Saturday Night Live dedicated their cold-open sketch to the abortion debate Saturday, and closed out the show with stars wearing “1973” shirts to show support for the pro-abortion lobby.
The cold-open sketch was described on Saturday Night Live’s official YouTube channel as: “After Justice Samuel Alito’s leaked draft opinion to overturn Roe v. Wade, a flashback to 13th century England shows the exact moment three men (Benedict Cumberbatch, Andrew Dismukes, James Austin Johnson) vote to outlaw abortion.”
A narrator starts the sketch, arguing that “Justice Samuel Alito explains that no woman has a right to an abortion, and that in fact abortion is a crime. To prove it, he cites a treatise from 13th Century England. .. which laid such a clear foundation for what our laws should be in 2022.”
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— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) April 12, 2022
In an uncommon move, the guest host, Benedict Cumberbatch, joined the main SNL cast in the opening skit. Cumberbatch led the sketch and at one point jokes about trepanning Cecily Strong for her pro-abortion stance. Trepanning is the ancient method of drilling a hole into an individual’s skull for medical purposes, according to History Extra.
Strong’s character suggested that women have a say in the abortion debate “since having a baby offers a 50% chance of dying,” before Dismuke’s character responded, “shouldn’t we at least make exceptions in case of rape of incest?” Johnson quipped, “but those are the only kinds of sex!” (RELATED: SNL Rips Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Bill)
Kate McKinnon joined the sketch as a “woman in her 30s,” who resembled a witch, and predicts that abortions will become decriminalized, but then “50 years after the progress, they’ll be like, hey maybe we should undo the progress.” McKinnon’s character joked that those who will “undo the progress” come from “a place called” Florida.