When it comes to the rights of women, we cannot go backwards. We have got to go forward. -Bernie Sanders

Last night in her back-to-back, one-on-one interviews with Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, Rachel Maddow kinda quoted a portion of Bernie’s remarks to Hillary Clinton in order to get Clinton’s second-hand response to Bernie’s words. I say ‘second-hand’ because no one played the clip of the interview for Secretary Clinton, so she had to no choice but to believe that Rachel correctly represented what Bernie actually said.

This whole thing was an odd stunt because it was essentially shot and played out of sequence. The schedule was supposed to be airing the Clinton in-person interview and then airing the Sanders remote interview which took place later in the day. But Rachel explains that while she was in the process of interviewing Clinton, Chris Matthews was simultaneously interviewing Donald Trump who made remarks about criminalizing abortion (which I will not quote here — there are myriad other sources for that on this site and elsewhere).

So when Rachel sat down with Bernie, she asked him about those remarks from Trump which had not yet been spoken when she initially sat down with Hillary.

The on-air chronology for the opening of the first hour interview with Hillary was pre-empted (well, ‘bumped-back by’ would be more correct) with a second discussion with Hillary about Bernie’s comments on Trump’s bombshell. That was then followed by the full, original, interview with Hillary.

Only after that -in the following hour- did we actually get to hear Bernie’s full comment about the Trump disclosure.

This clip begins with Rachel asking Bernie about the Trump remarks and Bernie contrasts his own position on the subject (transcript below):

x Embedded Content

Transcript (as transcribed by me):

Rachel: So, sir, you tweeted today that it was “Shameful”, that was the word you used when Donald Trump said this to my colleague Chris Matthews here on MSNBC. (plays clip) Rachel: After, uh, the word-spread that Donald Trump had made those made those remarks today about abortion that a woman needs to be punished, uh, if she seeks an abortion and abortion should be banned, uh, you said that was shameful. What was shameful about it? Bernie: Well, I think that 'shameful' is probably understating that position. Uh, first of all, to me, and I think to most Americans. Women have the right to control their own bodies, and they have the right to make those personal decisions themselves. But to PUNISH a WOMAN for having an abortion is beyond comprehension! I, I just, you know, one would say, 'what is in Donald Trump's mind,' except we're tired of saying that. I don't know what world this person lives in. Uh, so, obviously, from my perspective, and if elected president, I will do everything that I can to allow women to make that choice and have ACCESS to clinics all over this country. The idea of punishing a woman, that is just is beyond comprehension.

Bernie’s statement on his own position about the topic and what will be true under a potential Sanders Administration are about as woman-positive as is possible. His position on a woman’s right to choose is arguably STRONGER than Hillary’s since she has said she feels Republicans ought to restrict later-term abortions earlier than is allowed for in Roe v. Wade. (See below)

* * *

After the above exchange, Rachel then takes the conversation off in another direction and asks Bernie to consider whether Ted Cruz is more extreme than Donald Trump on the issue of abortion because one of his backers says that abortion providers should be executed.

So, the conversation has moved on from directly addressing Trump’s statement and it is at this point in the conversation, Rachel asks Bernie…

Rachel: Is Ted Cruz is even further out on this issue than Donald Trump is?

It was in response to this subsequent question that Bernie responded with the words Rachel presented to Hillary Clinton representing Bernie's position on the Trump statement. When discussing the more abstract notion of the various Republican positions on abortion, Bernie then said:

Bernie: Well, you know, you're living in crazy world there. And that is why, uh, you know, the Republican party, if they continue in this direction will be, as I mentioned a moment ago, a fringe party. Uh, look, they have nothing to say. All they can appeal is to a small number of people who feel very rabid, very rabid about a particular issue, uh, whether it is abortion or maybe whether it's gay marriage. That is their constituency. They have nothing of substance... You know you mentioned a moment ago, Rachel, that the media is paying attention to Donald Trump. Duh, no kidding! Once again, every stupid remark will be broadcast, you know, for the next five days.

It bears repeating: Bernie’s statement on his own position about the topic and what will be true under a potential Sanders Administration are about as woman-positive as is possible. His position on a woman’s right to choose is arguably STRONGER than Hillary’s since she has said she feels Republicans ought to restrict later-term abortions earlier than is allowed for in Roe v. Wade:

I have been on record in favor of a late pregnancy regulation that would have exceptions for the life and health of the mother. I object to the recent effort in Congress to pass a law saying after 20 weeks, you know, no such exceptions, because although these are rare, Bret, they sometimes arise in the most complex, difficult medical situation. And so I think it is -- under Roe v. Wade, it is appropriate to say, in these circumstances, so long as there's an exception for the life and health of the mother. -Hillary Clinton link

Anyone who’s life or health has been on the line in such a circumstance knows that if one finds oneself in a position where one’s life or health is threatened, one does not want to have to dealing with semantics in court to get a determination that one’s life and/or health is SUFFICIENTLY threatened to warrant meeting the legal criteria for the exception.

Bernie has always been clear — a woman should make her own decisions based on the realities in her life as she knows them.

EDIT: I’d like to add a portion of a comment below because this is consistent with my own experience:

Mothers don’t have late-term abortions unless there is something very very wrong with either the mother or the baby. Laws to restrict late term abortions simply will make the life of people like me who are already going through hell even that much more hellish and awful. What fun it would have been to have to waddle down to city hall with all of my hormones raging and fill out some form that would be processed so that I could get permission to have a medical procedure to end my misery. --Older and Wiser Now

Any position short of this is not sufficiently advocating for women in my estimation.

* * *

Los Angeles was an early market for Air America, so I’ve been a BIG Rachel fan since what she has called ‘the early two-thousandsies.’ She very clearly and deliberately presented a slice of Bernie’s full interview out of context in order to create the appearance that Bernie minimized Trump’s comments on criminalizing abortion. Shame on her. They repeated that distortion in discussion in the second half of what began as the Bernie interview hour when she and other MSNBC hosts made hay about how anti-woman Bernie had supposedly been. It was inaccurate and partial. I may not be a supporter of Secretary Clinton winning the nomination, but I would not stand for her being misrepresented to make a political point, either. Sure, I get that this is politics, but along with so many other Americans across the political spectrum this year, I want to see more fairness in our media.

Bernie Sanders’ statement on women’s reproductive health: