Tarlov and Gutfeld Battle Over Abortion In Heated Exchange: ‘We Just Had An Election That Said You’re Wrong’

 

Jessica Tarlov and Greg Gutfeld, co-hosts of The Five, got into a heated exchange about the politics of abortion during Wednesday’s show after Tarlov noted that the issue drove up turnout among Democrats during Tuesday’s midterm elections.

Tarlov argued that many on the right did not predict the abortion issue resonating as strongly as it did as many failed to understand the everyday implications abortion rights have on women across the country.

“There was so much talk about the issue of abortion as if it’s something that people use as a birth control method, that it’s just wild women going out and saying, you know, I don’t want to use a condom, I’ll just get an abortion. No big deal,” Tarlov began, adding:

When, in fact, abortion is so much a part of health care, of family planning. There are so many people who are forced to have an abortion from wanted pregnancies. And those are the conversations that are going well all over this country

“God, are you campaigning for Planned Parenthood or what?” Gutfeld sniped as co-host Dana Perino was attempting to speak.

“One of the things that the Supreme Court,” Perino could be heard saying, before being interrupted.

“People who are pro-life actually do take the issue more seriously than you think. Right. You want to talk about the quiet majority, talk about the unborn. They don’t have a word in this at all,” added a passionate Gutfeld.

“I think, a lot about the unborn. Actually, I had an unborn inside of me for a long time. Yes. And reasonable people would actually have a conversation about science and they would talk about the viability,” Tarlov added as Gutfeld interrupted loudly.

“You are implying that people who are pro-life don’t take it as seriously as you are,” Gutfeld shot back as Tarlov tried to get a word in.

“That’s it. That’s all I want to say,” he added.

“I don’t think that. And I know a lot of pro-life people who are ‘no exceptions.’ Right. People who believe,” Tarlov replied, as Gutfeld jumped in, “That’s not what I meant, but that’s okay.”

“I’m not talking about the exception rule,” he continued as they spoke over each other.

“Who just think that the second that you conceive, think of that as a life,” Tarlov said.

“What I’m talking about, that’s not, that I would not say is a nuanced argument. I’m saying that you were criticizing that, you’re saying that there isn’t a nuanced side, that we just think, ‘oh, my God, people are using it for birth control,’” Gutfeld continued.

“No, I was actually acknowledging that there is nuance to your argument. I do not think that, I think that there are a majority of Americans who want to talk about a reasonable viability level. And 15 weeks was too short for that,” Tarlov said, adding:

But I’m sure if it was 20 weeks or 24 weeks that there are a lot of Democrats and independent-minded people who would say we should be discussing that. But when you have women in Louisiana who are waiting to go into sepsis, you have that ten-year-old in Ohio who’s getting shipped to Indiana to get health care.

“Greg, we just had an election that said you’re wrong about this,” Tarlov hit back as Gutfeld was visibly displeased with her argument.

“No, you’re getting again… This is partly, I don’t know. I’m trying to, what I’m trying to do. I believe it had a role, but there are other things at play. But when you sit when you bring up two exceptions, two exceptions, very rar, very rare,” Gutfeld hit back.

Perino finally managed to get in, saying, “One of my reasons for bringing it up, Jesse, was just because on the referendum side of things, it did bring out voters and it did have an effect.”

“And what Jim Messina, a Democrat from the Obama era, said to us today on Newsroom is that you can expect to have that in 2024 for my and many other states,” Perino added, noting abortion rights and referendums are likely to be a major issue in the next election as well.

Watch the full clip above via Fox News

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Alex Griffing is a Senior Editor at Mediaite. Send tips via email: alexanderg@mediaite.com. Follow him on Twitter: @alexgriffing