Conservatives have suggested the New York Democrat called for the eradication of the human race by saying that some younger people might be so alarmed by the looming climate catastrophe that they might question whether to have children.
“There’s scientific consensus that the lives of children are going to be very difficult,” Ocasio-Cortez said during an Instagram livestream. “And it does lead young people to have a legitimate question: Is it okay to still have children?”
Co-host Sunny Hostin said research shows younger people do worry about the quality of life their children might face due to climate change, and she said the lawmaker's comments have been widely misinterpreted.
"I know that it sounds like, you know, Alexandria is being so crazy and so left and radical, but the studies bear it out what she's saying."
Huntsman chose to ignore the polling data and stick with the right-wing talking points.
"It does concern me that there's even a way to defend the question she's asking," said Huntsman, who's pregnant with twins and has a 1-year-old daughter. "There's difference in caring about our climate, which I would argue probably everyone in this room cares about the future of their kids and grandkids and the air they breathe, and asking a legitimate question about doing away with the human race."
"Last I checked," she added, "we elect politicians to come up with solutions, not to just do away with everybody. Of all the things she's said, in my opinion, this is by far the most outrageous."
Hostin asked whether she was taking Ocasio-Cortez's statement way past the point she was making, but Huntsman remained indignant.
"The Democratic Party should make this their platform," Huntsman said. "They should ask that question. Good luck."
Then fellow conservative Meghan McCain changed the subject to a GOP abortion bill, which she framed in a purposefully misleading way and refused to let Hostin correct her misstatements.
"This is an example, when we're talking about people having children, and just how extreme the left has gone, this is an example of that," McCain said. "If Democrats want to win an election going forward, are you going to be the party of late-term abortion? Is this the platform you're going to have? You're talking about children and being pro-life, this is well out of the main stream of where Americans are at."
McCain said Democratic senators who voted against the abortion bill, which would have threatened prison for doctors who did not hospitalize infants born alive during abortions, were following Ocasio-Cortez's orders.
"I believe AOC is the leader of the party," she said, "and if you think that is how you win back the White House, I'm here to tell you I spent a lot of time in red states, I'm from a red state, that is a losing argument."
Hostin attempted to cut in to explain some misleading information that McCain had presented to viewers, but she didn't get a chance.
"I need to push back on that," Hostin said.
"I thought you were pro-life like me," McCain said, and Hostin said she was -- and that's why she wanted to push back.
But McCain filibustered through the rest of the segment, reciting the bill's lengthy title, shouting out objections and then just muttering, "ugh," as Hostin tried to correct her misstatements.
