Donald Trump wants to punish women who get abortions
Donald Trump has made one of his most outlandish and offensive statements yet, this time taking aim at women who have abortions.
Speaking to MSNBC on Wednesday, the Republican Presidential frontrunner said he supports criminal punishments for women who have abortions.
Trump has previously voiced an opposition to legal abortions, but this is his strongest line on the issue.
Speaking to Chris Matthews, the Apprentice boss said: “The answer is that, there has to be some form of punishment.”
When asked specifically what the punishment should be, Trump said “That I don’t know”.
Speaking about the vacancy left on the US Supreme Court bench following the death of anti-abortion rights justice Antonin Scalia, Trump said: “They’ve set the law and frankly the judges, you’re going to have a very big election coming up for that reason because you have judges where it’s a real tipping point and with the loss of Scalia, who was a very strong conservative, this presidential election is going to be very important.”
Democratic Presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton tweeted about Trump’s words, to say they are “horrific and telling”.
On the issue of abortion, Trump has made varied comments in the past.
In 2000, according to Mic, Trump said he was “very pro-choice in every respect”, but by 2012, had evolved to describe himself as “pro-life”.
However Trump still stands more liberally on abortion rights compared to competition Ted Cruz, who is against abortion rights for those who are raped.
Susan Sarandon has claimed she would likely vote for Donald Trump above Hillary Clinton – despite being an avowed supporter of LGBT rights.
Trump has said he would “consider” a plot to overturn equal marriage, and has assured Republicans he wouldn’t block a ‘religious freedom’ law to permit anti-gay discrimination. Ms Clinton has a historic raft of LGBT rights promises, and endorsements from a vast number of rights groups.