‘Don’t Minimize This’: Tarlov Battles Thiessen Over Abortion as an Election Issue

Jessica Tarlov clashed with Marc Thiessen on abortion as an election issue during Thursday’s episode of The Story with Martha MacCallum.

The host pointed to a recent poll showing that 56% of voters say inflation matters more than abortion as an issue ahead of the looming midterm elections. Forty percent chose abortion as the more important issue.

Democratic candidates have leaned into abortion rights after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June, and with it, a constitutional right to abortion.

“Are we going to be having conversations about it being a mistake on the part of Democrats to put so many eggs in that basket so to speak, and at the expense of talking about crime or bringing energy back home to the United States?” MacCallum asked Thiessen.

“Look, if inflation was low, there was no crime wave, the border was secure, gas prices were low, then people might have the luxury of voting on abortion,” he replied. “The only people who have the luxury of voting on abortion are liberal elites in major cities who’ve been insulated from the economic disaster that’s facing the rest of the country.”

Thiessen’s response clearly irked Tarlov, who co-hosts The Five.

“The Wall Street Journal has covered the abortion issue extensively,” she said. “They had a piece a few days ago about what happened to women all over the country because of this – women having to wait to go into sepsis to get the medical care that they need. And that happens to poor women, to rich women, to those liberal elites sitting in cities and people living in rural counties.”

She added, “So, don’t minimize this, that it’s one of these fanciful issues–

“I’m not minimizing it,” Thiessen protested.

“You are,” Tarlov shot back. “It’s not a luxury.”

Thiessen stated he was simply talking about whether abortion resonates as a political issue. He pointed to gubernatorial races in Georgia and Ohio, where incumbent Republican governors have signed abortion restrictions into law and are ahead in the polls nonetheless.

“They’re not paying a price for it,” he said. “This is not resonating with the American people.”

Watch above via Fox News.

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet Newsletter
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!