Rev. Al Sharpton appeared on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” with Joe Scarborough on Monday to claim that pro-life Christians have “hijacked” the Bible and Jesus.
Sharpton shared the remarks in response to the Supreme Court’s recent ruling to overturn Roe v. Wade and return laws regarding abortion to states.
“I am incensed and insulted they have hijacked the Bible and Jesus to distort and misquote, well it’s not even a misquote — create quotes that are not there to justify a right-wing kind of ideology that would take away the rights of women and then scheduled to take other people’s rights,” Sharpton told Scarborough, according to Newsbusters.
Speaking on the U.S. Supreme Court vote to overturn Roe v. Wade. #MorningJoe pic.twitter.com/nQd83RGDZF
— Reverend Al Sharpton (@TheRevAl) June 27, 2022
“And what is strange to me, Joe, they can see a scripture that is not there about abortion but they couldn’t see love your neighbor when it came down to putting things through that would help the poor and help the needy,” he added.
Sharpton also criticized progressives for not turning out to vote in the 2016 presidential election.
“Well, look at what you got. What did you think would happen? You gave Trump three seats on the Supreme Court,” Sharpton argued. “You helped do this as much as that distorted Christian language, and we need to aggressively take both of you on and say step to the side and let folks that are clear-sighted and clear-minded save this country.”
The conversation clearly included an emphasis on “the fight to protect reproductive rights in this country.”
Speaking on the fight to protect reproductive rights in this country. #MorningJoe pic.twitter.com/dRj4pUQCaL
— Reverend Al Sharpton (@TheRevAl) June 27, 2022
Sharpton has often advocated for pro-choice views, including his support for Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA), a black pro-choice pastor elected in 2021. Sharpton argued that the victory signaled the end of “legal apartheid.”
“Here we have in the state of Georgia, a state deep in the heart of the old Confederacy, a state that voted to elect America’s first black vice-president in November, and a state that just voted to elect the Democratic Party’s first black senator. What does that mean about where this country is after four years of Donald Trump?” MSNBC host Scarborough asked Sharpton in January.
“It means that this country has really come back unto showing that we’re not going backwards to the days of legal apartheid or segregation and divisiveness,” Sharpton responded.
MSNBC has also regularly blasted pro-life views. In September, the network hosted civil rights attorney Jill Colleen Jefferson and her radical comparison regarding pro-life Americans.
“Having the right to an abortion is a constitutional right; it’s grounded in the right to privacy that is within the Constitution,” Jefferson wrote.
She later compared those holding a pro-life view to suicide bombers.
“What it reminds me of, quite honestly, is a suicide bomber — someone who feels like they have the right and the moral duty to mess up somebody else’s life for the greater good,” Jefferson added.