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‘Big Bang Theory’ Star Mayim Bialik Calls Donald Trump Comments ‘Misogynistic’

By Sarah Field
Published on: 19:40 PST, Apr 1, 2016

Big Bang Theory star Mayim Bialik is a frequent blogger on controversial social issues, but declined to weigh in on the U.S. presidential race, until this week.

Writing on her website Grok Nation, Bialik said Donald Trump’s comments about abortion led her to speak up. As The Guardian reported, Donald Trump told MSNBC’s Chris Matthews that punishment should result for women who receive illegal abortions. Trump later said if abortion were to be made illegal, doctors performing the procedure — and not women — should face sanction.

Republican candidates Ted Cruz and John Kasich distanced themselves from Trump’s initial comments. Marjorie Dannenfelser of the Susan B. Anthony List, a pro-life organization, told NPR Trump’s words to Matthews demonstrated he “hasn’t thought very deeply” about the abortion rights issue, because there has never been a movement to punish women for making that choice, even among anti-abortion groups.

For Bialik, Trump’s apparent retraction, to focus on the medical practitioners who perform abortions instead of the women who get them, did not matter very much. Her strongly worded piece on Grok Nation starts off with a lengthy discussion about the change in the regulatory regime surrounding mifepristone, also known as RU-486, a drug that induces abortion in the early stages of pregnancy. She expresses complex feelings about access to the drug before getting to the topic of Donald Trump. When she does get to Trump, Bialik does not mince her words.

“This is one of the most complicated issues in our country and whenever people ask me what I would be willing to fight for more than any other cause, this is it: that women should always have the right to determine what happens to our own bodies.

“Trump cultivates extremist views, not just about Muslims or Mexicans, but also about women, restricting our movements and our agency over our own bodies. And I cannot tolerate it.

“I join with all Americans, those who support abortion and those who don’t, in saying, when it comes to outrageous, misogynistic and extremist comments from Donald Trump about women, enough is enough.”

The Guardian called Trump’s abortion comments “an extraordinary gaffe,” musing that he may be the only person ever to get anti-abortion and pro-choice groups to agree. Individuals from both sides came out to condemn Trump’s views.

Mayim Bialik’s position on abortion appeared nuanced in her Grok Nation post, saying women should be “protected” from “making a difficult decision too easily.” She recounted stories of women from all over the spectrum when it came to abortion: women who said it was the best decision for their circumstances, and women who experienced later physical and mental health issues because of past abortions. That led Bialik to term the issue “complicated.” She also acknowledged, and praised, members of Trump’s own party who disavowed his comments.

Back in 1999 Trump said in an interview that he was pro-choice and would not ban abortion if he were in a position to do so. A Washington Post poll published on March 8, found that Trump had the support of 34 percent of Republican-leaning voters, down from 37 percent in January 2016. The Post reported that as candidates have left the Republican race, their supporters went to Marco Rubio, John Kasich and Ted Cruz, all of whom saw their popularity increase. The same poll found that while Trump was the choice of 44 percent of Republican men, only 24 percent of Republican women supported Trump.

[Matt Winkelmeyer/Tom Lynn/Getty Images]

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