- Nancy Pelosi called the leaked draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade 'disrespectful' to women.
- Pelosi called the draft "anti-precedent and anti-privacy," in an interview with CBS "Face the Nation."
- She said the fight for women's rights to choose has been ongoing in Congress for decades.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Sunday said the Supreme Court "slapped women in the face" after a draft opinion overturning the landmark abortion ruling Roe v. Wade was leaked last week.
"This is about something so serious and so personal and so disrespectful of women. Here we are on Mother's Day, a week where the court has slapped women in the face in terms of disrespect for their judgments about the size and timing of their families," Pelosi said in a CBS "Face the Nation" interview
Pelosi added that a ruling overturning Roe v. Wade would be "anti-precedent and anti-privacy and has serious ramifications."
The House Speaker responded to comments from California Gov. Gavin Newsom criticizing Democrats for their response to the leak.
"Where is the Democratic Party? Where's the party? Why are we calling this out? This is a concerted, coordinated effort. And yes, they're winning. We need to stand up. Where's the counteroffensive?," Newsom said last week.
Pelosi told host Margaret Brennan that she wasn't sure why pro-abortion rights Democrats were outmaneuvered.
"The fact is that we have been fighting for a woman's right to choose," she said. "We have been fighting against the Republicans in the Congress constantly because the fact is there — and not just anti-woman's right to choose in terms of terminating a pregnancy — but in terms of access to contraception and family planning and the rest, both domestically and globally."
She said the issue has become more politicized in modern American politics over the years.
"We had been bipartisan early on, on support for a woman's right to choose until the politics have changed," she said. "And that's what happened with the court. The science hasn't changed. But the court changed."
She added, "And therefore, they're deciding that it will be different. I have no idea why anybody would make that statement unless they were unaware of the fight that has been going on."
Pelosi pushed back on questions on whether or not it was a mistake for President Barack Obama's administration to not codify Roe v. Wade into law in 2009 when Democrats controlled the House and Senate.
"The fact is, in '09, we really did not have a pro-choice Democratic Party. I had to fight against some of the people who did not want to pass the Affordable Care Act because they were concerned that it might enable more freedom of choice. It really didn't go down that path," she said.