CNN pundit uses family members with Down syndrome, autism to defend abortion after Roe v. Wade was overturned

Navarro responded to the Supreme Court's significant decision to overturn Roe v. Wade by offering an emotional defense of abortion rights. As part of CNN's coverage of the landmark ruling, Navarro participated in a panel discussion where anchor Alisyn Camerota challenged GOP strategist Alice Stewart, citing pregnancy centers and adoption agencies across the country that can help mothers with unexpected pregnancies.

'What are your plans?' Camerota asked. 'Obviously, not all of them are being addressed right now.'Steward responded, 'Well, these are obviously important issues.'. He added, 'And any abnormality in a child, whether during the pregnancy or after birth, should be discussed and dealt with at the state level.'.

'For the last 50 years, no one has spoken up for the unborn child, the sanctity of life, and now people are taking advantage of this opportunity to speak up,' Stewart told Camerota. 

'On one hand, you support life, and on the other hand, you seem to be fine with a woman's decision to have an abortion,' Stewart said. Navarro pushed back, claiming she should not prescribe to you 'what you should do with your uterus or your life.'Navarro has a family with many special needs children.

'I have a step-granddaughter who was born with Down syndrome. It is very difficult in Florida to get services. It is not at all as easy on paper as it sounds,' Navarro told Stewart. 'And I have another stepgrandson who is also autistic. He has autism.' 

She continued, 'Mothers and other people living in the community, or within that society, will tell you that they've considered suicide, because it's so hard to receive help, because of the loneliness, because they can't get other jobs because of financial issues, because they're unable to attend to their other children..'

Then what gives me the right to think this is a wrong decision even though I'm Catholic? I'm American,' Navarro replied to Stewart. 'I'm a Catholic within the church. I'm a Catholic for me. But there are a lot of people in this country who are not Catholic, Christian, or Baptist. And you have no damn right to tell them what to do with their bodies.

Nobody does that,' Navarro said. Pundits, anchors, and hosts across TV criticized the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, something that was already hinted at by the unprecedented leak of the draft opinion showing the five conservative justices in the majority.

In addition to providing the states with the power to legislate abortion laws, the ruling overturning Roe v. Wade has also triggered 'trigger laws' in several states that automatically prohibit abortion access.

However, liberals warn that reversing abortion protection will have a domino effect on other rights such as contraception, same-sex marriages, and interracial marriage, something that Justice Samuel Alito insisted would not happen because abortions involve a third party.