Whoopi Goldberg got into a heated discussion about abortion rights with Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) on Monday’s episode of “The View.”
The South Carolina representative was raped at the age of 16 and previously told reporters that she understands that Republicans “cannot be assholes to women.”
Mace told the “View” panel she knows “firsthand the kind of lifetime of trauma that women and girls face when they go through that.”
She also said she understands “the shame that they feel, and the fact that we demonize women who don’t want to be in that position to make a choice. They don’t want to be in a position where they have to decide to have an abortion or not.”
Mace said that means Republicans “have to find a balance to show we’re pro-life but we care about women, and find that balancing act.”
She then claimed that neither the right or left is willing to meet in the middle.
“The left doesn’t want to tell you what their limits are,” Mace said. “The right has, it’s a zero [abortions] and no exceptions. That is 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 then countered that there is no need for a middle ground if every woman is allowed to make her own decisions about her body.
“No law says you have to have an abortion. There’s no law on the books that says you have to have an abortion,” Goldberg said. “Isn’t that my choice, if my doctor and I feel that’s the best way for me? … Why am I being held to someone else’s religious belief?”
“At some point, that baby, people will agree with me, the baby deserves the right to life,” Mace responded.
“But, that’s your belief,” Goldberg said.
Mace shot back: “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.”
But Goldberg came back to her original point.
“Why am I, why do you want me to go with your belief when that is not my belief?” she asked as the audience applauded.
Mace eventually responded with a dubious claim about some states allowing abortion up until the due date. “Right now, all the states have the right to do whatever they want. In California and New York, it’s all the way up until nine months.” (In fact, both states have restrictions on abortion based on fetal viability and whether the mother’s life is at risk.)
Goldberg wasn’t having it.
“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.”
Goldberg then asked Mace again, “But why is it not my choice? This is the part I’m missing. Because I understand your choice. I understand your choice.”
Mace didn’t respond directly to the question, and Goldberg closed out the segment by saying she is pro-life.
“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,” she said. “But when it comes to what is best for my family and I, why isn’t that my choice and my doctor’s choice without bringing anyone else in?”
“And by the way, just because I’m poor doesn’t mean the government doesn’t have a responsibility to me as well,” Goldberg concluded.
You can watch the complete segment below.