Presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg doubled down on his support for late-term, partial-birth abortions during an episode of ABC’s “The View” Thursday in a spar with conservative host Meghan McCain.

After McCain asked the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, to clarify his seemingly radical abortion views, that the Bible says “life begins with breath, so even that is something we can interpret differently,” Buttigieg replied:

Well, I’m just pointing to the fact that different people will interpret their own moral lights, and for that matter, interpret Scripture differently. But we live in a country where it is extremely important that no one person have to be subjected to some other person’s interpretation of their own religion. I know we’re not going to agree —

McCain cut in, honing in on the partial-birth abortion question, saying, “Partial-birth abortion is something that was coming up, like I said, [Virginia] Gov. [Ralph] Northam — it was a huge controversy when he was running for governor — and I think people, even Democrats, and there are a lot of pro-life Democrats in the country, want to know exactly where your line is, because you’ll be the president if you win.”

Buttigieg deflected, making the question solely about women’s rights and feminist talking points. “Right, but my point is that it shouldn’t be up to a government official to draw the line,” he said. “It should be up to the woman who is confronted with the choice.” The room erupted in applause.

“So if a woman wanted to — I don’t know — invoke infanticide after a baby was born, you’d be comfortable with that?” McCain asked.

“Does anybody serious think that’s what these cases are about?” Buttigieg deflected again, saying:

Think about the situation. If this is a late-term situation, then by definition, it’s one where the woman was expecting to carry the pregnancy to term. Then she gets the most, perhaps, devastating news of her life. We’re talking about families that may have picked out a name, may be assembling a crib, and they learn something excruciating and are faced with this terrible choice. And I don’t know what to tell them, morally, about what they should do. I just know that I trust her and her decision, medically or morally, isn’t going to be any better because the government is commanding her to do it in a certain way.

WATCH: Pete Buttigieg refuses to give a stance on partial birth abortion. pic.twitter.com/J6QsbfXntc — America Rising (@AmericaRising) February 6, 2020

The “devastating news” to which Buttigieg alludes is vague, but he seems to mean birth defects or various medical anomalies. His remarks call to mind Iceland’s near “eradication” of Down Syndrome, a result of prenatal screenings that have led almost 100 percent of women carrying a baby tested positive for Down Syndrome to abort. Or eugenics-related debates in the United States regarding whether parents can abort their children on account of their race, a disability, or even their sex. This raises another question of women’s rights: those snuffed out for aborted females.

Buttigieg’s comments on “The View” follow his startling remarks on a September episode of “The Breakfast Club” podcast, where Buttigieg defended abortion until the moment of birth, saying, “There’s a lot of parts of the Bible that talk about how life begins with breath. And so even that is something that we can interpret differently. … “The most important thing is the person who should be drawing the line is the woman making the decision.”

Buttigieg suggests we determine life when the baby draws its first breath. A 2020 presidential candidate is suggesting babies can be killed up UNTIL a baby draws its first breath. pic.twitter.com/1VSYHyjRsv — Mary Margaret Olohan (@MaryMargOlohan) September 6, 2019

McCain responded to Buttigieg’s rhetoric by pointing to the pro-life voters Buttigieg seeks to win over in 2020, saying, “I respect what you’re saying because you didn’t back down from it, but this is going to hurt you in the middle of the country with the Republicans you’re trying to win over. People like me, this is a hard line, and quite frankly, that answer is just as radical as I thought it was.”