“The View” got heated Friday as Meghan McCain squared off with her co-hosts and Democratic Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar on late-term abortion.
WATCH:
Joy Behar began the segment by asking Klobuchar, a candidate for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, for her response to the near-ban on abortion that passed in Alabama earlier in the week.
Admitting that she was concerned about the possibility that Roe v. Wade could be overturned, Klobuchar explained, “They’re taking us backwards. They basically are criminalizing doctors when they do this. Anyone that’s surprised about this should look at what Donald Trump said during the campaign. When he was running back for president, he said that women should be punished in a town hall meeting. Then he said doctors should face consequences.”
Klobuchar went on to claim that that, in addition to taking away access to abortion, the “right to contraception” was also at risk. “The irony of what they’re doing is, while they’re taking away the women’s right to choose, they’re also taking away their right to contraception,” she said.
McCain then cut in with a follow-up question, asking, “Democrats look like they’ve gone very extreme on this issue. I think it’s gone from the party of safe, legal and rare to having a conversation of late-term abortion up to until birth with the Ralph Northam controversy. Are you for what he said on late-term abortion?”
Klobuchar claimed she didn’t know anything about Northam’s comments, and added, “What I do know is that I am for a woman having the right to make a choice about her own body.”
“But you’re for late-term abortion?” McCain pressed. “You’re running for president.”
Behar fired back at McCain, saying, “But Meghan, they’re so rare.”
“The real cultural conversation is what they’re doing in Alabama and Georgia and in Missouri. They’re taking away —” Klobuchar began.
“It’s a cultural conversation about third term as well,” McCain rebutted.
“It’s based on a lie,” Behar said.
“It’s not based on a lie,” McCain continued. “I don’t think it should be that hard to say I’m not for late-term abortion in the third term.” (RELATED: Meghan McCain Blasts Hollywood ‘Sex Strike’ For Telling Women To ‘Use Their Bodies As Bargaining Chips’)
Ana Navarro jumped in then, arguing that the issue wasn’t so black and white, but McCain wasn’t having it.
“I think late-term abortion is pretty black and white. Are you for third-term abortion or not?” she asked.
Klobuchar never gave a direct answer to the question.