Women who have illegal abortions should be
punished, Donald Trump said on Wednesday.
The Republican presidential frontrunner made
the comments during a heated exchange at a
town-hall event in Wisconsin over whether
abortion should be banned. He told US
broadcaster MSNBC's Chris Matthews: "There
has to be some form of punishment." after
calling for a ban on the procedure.
Pressed by the journalist to explain further, he
responded: "I haven't determined what the
punishment should be." Mr Trump said he was
"pro-life with three exceptions", but did not
provide details as to what they were.
Democratic frontrunner and his possible White
House rival Hillary Clinton was quick to react on
Twitter, branding his remarks "horrific" "Just
when you thought it couldn't get worse. Horrific
and telling." Clinton said.
A statement issued later by Mr Trump's
campaign said the abortion issue should be left
to individual US states to determine.
Bernie Sanders called it "shameful" and even
major pro-life groups spoke out strongly against
punishing women who have abortions.
Even Trump's conservative rival Ted Cruz, an
evangelican Texas senator, bashed him,
accusing the real estate mogul of saying
"anything just to get attention".
Ohio Governor John Kasich, the third runner in
the Republican race for the White House, also
weighed in saying "Of course women shouldn't
be punished," he told MSNBC.
Women's health provider Planned Parenthood,
which conservatives oppose for its abortion
practices, said Trump "is now inciting violence
against women for making a decision that's
theirs to make."
Trump later retracted what he said and stated
that it's the doctors who perform the abortions
that should be punished not the women.
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