As the 2024 election heats up, many pundits are turning their attention to abortion as a key issue after Donald Trump released his official statement on abortion. “The states will determine by vote, or legislation, or perhaps both, and whatever they decide must be the law of the land – in this case, the law of the state. Many states will be different. Many states will have a different number of weeks…at the end of the day it is all about the will of the people,” he wrote in a statement. He also stated he would not sign a national abortion ban, a promise he made in previous campaigns. It’s earned him the ire of some pro-life groups, who accuse him of flip-flopping. “Saying the issue is ‘back to the states’ cedes the national debate to Democrats who are working relentlessly to enact legislation mandating abortion throughout all nine months of pregnancy. If successful, they will wipe out states’ rights,” said Majorie Dannenfelser, President of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life.

Speaking about Trump’s position on “The View,” host Whoopi Goldberg defended the need for abortion. “I want to make sure … that, if you decide this is what you need to do, I’m going to get behind you, because I don’t know your life, and if you say this is what you need, that’s what I’m going to do,” she said. She also inferred that she did not believe in any term limits for abortion, saying “50 weeks, 75,000 weeks, whatever how many weeks, it’s nobody’s business.” She said it was a decision between “you, your doctor, and God” and that it didn’t fall under “the Big Ten,” meaning the Ten Commandments. When fellow host Sunny Hostin pushed back stating some evangelicals belief it falls under “Thou shalt not kill,” Goldberg responded by saying, “I think ‘thou shall not kill’ cannot be used as the block because we allow wars all the time.” She added, “So there is some conversation to be had there, so either thou shall not kill for everybody, and everything, or we have to talk about all the things you and I have to do.”

Goldberg did not note the nuance with the word “kill” used in the Bible, with some translation using the word “murder” instead. According to “Got Answers,” there are two words used to describe killing in Hebrew: ratsakh and mut. “Ratsakh” is the word used in the Ten Commandments and refers to murder, including an even broader definition than English, according to “Got Questions.” “Ratsakh also covers deaths due to carelessness or neglect but is never used when describing killing during wartime. That is why most modern translations render the sixth commandment ‘You shall not murder’ rather than ‘You shall not kill.’”