Kelly Clarkson Calls Arizona’s Abortion Ban ‘Insane’
In the four years that The Kelly Clarkson Show has been on the air, Clarkson has interviewed hundreds of celebrities and trended for her “Kellyoke” covers of other artists’ songs. On Monday, the show took a more serious tone when she sat down with Hillary Clinton to talk about pregnancy and Arizona’s 1864 abortion law, which was upheld by the state’s Supreme Court last week.
Clarkson expressed her confusion and frustration about the law, which bans nearly all abortions. At one point, she became emotional, talking about her own complicated pregnancies, which required her to be hospitalized. She shares daughter River Rose, 9, and son Remington “Remy” Alexander, 8, with ex-husband Brandon Blackwell. “I mean, literally, I asked God, this is a real thing, ‘to just take me and my son’ in the hospital the second time because I was like, it’s the worst thing,” Clarkson recalled, crying. “I didn’t know I’d get emotional. I’m sorry,” she added while signaling for the cameras to cut. The cameras kept rolling as Clinton chimed in, saying, “It’s okay, because you’re speaking for so many. You’re speaking for literally millions of women in our country and around the world.”
Clarkson went on to say her pregnancies were “just the worst,” and although “it was my decision” to have children, “to make someone go through that — phew.” Clinton added, “There’s a cruelty toward women, toward women’s lives.” Clarkson said, “You don’t realize how hard it is. The fact that you would take that away from someone,” seemingly referring to taking away a woman’s right to choose. “That it can literally kill them. The fact if they’re raped … by their family member … and they have to — like that, it’s just, like, insane to me,” she said of the law, which makes no exceptions for those who become pregnant as a result of assault or incest.
Clarkson has spoken previously about her challenging pregnancies. In 2013, she told Ellen DeGeneres that she would sometimes vomit a dozen times a day. In 2015, she said her morning sickness was so bad she had to get IVs and fluids. But the singer, who is from Texas and has a broad fan base of people with varying political views, has generally stayed away from commenting on politics. On Monday, Clarkson told viewers that even though it’s hard and uncomfortable to “preach at someone,” she worries that “we’re going to end up in some kind of — not to sound dramatic but — some kind of civil war over things that I feel like we shouldn’t be divided on.” Meanwhile, Clinton reminded viewers that “voting is your superpower. It may not seem like it, but it really is.”
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