Geraldo Rivera and Greg Gutfeld got into a squabble on Wednesday about abortion in light of how the Supreme Court is poised to overturn Roe v. Wade.
On the Fox News roundtable show The Five, Rivera began by accusing the three justices nominated by former President Donald Trump—Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett—of lying during their confirmation hearings, a process which Rivera said “is absolutely deeply flawed.”
Despite swearing that they “are going to be judicious and good shepherds of the court and its impartiality… and that the stare decisis says that the precedent of these cases is well established,” Rivera said, once on the court “they make a decision that is so dramatically opposed to what they said during the confirmation hearings.”
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The three justices “knew” that they would vote to overturn the Roe decision, Rivera said, “and they lied about it.”
(Each justice did affirm the precedent established by the landmark 1973 decision, though none said they would vote to uphold it.)
Rivera, who supports legal abortion, also said he was concerned about Ohio’s Republican governor indicating he would sign a bill banning abortions should the Supreme Court indeed strike down Roe, as his three daughters live in that state.
“What am I going to tell my daughters now?” Rivera said. “That they don’t have control over their body? That they can’t make those choices for themselves?”
After a video montage played of other figures who support legal abortion commenting on the potential rollback of their rights, Gutfeld declared, “This is why pro-lifers win” – his point being that their argument is a simpler one.
“The problem with the pro-choicers is they don’t have the balls to state their case plainly,” Gutfeld claimed. “Just say, ‘I prefer freedom over fetuses.’ Don’t sit here and come up with all of these other things like, ‘It’s going to be interracial marriage next.’”
Rivera then chimed in: “‘My body, my choice.’ How much simpler can you get?”
After a back-and-forth where Gutfeld accused his colleague of making an ad hominem attack, he claimed those who support legal abortion “have to create all these reasons” for their position. The Fox talker then lamented how they no longer admit that abortion is “an ugly thing,” “a necessary evil,” and something that should be “safe and rare.”
“That was the argument you always heard. But now when you go anywhere on social media, it’s something to celebrate, to cherish,” Gutfeld claimed.
“That’s baloney,” interjected Rivera, who, after another tense exchange, called Gutfeld an “insulting punk.”
“Oh what, am I your new Bongino?” Gutfeld responded with a laugh, referring to Rivera’s frequent on-air spats with Fox pundit Dan Bongino.
“If you want that role,” Rivera replied.
