While the View crew disagreed on how, all of them appeared to defend The Blaze host Tomi Lahren following her recent comments on abortion. But then, the show boasts a long history of supporting abortion – and bashing pro-lifers.
On Monday, View co-host Whoopi Goldberg criticized the “backlash” Lahren received after calling herself “pro-choice” on the show last week. The conversation sparked a heated debate among the hosts about the possibility of being both a “constitutional conservative” and “pro-choice.”
Goldberg saw Lahren’s abortion stance as “evolv[ing]” from her party.
“Do you have to be on the same side of every single issue of your political party, aren't you allowed to evolve and grow?”
Another co-host, Sunny Hostin, admitted that she asked Lahren about abortion because she herself identifies as pro-life – or, rather, “anti-abortion.”
“I know you don’t like that term,” Hostin said of “pro-life,” and began to call herself “anti-abortion” instead, to accommodate her fellow hosts.
“That’s a better thing, yeah,” Goldberg agreed when Hostin switched to “anti-abortion.”
Co-host Sara Haines clarified Hostin’s “anti-abortion” position. “You personally are pro-life,” Haines said of Hostin, “but you don't think the government should be making that decision either.”
Hostin agreed, and even called her view “seemingly in line with” Lahren’s. She went on to bash the conservatives that “came out against” Lahren.
“They’ve just been so terrible to her,” Hostin defended Lahren. “And that’s, I think, one of the problems with conservativism. There are many faces to it.”
Co-host Jedediah Bila found Lahren’s views consistent. “I think you can be a constitutional conservative and you can be pro-choice,” she said.
That’s where Hostin disagreed. “No, because the constitution says the protection of life, liberty and property,” she responded. Bila retorted that the “constitution guarantees a right to privacy.”
In an attempt to intervene, Goldberg said the constitution’s meaning depended on the individual.
The constitution is talking about your individual life. Let's be specific, they were not talking about abortion when they created the constitution, because they weren't dealing with it. But what the problem for me is, what it does give you, is the right to make decisions for yourself, as an individual. That's what the constitution protects: your individuality… That's why we have these freedoms. So I think that, you know, the constitution was – yeah, is specific to you.
Along the same lines, towards the end, Goldberg concluded, “Let's see who we are. This is what I believe. This is what you believe.”
“That doesn’t mean you’re this, doesn’t mean you’re that,” she added, “That’s just what you believe. And if you're a constitutional person, you're entitled to your beliefs under the constitution.”
This wasn’t the first time Goldberg has attacked the term “pro-life.” In December, she went so far as to claim that celebrating Christmas was the “same conversation” as abortion. Goldberg has also declared that abortion is legal because people are tired of “hanger” and “Clorox” abortions and insisted that there was “nothing” in the Bible about abortion.
Her co-host, Joy Behar, has sung (yes, sung) “it’s my body” in support of abortion.
In January, the View donned “pussy hats” in support of the pro-abortion Women’s March. The View crew has also called former presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson “pathetic” for speaking out against abortion and slammed actor Kelsey Grammer for wearing a pro-life T-shirt.
