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Protests Erupt at Supreme Court after Roe v. Wade Overturned; Jacqueline Ayers, Planned Parenthood Senior Vice President, Discusses Supreme Court Overturning Roe v. Wade; A.G. Garland: DOJ "Strongly Disagrees" with SCOTUS Decision; Corporations Take Action After Supreme Court Overturns Roe v. Wade; House Passes Historic Gun Reform Bill. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired June 24, 2022 - 14:30   ET

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

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[14:33:48]

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: Emotional reactions outside the Supreme Court at this hour following the decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

CNN's Whitney Wild is there.

So, Whitney, tell us what the scene is. What are you hearing from protesters?

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: Well, right now, the scene is much bigger than it was earlier. This group has grown by the hundreds, Alisyn. And right now, these are mostly, if not entirely, people who are out here protesting the Supreme Court's decision.

Let me give you a live look. And it includes Capitol Police officers. You can see Capitol Police officers lining the fence here because they know this could turn into a law enforcement issue.

For now, though, it is calm. For now, no confrontations. We have not seen any arrests. We have not seen any reason for Capitol Police to intervene since this opinion came down.

Again, this group has grown by the hundreds, and again, this is now entirely focused on people who are protesting the Supreme Court decision.

I spoke with two women in the crowd. Here's what they told me earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm extremely angry. I'm angry. I'm fired up. The fight is not over. People did this fight 50 years ago. I guess it's our turn to take the fight up again. It may take us 50 years, but we'll get back.

[14:35:00] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want women to know, I want everyone to know that women are stronger than their circumstances. And no matter what situation that you find yourself in, the pro-life generation is here to say, you can.

Abortion tells women, you can't. You can't go to college. You can't achieve your dreams. You have to have the right to end the life of your child so that you can live your dream.

And I think that's misogyny. I think that is disgusting. And I think that we're better than that in 2022.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WILD: This crowd is expected to grow throughout the evening. There's another protest planned for closer to Capitol Hill. This is a concern for law enforcement.

Again, it's peaceful now, but there are concerns. And here's why. There's concerns about opposing groups clashing. So they're prepared for that.

There's concerns about people using this as an opportunity to commit acts of violence. A big fear is that a lone-wolf style attack could zero in on the group here and see an opportunity to commit a mass casualty event. So they're prepared for that.

Law enforcement in the area ramping up staffing and neighboring agencies have flooded into Washington to help Capitol Police.

Back to you.

CAMEROTA: OK. Let's pray that it remains peaceful.

Whitney Wild, thank you very much.

Let's bring in Jacqueline Ayers. She is the senior vice president at Planned Parenthood.

Jacqueline, thank you very much for being here.

Your reaction to this decision?

JACQUELINE AYERS, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, PLANNED PARENTHOOD: Well, thank you very much for having me.

Today's decision is completely devastating. And I am furious. I am holding in my heart, thinking about all of the patients, the doctors who were prepared to get health care today.

And now, there's nothing but confusion and misinformation. Many people who are going to be seeking services, not knowing where they can turn to.

I think the court failed us today. And instead, they handed a victory over to the politicians who are trying to take our rights away, who are telling us that we can't make decisions about our own bodies.

But it is a truly devastating day, but the fight absolutely is not over.

CAMEROTA: How does this change Planned Parenthood's mission?

AYERS: Planned Parenthood, as the nation's largest sexual and reproductive health care provider, is going to continue to provide services, no matter what.

Planned Parenthood has been well over 100 years providing services in communities all across the country. And we'll continue to provide legally allowable services in all of the health centers that we have.

We're also going to continue to help people get access to care. If you are in a state where abortion has been banned, we are going to help you navigate the very complicated health care system, helping you figure out where you can get your health care services.

Patient navigation is something that we have been planning and preparing for.

We are also going to continue working with other independent providers, abortion funds, corporations, asking everybody to have a role in helping people get access to care.

So we're going to continue to stay dedicated to our mission and that will continue to be helping people get access to abortion.

CAMEROTA: But legal and allowable, as you just said, I mean, therein lies the rub.

Are you worried that some of your providers, if they help a woman cross state lines in order to access a safe abortion, that they will be criminally held liable?

AYERS: I think what we do know is that the Supreme Court today has handed an invitation to hostile states to continue to pass laws that could do a lot of that, right, threatening people's access to be able to travel, to be able to aid or assist someone.

We've already seen it in states like Texas where they're trying to not just prevent people to get care but basically turn their neighbors on one another and make it so that everybody is going to be in fear of helping someone get care.

I think that, you know, what you're going to see, Planned Parenthood providers are going to continue to be committed, continue to make sure that people have access to the services where they can and also access to the information where they can.

We have many partners who are working right now to answer patient phone calls, make sure that people can get access.

We also are partnering with abortionfinder.org, so we can help people navigate to get to the health center in the schedule that they need, whether it's in their state or not and get to the local -- most local provider possible.

We're going to see that providers are going to continue to do any and everything they can to make sure that we're beating back misinformation, also that we know is going to be out there.

This is going to be a complicated field. This is going to be a health care crisis.

We anticipate that there are about 26 states that will take this invitation from the Supreme Court and seek to further restrict access to abortion.

That leaves about 24 states with favorable laws that will protect people's access. But the reality is, those 24 states cannot absorb and care for patients of all 50 states.

[14:40:03]

So we know that that means people are going to have to really face terrible consequences, difficult decisions. And some people are going to have to go without care.

So right now, we are making sure that everybody understands this is a health care crisis. The Supreme Court has dealt a terrible blow.

And we want to make sure that people know lifting your voice, fighting back. And continuing to make ourselves get back into the Constitution is what we're going to be focused on.

CAMEROTA: Jacqueline Ayers --

AYERS: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: -- of Planned Parenthood, thank you very much.

All right, well, Attorney General Merrick Garland says the Justice Department strongly disagrees with the Supreme Court's decision today. So next, what the DOJ vows to do.

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[14:45:27]

CAMEROTA: Attorney General Merrick Garland says the entire department, quote, "strongly disagrees" with today's ruling by the Supreme Court.

You'll remember the important context here. It was Merrick Garland who would have been on the Supreme Court for this decision had Mitch McConnell not blocked the process, and instead ushered in former President Trump's pick of Neil Gorsuch.

CNN senior justice correspondent, Evan Perez, joins me live.

Evan, what is Merrick Garland's plan?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Alisyn, you point out the tremendously consequential decision in 2016, why Merrick Garland is now in this position.

And he says, and you know, based on what has been happening the last few weeks, that the Department of Justice is going to be essentially going state to state, as these states try to react to what this ruling from the Supreme Court, to enact different laws.

And so you can expect that this is going to be state-by-state combat between the states and the Justice Department.

I'll read you just a part of what Merrick Garland's statement today says. It says:

"The ability to decide one's own future is a fundamental American value. And few decisions are more significant and personal than the choice of whether and when to have children."

"The Justice Department will use every tool at our disposal to protect reproductive freedom. And we will not waver from the department's founding responsibility to protect the civil rights of all Americans."

And in other parts of the statement, you can already see where this is going, Alisyn.

For instance, the statement says that the department will work with other federal agencies to ensure that there are -- there's access to reproductive tools that women have.

And that includes, for instance, the FDA's approval of Mifepristone, which is one of the ways that states might try to do it is to ban over-the-counter on the availability of drugs that are used to abort -- used to have abortions.

So these are the types of things that the Justice Department, you can expect, is going to be fighting the states in the coming months and perhaps years to come as this issue is far from being settled -- Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: OK, Evan Perez, thank you very much.

So, just hours after the Supreme Court's decision, some companies vowing to stand by their employees who seek an abortion.

Joining us now is CNN's Alison Kosik.

Alison, hi.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Hi.

CAMEROTA: So, which companies are doing this?

KOSIK: So it's important to point out that a lot of these companies actually began to change their health care plans when the draft opinion looking to overturn Roe v. Wade came out.

And so we see a lot of companies covering abortion in their health care plans. And now they're adding the travel-related reimbursement part of this for employees who have to go, possibly, across state lines to get abortions.

So we're seeing a lot of this in tech companies. Microsoft, for one, giving its financial support for what it calls critical health care, including abortions.

Meta, formerly known as Facebook, also giving travel expense reimbursements to women who need to cross state lines to get abortions.

Netflix is actually providing up to $10,000 in reimbursements for travel and for abortion to each U.S. full-time employee. This is a lifetime maximum. And also includes other procedures as well.

And it's not just tech. We're seeing other companies, including Disney -- you don't see that up there on the screen -- also giving reimbursements for those who need to travel out of state.

Disney is significant because, remember, Disney getting kind of caught up in the crossfire with the governor of Florida over the "Don't Say Gay bill."

Also we're seeing it in the financial industry. JPMorgan Chase, one of the biggest employers in the financial industry, actually putting out an internal memo that I obtained earlier today from June.

The company already saying back in June that it will pay for travel to states that allow legal abortions. This becoming effective July 1st at JPMorgan.

JPMorgan saying, "As always, we're focused on the health and wellbeing of our employees and want to ensure equitable access to all benefits."

We're also seeing companies like Yelp and Levi Stauss and dating app, Bumble, also wading into this political mire, many may see, in offering benefits, these travel-related expenses, you know, if women need to go ahead and get abortions.

You know, with this decision, it's interesting to see these companies wade into the political sphere. It's not easy. They have to sort of fend off those who are coming at them.

[14:50:01]

But why shouldn't they? Right? I mean, you think about women, they make up half of the American workforce.

CAMEROTA: Yes, I mean, unless there are criminal consequences. It's complicated. Which is why it's so interesting that they have already come out just in these past few hours and taken this position.

KOSIK: Right.

CAMEROTA: Alison, thank you --

KOSIK: You got it.

CAMEROTA: -- very much.

OK, so, the House also just passed the bipartisan gun safety bill. So we're live on Capitol Hill with that development, next.

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[14:55:08]

CAMEROTA: The House just passed that historic bipartisan gun safety package. The final vote was 234-193. Late last night, the Senate passed this bill. It was the first of its kind in nearly 30 years.

But yesterday, the Supreme Court struck down a New York law that placed restrictions on carrying a concealed gun outside of the home.

CNN congressional correspondent, Jessica Dean, joins me live now from Capitol Hill.

Jessica, what exactly ended up being in this bipartisan bill?

JESSICA DEAN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Right. Alisyn, you underscored the significance of it, the first bill to pass on gun safety laws in decades.

So getting into what exactly is in it, it's going to do things like closing the boyfriend loophole. That means anyone convicted of domestic violence is not going to be able to get their hands on a gun.

They did add a provision that someone could have their rights restored for a one-time offense if there were no further offenses within five years. That was a bit of the compromise that they came together on there.

It's also going to incentivize crisis intervention programs within states. That could include Red Flag laws across the country. Some states already have them. Others do not. This incentivizes them to set this up.

And enhances background checks for younger gun buyers, who are in the 18-to-21-year-old age group.

It will really incentivize states to put those juvenile records into a federal system where they can run checks on juvenile records before selling to those younger buyers.

It's also billions of dollars into mental health that will go all across the country in school safety, community safety.

That's just some of the things that went into this bill, Alisyn.

And again, underscoring the bipartisan support that it got, both in the House today and in the Senate last night, we saw 15 Republican Senators, including Mitch McConnell supporting this legislation.

A bit of a different story in terms of GOP leadership over here in the House. House GOP leaders whipping against this. But 14 Republicans, Alisyn, going against leadership, joining Democrats, including Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger.

As you mentioned, it now goes to President Biden's desk for his signature.

CAMEROTA: Jessica Dean, thank you for explaining all of that.

All right, we're going to take you back to the Supreme Court after today's historic decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

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