A Fox News panel descended into chaos on Monday when “The Five” cohost Jessica Tarlov tried to defend abortion access — and accidentally made the case for securing the southern border in the process.
Tarlov, a Democrat, joined her cohosts in discussing the fast-approaching midterm elections — and the respective messaging coming from both Democrats and Republicans. She defended her party’s insistence on hammering abortion access by pointing to one extreme case — but the conversation quickly spiraled out of her control.
WATCH:
Fox News panelist tries to defend abortion access, accidentally makes the case for closing the southern border instead: “Americans rape women too, we can all agree on that, right?” pic.twitter.com/znJzoy2TWH
— Virginia Kruta (@VAKruta) October 3, 2022
“Well, it’s like number five in the backseat in the list of issues,” she said. “We know the economy’s ahead, inflation, crime and policing, immigration in some polls, and education — where Democrats are still favored.”
But then she went on to invoke the recent story about a ten-year-old rape victim in Ohio — who crossed state lines to get an abortion after she was allegedly raped by her mother’s undocumented boyfriend — to explain why she still thought it was important to include access to abortion in the party’s messaging.
“But I think that what has gone on — like the story of the ten-year-old rape victim in Ohio, that a lot of conservatives said was made up, right, it’s not possible that a ten-year-old was raped and had to go to Indiana to get an abortion,” Tarlov continued. “Lo and behold, it did happen.”
“Who raped her?” cohost Jesse Watters asked pointedly.
“Yeah, who was that?” cohost Katie Pavlich echoed.
“Is this a … ?” Tarlov quickly realized what her cohosts were getting at, saying, “Oh. An undocumented man did.””
“Let’s close that border,” she added sarcastically.
“Exactly,” Watters agreed.
“Finally!” cohost Greg Gutfeld added, prompting Tarlov to shake her head in apparent frustration.
“Don’t be so silly,” Tarlov argued. “Do you think it really matters …”
“It actually happens all the time in the underground illegal immigration black market because people refuse to close the border, yes,” Pavlich pushed back.
“Americans rape women too, we can all agree on that, right?” Tarlov asked, still trying to redirect the conversation. “So this just happened to have been someone who was undocumented …”
“Equity,” Gutfeld interjected, laughing.
“Guys …” she objected. “But …”
“No, but your point is, you bring up this example — when you bring up this example, the consequences are these points. That’s all,” Gutfeld explained.
