Bill Maher 'respects' absolutist position, says abortion is murder and he's 'OK with that'
HBO host Bill Maher prompted silence from his audience on Friday's episode of "Real Time" when he acknowledged that abortion is murder while suggesting he's "OK" with it because there are enough people on the planet.
Speaking during a panel discussion with British journalists Piers Morgan and Gillian Tett, Maher conceded the consistency of the "absolutist" argument that abortion is always wrong, and that attempts to draw the line at various stages of gestation make little sense.
"That's why I don't understand the 15-week thing, or Trump's plan [to] leave it to the states,'" he said. "You mean, so killing babies is OK in some states? I can respect the absolutist position. I really can."
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NEW: Room goes silent as Bill Maher admits that he thinks abortion is murder but says he is okay with that because “there's 8 billion people in the world.”
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) April 13, 2024
Yikes.
“I scold the left on when they say: ‘oh, you know what, they just hate women. People who aren't pro-life, they… pic.twitter.com/A2ps5CNNtG
"I scold the Left when they say, 'Oh, you know what? They just hate women, people who are pro-life,'" he continued. "They don't hate women. They just made that up. They think it's murder, and it kind of is. I'm just OK with that. I am. I mean, there's 8 billion people in the world. I'm sorry, we won't miss you. That's my position on that."
"What?" Maher said after his statement was met with awkward silence from Morgan, Tett, and the audience.
"That's quite harsh, Bill," Morgan said, adding that perhaps Maher adheres to that position "because you don't like children." Maher pushed back by noting how if Morgan is pro-choice, then he technically agrees with him.
Morgan went on to explain that while he is personally pro-choice, he respects those who have a differing opinion and that he believes Trump changed his public abortion views in a cynical attempt to court Evangelical voters in 2016.
"What I think I don't respect quite so much with Trump, is that he's clearly done a complete U-turn, and I think for political reasons," he said. "He did it in 2016 to get the Evangelicals with him. He said, 'I'm going to pack the court. I'm going to get this done and overturn Roe v. Wade.' So they all came with him."
"And I think now he feels he's got them, and now you're seeing him and, again, I say I don't support what he's doing," he continued. "But I do understand the political reasons he's doing it and I think it could be quite effective, actually, neutralizing what is becoming a massive banana skin for the party. And I think that's what he's recognized, and he's getting ahead of it. I think it could work for him."
Trump has drawn mixed reactions in recent days for suggesting last week that abortion laws should be left to the states.
In a video posted last Monday to Truth Social, Trump promised that "under my leadership, the Republican Party will always support the creation of strong, thriving and healthy American families," adding, "We want to make it easier for mothers and families to have babies, not harder."
After noting his support for in-vitro fertilization and blasting the Democrats for allegedly supporting abortion "up to and even beyond the ninth month," he said whatever individual states decide on the issue "must be the law of the land" in that state.
Trump's video came a day before the Arizona Supreme Court reversed a lower court ruling by upholding a strict state law established in 1864 that enacts a near-ban on the procedure. The law was later reenacted in 1977 and re-affirmed in 2022.
Jon Brown is a reporter for The Christian Post. Send news tips to [email protected]
