Charlie Kirk calls court decision banning abortion in Arizona “a proper ruling at an improper time”
Kirk: “This ruling was likely the correct one, but it still puts us in a very tough spot. ... Arizona comes forward at the Supreme Court and says, you know, no abortions, which was always the stated goal.”
Published
Citation From the April 10, 2024, edition of The Charlie Kirk Show, streamed on Rumble
CHARLIE KIRK (HOST): Now to be clear, this was not some liberal ruling designed to put us in a trap. The Arizona Supreme Court is a hundred percent Republican. And, frankly, this ruling was likely the correct one, but it still puts us in a very tough spot.
So what I sent out yesterday is very clear, which is this, which is sometimes you don't get to choose when you fight the big battles. Getting rid of abortion is an irrefutable and necessary moral good for society in Arizona. However, like all major moral fights in America, they come with a potential political cost.
It is likely that the majority of Arizonans won't like this decision. The majority of people in Arizona want abortion, and they want it now. Now incredibly, Donald Trump preempted this ruling by one day. The best path is likely for the Arizona legislature to throw this back to the voters on the ballot in November. Let me say that again.
That is the solution. The solution is that the House and the Senate in Arizona can put an alternative ballot referendum, one that is supported by a vast majority of Americans, one that is popular in the state of Florida, one that Ron DeSantis got done in the state of Florida, which is a heartbeat bill. A heartbeat bill is far more popular than a total ban. Now Trump has pledged to respect the will of the states and their voters, and we can credibly message on this and decouple the top of the ticket, Trump versus Biden versus RFK, from down-ballot issues, a tall task but infinitely more plausible given Trump's announcement.
Now, let me editorialize for a second here. I have received some pretty angry text messages in the last couple days because people say, Charlie, you're insufficiently pro-life. They say that, you know, you're not fighting for the unborn. I mean, this is silly rubbish, to be firstly. Secondly, if you don't have political power, then you're not gonna be able to advance any of the issues that we care deeply about. Here's the other problem, and this is the sad reality, the Republican Party and many of our voters are not very — as pro-life as they say they are, and that's just the reality of it. And yesterday was the test. Yesterday was the stress test. Arizona comes forward at the Supreme Court and says, you know, no abortions, which was always the stated goal. And instead of saying, celebrating, people immediately come out and say we're against the ruling. Unfortunately, there are millions and millions of people that go to church and they're Christians who secretly or not so secretly will say they want an abortion as an option in case if their daughter gets pregnant. Now, look, over time, we can start to win more people over. Over time, we can build consensus. In some way, it's a proper ruling at an improper time. You need to make sure your laws fit with the will of the people. If the laws don't fit with the will of the people, you're going to get major political backlash.