Planned Parenthood and pro-Hillary Clinton groups are seizing upon Donald Trump’s original statement — that there should be some form of “punishment” for women who have illegal abortions — in an effort to condemn the entire Republican Party.
Several hours after his MSNBC interview with Chris Matthews in which the host entangled Trump in a question about a hypothetical situation in which abortion were made illegal in the United States, Trump’s campaign issued the following clarification:
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.
Nevertheless, Planned Parenthood, which has endorsed Hillary Clinton in the primary – the first time in its history to endorse a primary candidate – and abortion political lobbying groups NARAL and Emily’s List were quick to develop Trump’s original statement into an anti-GOP strategy, reports Politico.
In an appearance on CNN’s New Day Thursday, Dawn Laguens, vice president of Planned Parenthood Action Fund said:
I think the only outrage on the side of Cruz, and of Kasich and the pro-life or anti-abortion opponents is they have been outed by Donald Trump, being kind of the id of the Republican Party. A plan to punish women who seek abortion in this country is not news, it’s actually the Republican Party platform. And Donald Trump just said more bluntly, as he is usual to do, that he supports the same dangerous and extreme agenda that Ted Cruz has voted on in the Senate and John Kasich has made the law of the land.
Planned Parenthood Action Fund also launched a five-figure ad buy in conjunction with pro-Clinton super PAC Priorities USA that includes the relevant clip from Trump’s interview with Matthews.
NARAL also released a web ad featuring Trump’s interview comments, as well as others he has made about women.
NARAL President Ilyse Hogue referred to Trump’s original comment as a “horrifying new low, even for him.”
Clinton-supporter Emily’s List is issuing a series of press releases tying all the GOP candidates to Trump. According to Politico, one press release states:
Yesterday Donald Trump announced that women in this country should be ‘punished’ if they get an abortion — before recanting, using the same language anti-choice groups have been using for years to whitewash their true agenda, which is taking away a woman’s right to make her own reproductive health care decisions and control her own body. But the truth is that Donald Trump’s comments only pulled back the curtain on what the GOP has already been doing for years: punishing women through draconian laws and restrictions on their right to have an abortion.
However, as FOX 40 reports, Ted Cruz, appearing on ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel show, said:
Being pro-life means standing and defending the unborn. But it also means defending moms. Defending women. And defending the incredible gift women have to bring life into the world. And Donald’s comments, they were unfortunate, they were wrong and I strongly disagree with it.
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