Katie Couric on overturning of Roe v. Wade: ‘We’re in a s—– situation’

Journalist Katie Couric slammed the Supreme Court’s decision last week to overturn Roe v. Wade, which guaranteed a federal right to abortion, saying that the move is “devastating” for reproductive rights. 

“We’re in a shitty situation,” the Katie Couric Media founder said on a Friday episode of the podcast “UnWrapped,” which focuses on women in media and entertainment. 

Couric said the high court’s decision is the result of a 40-year campaign from evangelical Christians and “extreme right-wing activists” to get Roe overturned, adding the development should not be surprising to “anyone who’s been paying attention.” 

She added that the court’s recent decisions, including that ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, show the “damage” caused by former President Trump. 

“I don’t think people fully appreciated the damage that Donald Trump was going to do to this country,” Couric said. “Not everyone appreciated it, and we’re seeing the results not only from the Jan. 6 hearings but from the decisions this Supreme Court is making.” 

She said Trump’s appointees to the court raise questions about the confirmation process after they “basically pledged their allegiance” to precedence. 

Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, both of whom voted to overturn Roe, said during their confirmation hearings that they recognized Roe as precedent that has been reaffirmed on multiple occasions.

Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine), both of whom voted to confirm them, said they were disappointed in the two justices’ decision, saying that it was inconsistent with what they testified under oath. 

Couric said she hopes the issue will be “galvanizing” to voters in the upcoming November midterm elections. She said she recognizes that the economy is usually the most important issue on voters’ minds, but she hopes they will consider other issues, including reproductive rights. 

Couric said she is choosing to drop her impartiality that has defined much of her career based on the “post-truth” era the nation finds itself in, citing the large number of Republicans who falsely believe the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Trump. 

“For much of my career I had to be that dispassionate person, and I believe in my heart that these rights being taken away, and the fact that we have a huge segment of the population that is living under these mistruths and falsehoods, that it’s really important to take a stand,” she said.