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Garrison Keillor feels Roe v Wade not 'worth fighting for anymore', Internet tells him to 'STFU'

'It seems clear that Judge Barrett will sit on the Supreme Court and this will mean the reversal of Roe v Wade and some deep dents in the Affordable Care Act,' Keillor wrote

Former Minnesota Public Radio host Garrison Keillor was slammed by social media users after he declared that he doesn't think "Roe v Wade is worth fighting for anymore" in a now-deleted Facebook post on Tuesday, October 14. 

In a rare political commentary, Keillor weighed in on the Supreme Court confirmation hearing for Judge Amy Coney Barrett, who is President Donald Trump's nominee to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. "It seems clear that Judge Barrett will sit on the Supreme Court and this will mean the reversal of Roe v Wade and some deep dents in the Affordable Care Act," he began. "I don't think Roe v Wade is worth fighting for anymore."

Keillor went on to say the right to safe abortion has "torn the country asunder," and wondered, "to what good?" "We can accept a system of states' rights, whereby abortion is legal in some states, illegal in others, same as you have a death penalty in some states, not in others," Keillor wrote. "…Let South Dakota be South Dakota and if they wish to criminalize LBGTQ, then they can deal with the consequences. Let’s give the cultural war a rest and focus on the economy and tax policy and environment."

Although he deleted his post after receiving considerable backlash, mostly from women on Twitter, it was too late as screenshots of his post were already viral. Author and social commentator Roxane Gay wrote, "The day I give a f**k about what Garrison Keillor thinks about women's rights is a day that doesn't exist in any space or time."

Comedian Sara Benincasa, commented "What a loser," in a tweet, adding in another, "Anyway, Garrison Keillor doesn't matter, but seeing his name trending was triggering because it reminded me of the soul-crushing boredom of being made to listen to his show as if it were ever going to entertain me at all. Nightmarish. Also abortion is necessary healthcare."

Gennifer Hutchison, who wrote 'Breaking Bad' also weighed in saying, "STFU Garrison Keillor. There you go — you got your attention for today. Go away now."

Actress Ali Davis wrote, "My Grandma Roo was awesome for many reasons. But the one I'm thinking of right now is how she recognized Garrison Keillor as unfunny and unlistenable way before that was cool. If someone suggested Prairie Home Companion as something she might like, she would get visibly offended." Instagram star Stephanie Williams opined, "Garrison Keillor is the epitome of everything wrong with the country."

After deleting his original post, Davis clarified his stance on the topical issue of abortion in another post where he called Trump a "cynical corrupt president," explaining that what he meant earlier was that "Roe v Wade is doomed", regardless.

"Let me rephrase what I said about abortion. Hillary Clinton lost in 2016 because so many people stayed home instead of voting for her and thus a cynical corrupt president got three Supreme Court appointments and that probably means that Roe v. Wade is doomed. But the Court is not able to make abortion illegal, only states can do that. So abortion will be legal most places and not others," he wrote. 

He added: "Meanwhile, we need to focus on providing health care and support for women, that will lessen the number of women who feel forced to abort. This is the hypocrisy of the Right to Life people, anti-abortion and anti-social services. Meanwhile, R v W is a toxic issue that has poisoned our politics for almost fifty years and succeeded in electing a great many cynical and corrupt men to public office who oppose abortion publicly but would provide it for their daughters without question."

In another followup post, he insinuated that his Facebook account had been hacked. "My Facebook page has been hacked by some fool expressing his ignorance of political issues and using my name. I am not responsible. My wife Jenny is in charge of politics in this household and she strongly dislikes Judge Barrett and so that is my opinion too. I shall now go back to writing my novel," he wrote.