Sarah Palin says her son’s prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome helped her understand why some women consider abortion, the former vice presidential candidate told Oprah Winfrey.

Palin appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show Monday to promote her book “Going Rogue.” She spoke about her run for the vice presidency, her daughter’s pregnancy and learning that her son would have Down syndrome.

Palin’s youngest son Trig, 1, was diagnosed with Down syndrome prenatally while Palin was serving as governor of Alaska. When she learned of the diagnosis, Palin says she understood why some women choose not to continue a pregnancy, but the difficult situation reaffirmed her own pro-life views.

“It also, though, really solidified my position that, yep, there are less than ideal circumstances in so many of our lives. It’s how we will react to those circumstances, how we will plow through them and make the most of what we’ve been given,” Palin told Winfrey.

She continued by saying that her husband Todd reacted better to the news than she did. “I was much more frightened, I think, than he,” Palin recalled. “He said, ‘Okay, it’s going to be okay.'”

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