HBO’s “Real Time” host Bil Maher leaves his audience out of words when he admits that abortion is murder and is “okay with that.”
In a panel discussion with British author Gillian Tett and New York Post columnist Piers Morgan, Maher brought up the topic of abortion after former President Donald Trump released a statement saying that abortion policies should be decided by each state and not by a national ban.
“A lot of people think it’s murder. That’s why I don’t understand the 15-week thing, or Trump’s plan is, Let’s leave it to the states. You mean, so killing babies is OK in some states?” Maher probed.
Trump, in his recent stance, states that the ban may have gone too far and that it’s a case-to-case basis for every state; however, Maher, who is not a Republican, insisted that it was the GOP’s objective for the longest time.
“For 50 years, they talked about getting rid of abortion. They did it, and it’s super unpopular, and now they have to basically lie,” Maher remarked.
“I mean, Trump—some of his statements on this—sound like what he said about healthcare: ‘Make both sides happy… 15 weeks seems to be a number people can agree.’ Can he lie his way out of this?”
Amid the discussion, Maher said something that left his audience in silence.
“They think it’s murder, and it kind of is. I’m just OK with that,” he said.
“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. Is that not your position if you’re pro-choice? You said you’re pro-choice, that’s your position too.”
Meanwhile, Morgan, who claimed he’s pro-choice, remarked that “America is not such an outlier” in terms of resistance to fully liberalizing abortion laws.
“There are many countries in Europe where it is completely illegal to have an abortion: Poland, Malta, you know, places like Andorra,” said Morgan. “And if you look at Germany and France and countries like that, it can be 10, 12 weeks is the term limit that you’re allowed to have an abortion illegally. So America is not such an outlier,” says Morgan.
He added that issues surrounding abortion in America are not entirely different compared to Europe.
“I think a lot of Americans on the left do think that this is somehow a really unique American problem or an issue that only pertains to them in terms of the legality of abortions. Actually, compared to Europe, it’s not massively dissimilar.”
Meanwhile, Tett finds it strange that this is an issue in the upcoming presidential elections, saying, “Fighting an election around this issue seems to be just strange. Back to the 19th century.”
