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Sarah Silverman Chats With Jesus About Reproductive Rights in New Video

The comedian’s activist streak continues, for a good cause

by
Sara Ivry
January 24, 2014
Sarah Silverman and Jesus. (YouTube)
Sarah Silverman and Jesus. (YouTube)

You didn’t think that the systematic legislative war being waged against women’s reproductive freedoms (aka a woman’s right to get an abortion) across this vast land would be something Sarah Silverman would take lightly, did you? Or that we wouldn’t support her opposition to what amounts to an atrocious degradation of a woman’s right to accessible healthcare?

In a new video, Silverman, whose political stances now stand as tall as her comedy as a pillar of her reputation, promotes From V to Shining V, a day (September 27—mark your calendars, people) of national pride for women. But before she introduces the initiative, she enjoys the warm, unexpected friendship of none other than Jesus Christ. He drops in for a visitation; they flip through a book of photos of dressed up cats, they snuggle on the coach, eating popcorn and watching an NCIS marathon. She asks him when, exactly, life begins and he replies, chuckling: At 40.

He kids! And then explains, “The fertilized eggs aren’t people. People are people.” Silverman concurs. “But people who believed fertilized eggs are people are people too, and you have to love them,” Jesus continues, “You’re not better than them.”

The video gets more political at that point—Silverman lambastes the erosion of the barrier between church and state, suggests men undergo a penile probe pre-masturbation to show them that their sperm are alive, much the way some states require abortion seekers to watch a pre-procedure ultrasound of the fetus, and calls out the state of Texas, where restrictions on clinics have tightened such that people seeking abortions must now travel hundreds of miles.

“A woman should not have to pack a lunch to get healthcare,” she says. Amen.

Sara Ivry is the host of Vox Tablet, Tablet Magazine’s weekly podcast. Follow her on Twitter@saraivry.