Whoopi Goldberg Advocates for Roe v. Wade in Fiery Monologue: 'This is a Human Issue!'

Emotions ran high Tuesday morning on The View as the co-hosts discussed a draft majority opinion in which Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito advocates for overturning Roe v. Wade. With the exception of guest co-host Lindsey Granger, who seemed to object to the leak on purely procedural grounds, everyone at the table condemned the decision, but it was Whoopi Goldberg who stole the show with an impassioned speech about the importance of access to safe, legal abortions.

Whoopi's monologue came as a direct response to Granger minimizing the impending ruling by saying that "this is hardly the first time that a case has been overturned" by the Supreme Court. "No, it is not the first time, but I will tell you, but this is my body," said Whoopi. "You've got people telling me I've gotta wear a mask or 'Don't wear a mask,' or do this. Everybody wants to tell me what to do, but you won't let me make my decision about my body! You are not the person to make that decision! My doctor and myself and my child, that's who makes that decision."

As she's done in the past, Whoopi then reminded the co-hosts of "the reason abortion came about" in the Roe v. Wade decision. "We got tired of tripping over women in bathrooms, public bathrooms, who were giving themselves abortions because there was nowhere safe, nowhere clean, nowhere to go!" she said. "This law came about because people wanted people to have somewhere safe and somewhere clean. It has nothing to do with your religion. This is not a religious issue. This is a human issue!"

"If you care about me as a human being, you should know three things," added Whoopi, turning to the camera to emphasize her point. "Getting an abortion is not easy! Making that decision is not easy! It's not something people do lightly. It's not something that you can just do. It is a hard, awful decision that people make!"

"And if you don't have the wherewithal to understand that — to start this conversation with 'I know how hard this must be for you' — if you're starting it by telling me I'm going to burn in hell, then you're not looking out for me as a human being, whether I subscribe to your religion or not. And that is not okay!"

With that, Whoopi sent the show to commercial. What more is there to say?

Claire Spellberg Lustig is the Senior Editor at Primetimer and a scholar of The View. Follow her on Twitter at @c_spellberg.