Whoopi Goldberg goes toe-to-toe with Rep. Nancy Mace during abortion debate on ‘The View’

Goldberg openly rejected false claims and defended her right to choose with Monday's guest on "The View," South Carolina's GOP congresswoman.

Whoopi Goldberg, ever unapologetic, is an advocate of pro-choice and pro-life politics. 

On Monday, during an episode of “The View,” Goldberg made her beliefs known when a debate with a guest on the show, Rep. Nancy Mace, turned heated. 

Whoopi Goldberg (above), a host on “The View,” challenged Rep. Nancy Mace this week over abortion politics. (Photo: Lou Rocco/ABC via Getty Images)

When Goldberg’s conservative co-host, Alyssa Farah Griffin, brought up Mace’s recent talking points around abortion, Mace advocated for finding a middle ground on the issue while remaining “pro-life.” 

“We cannot demonize women,” Mace, R-S.C., said as she explained how frustrated she is with the GOP’s lack of movement on issues surrounding women’s safety, women’s health and gun safety. 

“What I have found is that neither side wants to find the middle ground,” she continued. “The left doesn’t want to tell you what their limits are; the right is ‘zero and no exceptions.’ That’s not where the vast majority of Americans are. They want to be compassionate to women and girls. They want exceptions. At some point, we have to decide, at what point does the baby have rights and the right to life?”

Goldberg eventually said: “I’m curious, do you want the government telling you how to raise your family?” 

“There’s no law on the books that says you have to have an abortion,” she added. “Isn’t that my choice, if my doctor and I feel that’s the best way for me? If I’m a nice Jewish girl or a girl who has a different religious belief, why am I being held to someone else’s religious beliefs?”

Mace said at some point, “the baby deserves the right to life.” 

“But, that’s your belief,” Goldberg countered.

Mace then suggested that liberals have a hypocritical stance on the issue.  

“You don’t want the government in the room with the doctor and the woman, but those who want the government to pay for it [have] the government in the room with the doctor and the woman. So, you can’t have it both ways,” she shot back. 

For her part in the discussion, Griffin asked Goldberg about the “medical ethics” of late-term abortions that go “beyond the religious belief” on the issue. Mace also made inaccurate claims that California and New York allow abortions up to nine months. Presently, both states have restrictions on abortion beyond fetal viability and risk to the mother.

Goldberg rejected the false claims. 

“Let’s stop that,” she said. “No one, no one, no one — no doctor, no hospital, no one, will take a baby at nine months for an abortion! I’m telling you this.”

Throughout the discussion, the women talked over each other to the point of neither being able to be heard. However, Goldberg remained steadfast to her point and even suggested that she was “pro-life” for her overarching beliefs. 

“Why is it not my choice? This is the part I’m missing. Because I understand your choice. I understand your choice,” Goldberg stressed. “I also am pro-life. I want everybody to have a safe life, I want them to be safe and do all the things that they should be able to do, but when it comes to what’s best for my family and I, why isn’t that my choice and my doctor’s choice without bringing anyone else in?”


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