Leslie Jones Rips Into Alabama’s Abortion Ban on SNL: “This Is a War on Women”

“When women have a choice, women have freedom.”


Comedian Leslie Jones ripped into Alabama’s recent vote to effectively ban abortion on Saturday Night Live, appearing during the show’s Weekend Update segment in a red Handmaid’s Tale gown. “Basically, we’re all handmaids now,” Jones said. 

In a monologue both hilarious and pointed, Jones blasted the 25 senators who voted for the ban—all men, she said, who look like the casting call for a “Lipitor commercial”—while emphasizing the severity of the vote. Alabama isn’t alone in this gender imbalance: Mother Jones found that all of the nine states that recently passed abortion bans had a lower than average percentage of women serving in their legislatures, except for Georgia.

“Look, the fact that nine states are doing this means this really is a war on women,” Jones said. “And if you’re a woman out there and you feel scared or confused, just know that you’re not alone. There are so many women out there that’s got your back, especially me.” 

WE'LL BE BLUNT:

We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't find elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

payment methods

WE'LL BE BLUNT

We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate