By: Jack Bernard

Interviewer: “Do you believe in punishment for abortion – yes or no – as a principle?”

Trump: “The answer is there has to be some form of punishment.”

Interviewer: “For the woman?”

Trump: “Yeah, there has to be some form.”

Taken by itself, the above quote means that Trump is anti-choice and believes having an abortion makes a woman a criminal. Given his history, Trump seems to be playing to the most right-wing elements in his party, especially evangelicals.

This archaic, paternalistic view puts him on the wrong side of most Americans. Even GOP voters now support Roe v Wade, 53 percent to 44 percent (Pew, 1-19).

Currently, Trump apparently does not believe a woman has the right to control her own body. However, it should be noted that before he first considered running for President (2011), he espoused the opposite view, stating many times that he was “pro-choice in every respect.” (10-99, NBC)

Choice should and will be a key issue in the 2020 election, especially given Trump’s decision to only nominate activist Supreme Court judges who wish to do away with Roe v Wade, a position contrary to the feelings of most of our citizens.

Roe is now supported by 69 percent of Americans and only opposed by 28 percent (Pew, 1-19). Support for Roe has grown dramatically over time; in 1962 the numbers were 60 percent and 34 percent. Younger people, 18-29, support abortion rights (63 percent), as do women in general (60 percent), per Pew (10-18).

But, taken in a larger context, the above Trump interview illustrates a much more forbidding pattern of thoughts and behavior by an immoral man who has had three wives. He has also made numerous misogynistic remarks in the past, believing women to be inferior to men.