Hostin disagrees with restricting abortion rights in spite of her personal opposition
"The View" co-host Sunny Hostin claimed to have received "hate mail" on Friday for previously airing her pro-life views on the show.
While one of the show's more progressive hosts, Hostin has often said that her Catholic faith contributes to her personally opposing abortion, but she doesn't agree with such moves as repealing Roe v. Wade or restricting women's access to the procedure.
During a discussion of abortion legislation across the country, Hostin said the country shouldn't be a "theocracy."
"The Republican Party in many respects is leaning on evangelicals for this argument. I myself am Catholic," she said. "I have mentioned many times I'm pro-life. I've received a lot of hate mail for it. That's my personal position, but there has to be a separation between the government and religion."
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"The View" co-host Sunny Hostin. (Screenshot/ABC/TheView )
Hostin didn't elaborate on the hateful messages she's gotten, but she appeared to acknowledge that hard-left voices severely dislike her voicing her personal opposition to abortion, a sacred cow on the left side of the spectrum.
Hostin said last year that she didn't support any exceptions for abortion either, after Roe v. Wade was overturned by the Supreme Court in a historic decision.
"I don’t believe in abortion, at any time. I don’t believe in any exception to it," she said, while stipulating she didn't agree with the Supreme Court's decision.
Co-host Sara Haines said Friday that religious conservatives were inconsistent and hypocritical on abortion as well. Fellow co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin, a Republican, said the country should be able to come together on a consensus on abortion limits in the wake of Roe v. Wade being overturned.
The issue has proven to be an electoral winner for Democrats since last year, as referendums supporting abortion rights have passed even in red states, and Democrats were more successful than expected in the 2022 midterms, limiting their House losses and picking up a U.S. Senate seat.
The discussion on "The View" was spurred by news out of Texas; the state Supreme Court placed a hold Friday night on a lower court judge's ruling that would have allowed a pregnant woman whose fetus has a fatal diagnosis to receive an abortion despite the Lone Star State's ban on the procedure.
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The order by the state Supreme Court, made up of all Republicans, came more than 30 hours after 31-year-old Kate Cox received a temporary restraining order from a lower court judge that prevented the state from enforcing its abortion ban in her case.
Demonstrators march and gather near the Texas state Capitol in Austin following the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade on June 24, 2022. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
The court said in a one-page ruling that it was temporarily staying Thursday's ruling "without regard to the merits." The order gives the court more time to weigh in on the case.
Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton argued that Cox does not meet the criteria for a medical exception to the state's abortion ban, and he called on the state's Supreme Court to take action.
"Future criminal and civil proceedings cannot restore the life that is lost if Plaintiffs or their agents proceed to perform and procure an abortion in violation of Texas law," Paxton's office told the court.
Paxton also warned three hospitals in Houston that they could face legal consequences if they allowed Cox's physician to perform the abortion, despite Thursday's ruling from state District Judge Maya Guerra Gamble, who Paxton described as an "activist" judge.
Fox News' Landon Mion and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
Hanna Panreck is an associate editor at Fox News.