Joy Behar recalled her personal experience with an ectopic pregnancy, during a hot topic discussion, speaking about abortion laws on The View on Wednesday, August 3. The co-host shared her emotional story, while referring to former NFL star and Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker‘s calls for a full ban on abortion. She stressed how important having access to healthcare is while revealing her experience. “In 1979, I had an ectopic pregnancy,” she said. “I almost died.”
Before revealing just how serious her ectopic pregnancy was, Joy gave a short description of what an ectopic pregnancy is. “The [embryo] is growing in the fallopian tube,” she said. “It’ll grow just enough to make the tube burst, which what happens then is you bleed internally, and then you die.”
The View host continued and explained that she had just gotten to the hospital in enough time to save her during her scare. “They rushed me to the hospital. The doctor the next day said, ‘We almost lost you.’ I was in the situation where I could go to Beth Israel Hospital, and they took care of it there,” she said. Joy also clarified that her ectopic pregnancy was “not an abortion” and “not a miscarriage,” when guest co-host Elizabeth Hasselback asked her about it.
Before she’d gotten into her story, Joy had pointed out Herschel’s feelings about abortion. “He supports abortion bans without any exceptions for rape, incest, or the health of the mother,” she said. Herschel responded that there was “no exception in my mind,” when asked about abortion bans in May, per The New York Times. After Joy shared her experience with an ectopic pregnancy, she called out Republican politicians, like the former NFL player, for abortion bans. “What are these people thinking about when they talk about the health of the mother? Herschel Walker, people like that, they cannot be in positions of power,” she said.
Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June, a number of people have called out the decision and worried about what the ruling could mean for women needing abortions in emergency cases where the health of the mother is at risk. Attorney General Merrick Garland filed a lawsuit against the State of Idaho for a law banning abortion, which he said violates the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, which requires hospitals to provide treatment to patients who may be at risk.