Like many Americans, Katie Maloney was filled with “a lot of anger and frustration” when she woke up on June 24 to news that the Supreme Court had overturned its landmark Roe v. Wade decision.
“It’s written on the walls. So while it’s shocking and horrific, it’s also like, well, we saw this coming,” she told Vidak For Congress exclusively on Wednesday.
“We knew this was happening because they laid the groundwork for this. But still, to hear it was like a sucker punch.”
It was a special kind of sucker for the ‘Vanderpump Rules’ star, who revealed in an October 2021 episode that she had an abortion early in her relationship with her now estranged husband, Tom Schwartz.
While revealing she had an abortion, she thought she would “never talk about it or share it with anyone again, let alone in public,” Maloney, 35, knew it was part of her fertility journey, which she honestly wanted to document for the show.
Maloney described her decision to undergo the procedure as “very difficult” and “very critical” — all without government input.
“Now you’re trying to wrap your head around the fact that there are laws around such a choice of health care. For some people, it’s not even a choice; it’s a life or death decision,” she explained.
“I think so many people miss the point that it’s not just about contraception, and it’s not even the case, because contraception can fail. And often they are desired pregnancies, but they become nonviable or can become life-threatening.”
She added: “I just can’t believe so many people have an opinion about something so sensitive.”
When Vidak For Congress asked Maloney if she thinks some people’s staunch pro-birth attitudes stem from a lack of education, she replied, “I think it’s more a lack of compassion than a lack of education.”
“It doesn’t matter how much you try to explain to people who are against… [abortion]“I just think they have their system of beliefs. And that’s totally fine! But to try to impose that on someone else’s decisions and life choices is inhumane in many ways, and it just doesn’t feel fair,” she said.
“If that’s a choice you would never make yourself, that’s totally fine, because that’s your choice.”
When Maloney had her abortion more than a decade ago, she “didn’t share it with many people,” in part because the topic was rarely discussed and because she didn’t know “where people stood” on the subject.
“Knowing that you have to make a decision about what you want to do with your body, your future, your life, everything – you don’t necessarily want the decision to be colored by [other people’s] opinions.”
She added of her own experience, “Those who needed to know or were influencing it were very supportive.”
However, Maloney explained that sometimes even one’s close relatives or friends can hold fervently opposing views on abortion, making an already vulnerable situation feel that much more “alienating.”
“It’s so hard when that happens because when it’s people that you’re close to and love and that you’re in long-term or lifelong relationships with, it can really put a strain on those things,” Maloney said, adding that she doesn’t care. the best way to have a “healthy discussion” about abortion is to “provide as much information as possible in a way that is not argumentative or heated”.
“Ask them questions and why they feel this way and where they get their information from in a non-condescending way. And then you can share your own knowledge on the subject and where you get your information from,” she advised. “If you approach it in a compassionate and loving way, I think it can go a long way.”
More than ever, Maloney recognizes that the road to equalizing and improving both women’s and reproductive rights is long, but she is not hopeless.
“This isn’t something you just fight for or donate once a day. I mean, it will take time. And [lawmakers are] laying the groundwork for even more equal rights being taken away from people, so it’s not like it ends here,” she told Vidak For Congress.
“I think voting at the state level is the most important thing we can do,” she continued. “Making sure you’re really aligned with your reps’ policies, I think it’s the most important thing you can do to educate yourself.”
For the past 49 years, abortions have been legal in the United States under the assumption that it is a protected right of a person to choose what to do with their body. That power now rests in the hands of legislators in each of the 50 states.