The Inept Thing Donald Trump Said About Women Who Have Abortions is Making Pro-Lifers Cringe

National   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Mar 30, 2016   |   3:09PM   |   Washington, DC

Donald Trump is at it again. The Republican presidential candidate who says he’s pro-life but praises the Planned Parenthood abortion business is now making the entirely pro-life movement look ridiculous with his latest comments.

While pro-life advocates yearn for the day when unborn children are protected under law and abortions are banned, the pro-life movement has historically opposed punishing women who have abortions — instead focusing on holding abortion practitioners criminally accountable for the unborn children they kill in abortions.

That pro-woman mentality is partly due to the understand that the abortion industry preys on women — selling them abortions by lying to them about the humanity of their unborn children and the destructive effects abortion will have. The pro-woman, pro-life attitude is also partly due to the fact that the pro-life movement is led by millions of women who had abortions and now deeply regret their decisions, thanks to a change of heart on abortion, or a religious conversion or a simply understanding that they took the life of their own child.

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Now, in new comments that are causing even pro-life people to cringe, Donald Trump says women should be punished if abortion is banned again. Here’s more:

In a taped town hall interview with MSNBC’s Chris Matthews to be aired later on Wednesday, Trump was pressed on how he would go about banning abortion.

“Should abortion be punished? This is not something you can dodge,” Matthews asked him.

“Look, people in certain parts of the Republican Party, conservative Republicans, would say, ‘Yes, it should,’” Trump responded.

Matthews then pressed him for a straight answer on what a ban on abortion would entail.

“Well, you go back to a position like they had where they would perhaps go to illegal places but we have to ban it,” Trump answered.

The former reality television star later added that “there has to be some form of punishment,” for women who get abortions after a ban is implemented, acknowledging the punishment would “have to be determined.”

UPDATE: Trump has issued a clarification of his statement:  

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UPDATE 2: Trump has now done a 180 and say abortion doctors should be punished, not women. donaldtrump38

 

Leading pro-life advocates on Twitter collectively face-palmed were quick to point out the ineptitude of Trump’s comments, saying they make him look as if he is not genuinely pro-life:

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