John Oliver Blasts Alito's Roe v. Wade Opinion: 'Basic Rights Today Could Become Crimes Tomorrow'

John Oliver didn't hold back Sunday night as he took Justice Samuel Alito and the Supreme Court to task for reportedly overturning Roe v. Wade.

In an 18-minute segment, Oliver blasted Alito for writing that "the right to abortion is not deeply rooted in the Nation's history and traditions" in his leaked majority opinion. "Even if that were true, which by the way — fuck off — the framers probably left off the specific right to abortion because they couldn't anticipate it being such a massive concern," he said. "I don't know why these particular individuals didn't have abortion on the forefront of their minds. There must have been some explanation. I just can't quite place the exact reason, but it is on the tip of my penis."

Oliver went on to offer an impassioned defense of abortion rights. "Some who get abortions are survivors of rape or incest, others might need one for medical reasons. But also just to be clear, some will be seeking abortion because they fucking want one, and this is very much about them, too," said the Last Week Tonight host. "This is a fight for people's right to have control over their bodies. It's about bodily autonomy, and the only time it's okay to argue against that is if the body in question belongs to Elmo. Because he literally cannot function unless someone is arm-fucking him from below."

The Emmy-winning host proceeded to hold both conservatives and liberals — including Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama – accountable for the impending Supreme Court decision, explaining that Democratic leaders have "shied away from engaging in that fight or were squeamish in defense of abortion."

To those officials, Oliver has a message: "Stop tiptoeing around the issue of abortion and take steps to properly safeguard it. The dream version of this would be a constitutional amendment that would support people's fundamental rights to make personal decisions about contraception, pregnancy, marriage, and family life. But until then, we're going to need other legislation at the state and federal level."

Oliver concluded the segment with a warning. "We may now also need to shore up other rights supposedly guaranteed by Supreme Court rulings, from voting rights to gay marriage," he said. "Because the fact is, under the current Supreme Court, your basic rights today could become crimes tomorrow."

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver airs Sundays at 11:00 PM ET on HBO.

Claire Spellberg Lustig is the Senior Editor at Primetimer and a scholar of The View. Follow her on Twitter at @c_spellberg.