Donald Trump’s ‘Horrific’ Abortion Comments Are Bad For Both The GOP And Pro-Lifers
During his presidential campaign, Donald Trump has managed to offend pretty much everyone without damaging his popularity. His comments about abortion have angered people on both sides of the controversial issue, as well as both the GOP and Democrats.
The latest gaffe happened on Wednesday during an interview between Trump and MSNBC’s Chris Matthews, NBC News reported.
The Donald identified himself as “pro-life” multiple times during the interview and was pressed by Matthews to describe his view on whether women should be punished for breaking the law if they obtained a hypothetically illegal abortion.
The journalist’s position was that if the candidate wants abortion to be illegal, the breaking of that law has to be dealt with as a crime.
Donald Trump caved and said the “answer is that there has to be some form of punishment, yeah.”
Asked Matthews, “Are you going to say, well wait, are you going to say put them in jail? Is that the punishment you’re talking about?”
His response was to clarify that he was asking Trump that very question.
Trump answered by describing himself as pro-life again, and in a follow-up, added that men shouldn’t be punished if their unborn child is illegally aborted.
Even abortion opponents can't believe how out of touch Donald Trump is https://t.co/fpRCYo5v3X pic.twitter.com/6FNwbTGRJm
— Mashable (@mashable) March 31, 2016
Later, in an uncharacteristic move, Donald Trump stepped back his comments on abortion after they ignited a firestorm from the GOP, Democrats, and people on both sides of the movement.
“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,” a statement said. “The woman is a victim in this case as is the life in her womb.”
According to some in the pro-life camp, Donald Trump’s abortion views actually harm the movement, because it lacks an understanding of the argument and paints pro-lifers with a radical brush, two activists told the New York Times.
March for Life Education and Defense Fund President Jeanne Mancini said Donald Trump’s brief comments about punishing women is something “no pro-lifer” would ever suggest. Penny Nance, who heads the Concerned Women for America conservative group, concurred.
“He doesn’t understand pro-life people or the life issue. He instead became the caricature that the left tries to paint us to be.”
The worst part about Donald Trump's abortion flip-flopping? It won't matter: https://t.co/RWKdPOUhFu pic.twitter.com/LbNLzNEqkZ
— Esquire (@esquire) March 30, 2016
Democrats and the pro-choice were unsurprisingly aghast at Donald’s abortion punishment stance. Hillary Clinton called his comments “horrific” and “telling,” and Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz tried to harness his comments to damage remaining GOP candidates Ted Cruz and John Kasich. Cruz opposes all exceptions for abortion for rape or incest, and Kasich wants to defund Planned Parenthood.
“All three Republicans would drag the country back to the days when women were forced to seek illegal procedures from unlicensed providers out of sheer desperation.”
According to CNN, Clinton did much of the same, stating that “the Republicans all line up together. Now maybe they aren’t quite as open about it as Donald Trump was earlier today, but they all have the same position. If you make abortion a crime — you make it illegal — then you make women and doctors criminals.”
But Cruz stood firmly against Donald Trump’s abortion comments, because he said they illustrate “how little Donald has thought about any of the serious issues facing this country.” He also described what being pro-life actually means: “defending moms. Defending women. And defending the incredible gift women have to bring life into the world.”
The problem for Trump and the GOP is that the front-runner has pretty poor approval ratings with women. And his comments resurrect nightmares from 2012, when, in the wake of Todd Akin and his “legitimate rape” theories, the party hoped to put its reputation for insulting women behind them.
[Photo by Tom Lynn/Getty Images]
