“The View” co-host Whoopi Goldberg said Wednesday that Republicans “want to bring slavery back” as she raged against Arizona’s reinstatement of an 1864 abortion ban.
The Arizona Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that the Civil War-era abortion law banning nearly all abortions can take effect. The legislation only allows abortion if a woman’s life is in danger, and is punishable by a felony charge of up to five years in prison for anyone who performs the procedure.
“Take a look at the things that they’re rolling back,” Goldberg said. “Remember what I said ages ago, you know, in their minds they want to bring slavery back. They’re okay with it because you see, things change. You know, one of the good things about the Supreme Court is you can fight to make sure you make stuff better. You don’t generally fight to make stuff worse. And to me—or to roll back—and to me, if you’re okay with rolling that back, when things were not even a state when we had no say, so how’s that gonna roll? How’s that gonna roll with the next thing? Because with all of this comes birth control, with all of this comes everything that you need as a woman to have had put in place to make sure that we were doing better than we were before.”
Co-host Ana Navarro said Arizona’s decision is a “consequence” of former President Donald Trump’s presidency.
“We have a way to stop this. Electing a Congress that won’t impose a federal ban, electing a president who will stand between us and more rights being taken away. Us turning into the Handmaid’s Tale,” Navarro said. “Electing governors, electing senators, we have a way to stop this and it is our vote. So women, we need to stand in solidarity with each other. Men, you need to stand in solidarity with us and we need to roll this back and take back our agency and our right to choose what we do with our bodies.” (RELATED: Whoopi Goldberg Invokes Ten Commandments As Reason Abortion Should Be Allowed)
Co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin said Republican women are horrified by the bans passed in over two dozen states and noted even staunch conservatives such as Republican Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake are opposing the “extreme” bans.
“I am the only woman and mother in this race. I understand the fear and anxiety of pregnancy, and the joy of motherhood. I wholeheartedly agree with President Trump — this is a very personal issue that should be determined by each individual state and her people,” Lake said. “I oppose today’s ruling, and I am calling on Katie Hobbs and the State Legislature to come up with an immediate common sense solution that Arizonans can support.”
Arizona initially had a 15-week restriction in place which passed following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022 and returned abortion regulation to the states. Democratic Arizona Attorney General Kristen Mayes vowed to not enforce the ban and that no doctors will be prosecuted for performing the procedure.