The View star Sara Haines attempted to pummel cohost Sunny Hostin with facts during an intense on-air clash over frozen embryos.
After the Alabama Supreme Court ruled this week that frozen embryos could potentially be considered children under state law, a heated debate broke out Friday at the Hot Topics table, as legal expert Hostin — a devout Catholic who previously expressed pro-choice politics on the show despite pro-life personal beliefs tied to her religion — sided with those claiming that “a frozen embryo is a baby,” she said.
“It has no organs, it is not a life yet, it is not viable until it is 24 weeks,” Haines said in response to the Alabama ruling, which has halted some IVF treatments in the state.
“You may not think that. There are at least 50 percent of Americans believe that a human embryo is a baby. I’m one of those,” Hostin cut in, frustrating Haines. “No. This is science, Sunny. This is science,” she said, later adding, “let me just check you again on the terminology” after Hostin’s assertion.
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Though Hostin and Haines continued to speak over each other, Hostin stressed that she held her views because she “went through IVF” for the birth of her children — a process she has emotionally recollected on recent episodes of both The View and the Behind the Table podcast, amid voicing support for the Alabama ruling.
“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean facts change,” Haines replied. “An embryo is an embryo until 10 weeks when it becomes a fetus. A fetus is not viable until it’s 24 weeks. If we’re going to use science, let’s use scientific terms, that’s what that is.”
In 2022, Hostin opened up on the air about her stance on abortion, amid the United States Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade that summer.
“I don’t believe in abortion, at any time. I don’t believe in any exception to it,” Hostin said at the time, but Haines pushed back: “Even [in the instance of] incest or rape?,” she asked. Hostin responded, “No, I don’t. I don’t. That’s considered very radical for many people, and it’s because I’m Catholic and that’s my faith.”
Watch the clash in the video above. The View airs weekdays at 11 a.m. ET on ABC.
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