Donald Trump says women, not men, should be punished for abortion, backtracks statement

Donald Trump’s latest comment on abortion and punishment has got even pro-life proponents scratching their heads. The US presidential candidate said “there has to be some form of punishment” for women who undergo abortion, but not for men. His camp has since retracted the comment.

In an interview with Chris Matthews on MSNBC on Wednesday, the Republican candidate claimed he is pro-life, saying he wants to see abortion banned in the country. He did not clarify the punishment he wanted for women who seek abortion, but he said he did not think men should be punished.

Trump said that like many Republicans, he believes abortion should be made illegal, and women who would break the law would have to answer to “some form of punishment.” When Matthews asked if men should also be punished for abortion, Trump answered, “No, I don’t think so.”

He did not elaborate why he thought the women should be made culpable but not the men.

Trump’s opinion on punishing women has stumped even pro-life advocates. Anti-abortion group Susan B. Anthony List has an opposing view on who should bear culpability.

“We have never advocated, in any context, for the punishment of women who undergo abortion,” organisation president Marjorie Dannenfelser said in a statement. “As a convert to the pro-life movement, Mr Trump sees the reality of the horror of abortion – the destruction of an innocent human life – which is legal in our country up until the moment of birth. But let us be clear: punishment is solely for the abortionist who profits off of the destruction of one life and the grave wounding of another.”

The GOP candidate’s campaign team has later backtracked on his comments, releasing a statement denying women should be held responsible.

“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,” the statement reads.

Although Trump insisted in January that he has been pro-life “a long time,” it wasn’t the case. As CNN points out, he himself said in 1999 that while he hated the “concept of abortion,” he was pro-choice.