fixed as soon as possible.

The case is just the latest high-profile example of the battle over abortion access and the role that it's played in several states since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe versus Wade back in 2022.

We had White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre speaking on that in the last hour. Let's try and play that soundbite.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KARINE JEAN-PIERRE, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: With today's decision, millions of Arizonians will soon face an even more extreme and dangerous abortion ban than they did before. This Arizona law, which was initially enacted in 1864, more than 150 years ago, fails to protect women even when their health is at risk.

When the President's predecessor handicapped three Supreme Court justices to overturn Roe v. Wade, it paved the way for the chaos and confusion we're seeing play out across the country today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: There is almost no doubt that this decision by the state Supreme Court, could have huge electoral consequences. We're covering the story from all angles. Joining us now is CNN's Kevin Liptak, CNN Correspondent Sunlen Serfaty is standing by and we are also with CNN's Alayna Treene.

Kevin, first to you, what are we hearing from the Biden team about this decision? They almost right away put out a statement.

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: It's interesting just how quickly they jumped on this ruling. And as you mentioned, Brianna, Vice President Kamala Harris, in the very moments after this was announced - they announced that she would be heading to Arizona on Friday to talk about this very issue. It's a continuation of what they're calling her - reproductive rights to her. She has really been sort of the lead for the administration for the Biden campaign when talking about this issue. And she just put out a statement pinning direct blame on this decision on Donald Trump himself, saying that by his own admission, there's one person responsible for these kinds of rulings, which is Donald Trump.

And the fact that this is coming only a day after Trump sort of revealed this abortion position, that he thinks it should be the right of states to decide how this issue should be resolved. They are really pointing to that and saying that that kind of position allows this sort of rule to go into effect in Arizona.

And so you really do see them seizing on this issue. And certainly they do very much believe that this will be a galvanizing issue for their voters in November, for women, for progressive Democrats, for moderates, all of whom who really think that this issue should be left to women to decide. And they have been really ramping that up, that message up over the last several months.

KEILAR: They've - the White House fired out that statement so quickly.

SANCHEZ: Very quickly.

KEILAR: So quickly. Paula Reid saying that it come with confetti?

SANCHEZ: Yes.

KEILAR: But there was someone who beat the White House, and that was Ruben Gallego, who is running in a very contested Senate race in Arizona. Kari Lake also coming out with a statement not too long after that, she's a Republican. She's saying that she opposes the Arizona abortion ruling, which really speaks, Alayna, to just how difficult an issue this is.

It seems like she's looking at this saying, wow, this may have just cost me this election if this stands.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: I mean, I think she very much recognizes how vulnerable Republicans are on this issue. Also in that statement, Lake said that she agrees with Donald Trump and his position on thinking that this is a state's issue. She also said that she opposes federal funding for abortion, but she says she proposes a federal ban on abortion.

Again, kind of surprising coming from the very conservative Kari Lake, the Republican Senate candidate.

But look, I think, one person we haven't heard from yet is Donald Trump. And this is going to be very difficult for him and his team to navigate. Honestly, the time is pretty remarkable after his statement yesterday, really clarifying that his position is to seed the abortion issue to the states. And of course, it comes as a lot of people on the right were very angry with him not coming out and specifying a national abortion ban after certain number of weeks, many people pressuring him over the past couple of months on trying to embrace a 15-week ban.

[15:10:04]

But it's also, of course, angering the left and Democrats. And even though this is kind of, I know from my conversations with Trump's team, the politically safe place for him to land, they also recognize that this allows a lot of Democrats to continue blaming him for these types of laws, even though, of course, he's saying this is up to the states.

SANCHEZ: We should point out the Vice President Kamala Harris, who, as you noted, Kevin, is headed to Arizona. She put out a statement recently saying or in the last few minutes, I should say, that the one person responsible for this decision by the Arizona Supreme Court is Donald Trump. I want to go back for a moment because you were just expressing the very latest, coming from Trump world, his decision to not specify his position on abortion and essentially say it's up to the states.

Kevin, you and I covered the White House together, and he kind of did have this sort of ambiguous position going back all the way to 2016 when he essentially said that if Republican voters backed him and elected him, he would nominate justices to the Supreme Court that would overturn Roe v. Wade. So he hasn't been specific, but it's a vow that he's made from very early on.

LIPTAK: Yes. And he - you can go back earlier than 2016. At one point, Donald Trump said that he was, very pro-life, and he has shifted over the years as far as the politics goes. And this is a candidate and a president who has always sort of adopted the politically appropriate stance on this instead of trying to go to the hard right of his party. He has adopted a politically convenient stance, and that's just what he did yesterday.

When it comes to the Biden folks, I think that they are really viewing this as a way to try and get people to the polls, whether it's in Arizona, whether it's in Florida, all of these states where this will now be an issue on the ballot in November. This could drive people to the voting booth who wouldn't necessarily be motivated to vote in an election that many voters say that they're not enthusiastic about this year. This is an issue that they think can be a driving force.

And you saw that yesterday, they put out this minute-long ad with a woman who wasn't able to receive an abortion while she was having a miscarriage and she suffered some very serious medical consequences because of that. And they do think that this is an issue that goes beyond sort of the left and right, that there are a lot of moderates who think that overturning Roe versus Wade, that the Trump stance just isn't in the mainstream and there are a lot of women and a lot of men, too, who think that this is an issue who - where the precedent should have been decided and had been decided and that they're concerned about what would happen next.

KEILAR: Yes, it's huge.

Alayna, Kevin, thank you so much to both of you.

SANCHEZ: Let's discuss this further with Dr. Jill Gibson. She's the Chief Medical Director for Planned Parenthood Arizona.

Doctor, thank you so much for being with us.

Your organization was party to this case. What's your reaction to this ruling?

DR. JILL GIBSON, CHIEF MEDICAL DIRECTOR, PLANNED PARENTHOOD ARIZONA: We are absolutely outraged and infuriated at this decision that came out today with a near-total abortion ban from the Arizona Supreme Court. This is going to have absolutely unbelievable consequences for the patients in our community and we just cannot be more - I cannot say it enough, how dire the situation is going to be for the patients who need to access abortion here in Arizona.

KEILAR: Sentences in this bill, which is extremely old - or not this bill, sorry, this old law of two to five years for providers. This is very serious and this goes into effect very quickly. So, Dr. Gibson, tell us how Planned Parenthood in the state, how other providers are - how this is going to impact the services they provide and how quickly that's going to kick in.

GIBSON: Right. What I can share with you all is that this is very similar to the decisions that we as medical providers and physicians had to face in the days after the Dobbs decision, which is basically that rather than being in my health center providing health care and abortion for my patients, I'm having to be on the phone with my legal team trying to decide what is permissible in this completely chaotic environment.

What I can say is that Planned Parenthood's doors will remain open. We will provide abortion services for every day that it is possible under this near-total abortion ban and that we will continue to fight in every other way to provide all the other essential health care services that patients are going to need more than ever now with this abortion ban in place.

SANCHEZ: Doctor, you sort of alluded to some of the confusion that is created by the parameters of this law, because on paper it seems simple, the exception to protect the life of a mother, but that gets very gray and it gets very complicated as we heard from Kevin a moment ago describing the woman in Texas who's now part of that political ad. What is your understanding of the guidance in the law? And does it specify anything related to what it actually entails in carrying out your medical practice?

[15:15:04]

GIBSON: What I want to be really clear about is that legalese and laws that are written by politicians and legislators do not capture the nuance that is involved with caring for each individual patient. It's impossible to extrapolate this archaic language and try and put that on to the care that we need to deliver. Each patient that comes to us is presenting a unique circumstance that has to be handled individually between the patient and the provider.

This interference and this just egregious continued attempts to basically interfere with that relationship must stop. Providers need to be able to take care of their patients without fear for legal repercussions and criminalization.

KEILAR: Dr. Gibson, what kind of phone calls, can you tell us, have you been getting an increase of them at the clinics there in Arizona?

GIBSON: I mean, what I can tell you is I'm here today providing abortion services and patients are already hearing news about the total abortion ban and they're literally asking me if we're going to be able to provide the care that they are seeking for them today. And it's unbelievably devastating to have to look at patients and tell them that I have all the skills and all the medical training and all the ability to care for them. But because some justices on our Supreme Court have decided to dictate the course of their lives, I will shortly have to be turning them away from the care that they want and need.

And we know what's going to happen to these patients. We've seen what happens in states where abortion is already banned. Patients there that are pregnant are more than three times as likely to die during pregnancy, childbirth and soon after delivery. And this is the sentence that the Arizona Supreme Court is now imposing on patients in Arizona.

KEILAR: Dr. Gibson, we really appreciate your time today with Planned Parenthood in Arizona. Thank you so much.

GIBSON: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Still to come, former President Donald Trump is trying to delay a historic criminal trial in Manhattan. CNN is now getting a first look at what prospective jurors for the trial could be asked as it inches closer to next week's start date.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:21:32]

SANCHEZ: Former President Donald Trump's two latest requests to postpone his hush money trial have been denied. So that means the jury selection is on track for Monday in Manhattan and we've learned what the potential jurors are going to be asked.

KEILAR: Yes, it's pretty interesting. We have CNN's Paula Reid tracking all of this. What else can we expect here in these last days before the trial?

PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: The Trump team, they're going to try anything they possibly can. Any piece of spaghetti they can throw at the wall, see if anything will stick to help them delay this case. At this point, it doesn't appear that there's any obvious challenge that is going to result in a delay. But never say never, this was supposed to be the second week of this criminal trial. It was delayed after an unexpected batch of evidence was shared in discovery from federal prosecutors, so there's always a chance.

But right now, it does appear that this trial, the first criminal prosecution of a former president in the United States, on track to start Monday.

SANCHEZ: Walk us through the questionnaire because the questions themselves of prospective jurors are revealing.

REID: Yes, it's interesting. What a daunting task to try to select a jury for a case like this. Now, the questionnaire was released yesterday. It's over a dozen pages. And the questions range from where do you live to where do you get your news? Have you or anyone close to you ever worked for The Trump Organization, anyone around Trump?

Also questions about membership in certain extremist groups like the Oath Keepers. Now, these are similar questions to what we saw in the E. Jean Carroll case. These are all questions that lawyers hope will help them select a jury in this case. And I want to warn people. This could take a while, more than a few days.

These weeks in this trial, also only four-day weeks, no court on Wednesday. We also have a few religious holidays in the next few weeks. So it could take a few weeks. Again, not full weeks. There's only a few days in these weeks before they're able to seat a jury in this case.

KEILAR: And now to Trump's immunity claims, which, of course, are headed for the Supreme Court and we've been awaiting this, what does Special Counsel Jack Smith's filing here tell us about what we may hear later this month?

REID: I mean, this is the only thing that can distract, right, from that big criminal trial, the biggest Supreme Court case of the year. Here, Jack Smith is urging the justices to dismiss the sweeping claim of immunity that Trump is making. He's saying, look, this is a novel claim. The founding fathers did not contemplate a world in which the president could never be criminally prosecuted.

In this filing last night, he said all former presidents understood once they left the White House, they could potentially face criminal repercussions, "no one is above the law."

Now, Trump has given the justices, interestingly, this sort of off ramp. He's also said, well, if you don't recognize full immunity, maybe there's a partial immunity and you should kick it back down to the trial court and we should talk about these issues. So it's going to be really interesting to see these arguments in about two weeks.

SANCHEZ: You kind of touched on it there, but what other potential scenarios are there to get in a decision from the court? REID: Look, this is going to be fascinating because even members of Trump's own legal team will tell you they don't expect he's going to get a full win like he did on that question of ballot eligibility from the justices. They'll certainly take that off ramp. But even if he loses, I mean, we don't expect to get this decision until late June. That leaves only four months between that decision potentially and the election.

The Justice Department has said that they are willing to take this case to trial even in those weeks and months really close to the election. Of course, I think that could set off a whole new set of legal challenges. But by not taking this up months ago, when Jack Smith asked the justices to do so and resolving the issue once and for all, the Supreme Court has made it difficult for the special counsel, even if they win here, to bring this case before the election.

[15:25:09]

Why is the election so important? Well, if Trump is reelected, he can make both of these federal cases go away.

SANCHEZ: I'm shocked. I may have missed it, but I don't think we said delay, delay, delay.

REID: I tried not to because we don't have the button yet.

KEILAR: Boris, I'm disappointed. I'm disappointed in you.

REID: Without the button or whatsoever, but yes it's all about delay.

SANCHEZ: We got to get that done, the delay button.

REID: And the Supreme Court, I mean, they're really helping Trump delay that federal case, one of the ones that we really thought was going to go.

SANCHEZ: Yes. Paula Reid, thanks so much for walking us through that. Appreciate it.

So there is pressure building. Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene is trying to ramp up support for her idea to oust the leader of the House. She just sat down with CNN's Manu Raju. He's going to join us now live for an interview in just moments.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)