The topics of abortion and “when does life begin?” often lead to heated discussions on ABC’s The View. Tuesday was no exception as they tackled the Alabama Supreme Court ruling that someone could be sued and held liable for destroying fertilized embryos under the state’s “wrongful death of a minor” law. Amid their conversation, staunchly pro-choice co-host Sara Haines ghoulishly argued that pregnancies and babies born via in vitro fertilization should not be considered part of the “miracle of life.”
Surprisingly, she got pushback from co-host Sunny Hostin, who declared that a frozen embryo was indeed “an unborn child.”
Haines fought tooth and nail to deny that embryos should be considered people. “I believe this is a stretch to call this a minor… The embryo. They're calling it a minor. We're calling it a full-blown minor, not an embryo, not a fetus,” she whined. She went on to chide: “But if you put that little embryo out into the world, it's not viable on any level.”
“Not viable on any level” was steep language when one could argue that a fully gestated baby needed someone to take care of it or else it could die.
While Haines was throwing her fit, Hostin’s Catholic faith broke through as she proclaimed: “Well, it's an unborn child.”
Haines seemed taken aback by Hostin taking on the pro-life stance; so much so that she took the ghoulish position that IVF pregnancies and the babies born from them shouldn’t be considered part of the “miracle of life” and the parents' “gratitude” should go to man and not God:
The whole miracle of life and religious argument for the very brilliance of science just doesn't go together. This was not -- yes, embryos, yes, fertilization, all of this stuff can happen naturally, it doesn't here. Gratitude goes to the scientists and the doctors who were able to help do this.
Unbelievably, Haines has previously claimed that while growing up in Iowa she had thought about being a minister.
Before Haines went on her ghoulish rant, Hostin argued that “conception is the start of human life” and made a strong push for them to consider the frozen embryos as children:
However, when you look at an embryo, I mean, that certainly is more than just an egg and a sperm separated. They wait several days. Ideal transfer is five days. You're transferring a human embryo that is going to attach in your uterine lining and become a child.
While other members of the cast (Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar) were trying to limit Hostin’s position as just her “religious belief,” she counted by saying: “It is partly based on it and - but it’s partially based on science as well.”
The topic of IVF hit close to home for Hostin. She recounted her and her husband’s difficulty with conceiving even with IVF (they used up all nine of their embryos) and how they struggled to get pregnant:
I went through five miscarriages before we turned to IVF. We went through three cycles of IVF. I have two beautiful children as a result of it. We depleted our entire life savings, each cycle was not covered at the time; it's $30,000. And it was important enough for us.
“Now, we did do frozen embryos, but because we are Catholic, we knew that we couldn't destroy the embryos because they are, in our view, children, and we couldn't just give them up for research because in our view they were children,” she explained.
You might be asking yourself, wasn’t one of The View’s two “conservatives” on the panel to make the pro-life argument? Well, Alyssa Farah Griffin was on the panel, but she was too busy whining about how “embryos have [more] protections than a mother who’s pregnant.”
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
ABC’s The View
February 20, 2024
11:15:47 a.m. EasternWHOOPI GOLDBERG: The Alabama Supreme Court ruled that a hospital patient who mistakenly dropped and destroyed someone else's fertilized embryos can be sued under the state constitution's Wrongful Death of a Minor Act. It's certainly lawsuit-worthy given the cost and the emotional investment of in vitro fertilization, but does it reach the level of wrongful death?
SARA HAINES: I don't even know how to start with this.
SUNNY HOSTIN: Yes. I a personal story about this, as you all know. I went through five miscarriages before we turned to IVF. We went through three cycles of IVF. I have two beautiful children as a result of it. We depleted our entire life savings, each cycle was not covered at the time; it's $30,000. And it was important enough for us.
Now, we did do frozen embryos, but because we are Catholic, we knew that we couldn't destroy the embryos because they are, in our view, children, and we couldn't just give them up for research because in our view they were children. And so, we were, I feel, responsible in the sense that we used every single embryo, and if every single embryo became a child then we were going to take care of that child. And we don't have any frozen embryos left, thank God, because I would probably have a baby -- an extra baby.
[Crosstalk]
GOLDBERG: Is it because of your religious beliefs?
HOSTIN: My religious beliefs are that --
GOLDBERG: Now --
HOSTIN: -- conception is the start of human life. However, when you look at an embryo, I meaning, that certainly is more than just an egg and a sperm separated. They wait several days. Ideal transfer is five days. You're transferring a human embryo that is going to attach in your uterine lining and become a child.
GOLDBERG: But this is based on your religious belief.
JOY BEHAR: Yes.
GOLDBERG: These are our religious convictions.
HOSTIN: It is partly based on it and but it’s partially based on science as well.
BEHAR: But it's one thing --
HAINES: But if you put that little embryo out into the world, it's not viable on any level. So, I'm not criticizing your personal beliefs because I do believe people believe that. I believe this is a stretch to call this a minor, because – We talk about the viability of an actual baby –
BEHAR: To call it a minor? You mean a baby.
GOLDBERG: No, a minor because this – a minor.
HAINES: The embryo. They're calling it a minor. We're calling it a full-blown minor, not an embryo, not a fetus.
HOSTIN: Well, it's an unborn child.
HAINES: That's where I differ. The whole miracle of life and religious argument for the very brilliance of science just doesn't go together. This was not -- yes, embryos, yes, fertilization, all of this stuff can happen naturally, it doesn't here. Gratitude goes to the scientists and the doctors who were able to help do this.
Because in the court – the judge actually says in his opinion, “human life cannot be wrongfully destroyed without incurring the wrath of a holy God.” Okay, then let’s leave it up to the holy God on judgement day and not the hole court. Because right now, they are literally going after this with religion while science is what brought this here.
(…)
