CNN contributor Christine Quinn on Monday night participated in a discussion about state-level "heartbeat bills," where she claimed, "When a woman gets pregnant, that is not a human being inside of her."
Quinn, the former Democratic speaker of the New York City Council, appeared on CNN's Cuomo Prime Time alongside fellow CNN contributor and former Republican senator Rick Santorum (Pa.), where they had a fiery debate about abortion. During the introduction of the segment, host Chris Cuomo mentioned the Georgia Heartbeat bill that would later be signed into law on Tuesday by Gov. Brian Kemp (R., Ga.).
"These so-called heartbeat bills are exactly what you said, six-week bills. They for all intent and purposes are an end-run around Roe v. Wade and a clear attempt to make abortion illegal across the country," Quinn said. "That's what they are... This is a clear attempt to take decisions about a woman's body and birth out of the hands of a woman and out of the hands of doctors and that to me is really shocking."
Cuomo took Quinn's side, prompting Santorum to push back and point out they are "basically invalidat[ing]" the viewpoint of Santorum and millions of Americans who share the pro-life position when it comes to abortion.
Later in the segment, Quinn and Santorum spar over whether a child is "human and alive" at the moment of conception. Cuomo says the moment of conception is when it's a "viable human," but argued it's not recognized as a person under the law. Quinn repeatedly said it's not a human as she and Santorum kept speak over each other.
"Let's be clear here, Rick, with all of your distortions and horrible tales—" said Quinn. "When a woman gets pregnant, that is not a human being inside of her. It's part of her body and this is about a woman having full agency and control of her body and making a decisions about her body and what is part of her body with medical professionals. Those are the facts and that is the law of the land."
Santorum attempts to push back, but Cuomo jumped in and accused him of "asking provocative things that are trying to make people angry about what's done."
"All I'm saying is you guys go too far when you pervert the facts and you have the president of the United States saying that a baby is born at the end of full-term, swaddled in a blanket, and then they decide whether or not to execute it. You know that's B.S.," Cuomo said, referring to what Democratic governor Ralph Northam of Virginia said on the radio back in January. "Nobody said it. It's not the law anywhere in this country. It's homicide. One person said something stupid and you want to make it something that you can use to your advantage. That's doesn't help your cause."
Cuomo went on to accuse Santorum of "lying and distorting the facts" and said he was "better than this as a Catholic and you're better than this as a consumer in public thought." Quinn agreed with Cuomo and told Santorum to stop lying.