Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump recently said that he
believes women who get abortions illegally should be punished, but soon
after retracted the statement.
ABC News reports that Trump made the controversial statement
during a town hall held by MSNBC. In the recording, released by MSNBC
before the full coverage of the town hall was released, Trump is
repeatedly questioned on whether he believes there should be “some form
of punishment” for getting an abortion illegally.
“For the woman?” Trump responds. “Yeah, there has to be some form.”
When pressed further on what sort of punishment should be in effect,
Trump acknowledged that he did not know and that it would “have to be
determined.”
Shortly after Trump made this statement, ABC News reached out to his campaign for clarification.
"This issue is unclear and should be put back into the states for
determination. Like Ronald Reagan, I am pro-life with exceptions, which I
have outlined numerous times,” said the Trump campaign.
Shortly after, Trump’s campaign released another statement, seeming to contradict what he had previously affirmed.
"If Congress were to pass legislation making abortion illegal and the
federal courts upheld this legislation, or any state were permitted to
ban abortion under state and federal law, the doctor or any other person
performing this illegal act upon a woman would be held legally
responsible, not the woman. The woman is a victim in this case as is the
life in her womb. My position has not changed -- like Ronald Reagan, I
am pro-life with exceptions," said Trump.
Although he retracted his original statement, it still drew criticism
from abortion supporters and from the Democratic candidates.
Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards tweeted that Trump “is
vocalizing the motivations of every politician who votes to restrict
access to abortion. It’s about controlling women.”
Hillary Clinton also condemned Trump’s statement: “Just when you thought it couldn’t get worse. Horrific and telling.”
Abortion advocates and Democratic candidates weren’t the only ones to take issue with Trump’s statement, however.
Jeanne Mancini, the president of March for Life Education and Defense Fund said in a statement,
“Mr. Trump’s comment today is completely out of touch with the pro-life
movement and even more with women who have chosen such a sad thing as
abortion. No pro-lifer would ever want to punish a woman who has chosen
abortion. This is against the very nature of what we are about.”
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