KEEP GOING

Trump: ‘Women Punish Themselves’ for Abortion

Continues to backtrack on “punishment” comment.

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump further walked back his controversial abortion comments, now clarifying that “women punish themselves” for abortion. After telling MSNBC’s Chris Matthews in March that he believed in criminal “punishment” for women who undergo the procedure, Trump later said he was misunderstood. “I didn’t mean punishment for women like prison,” he explained in a New York Times Magazine interview published Wednesday. “I’m saying women punish themselves. I didn’t want people to think in terms of ‘prison’ punishment. And because of that I walked it back.” In the same piece, Trump reportedly reiterated that he’d be better on women’s issues than Hillary Clinton and “everybody else combined,” adding that he valued Planned Parenthood in its role as a women’s health-care nonprofit, even if he believes it shouldn’t receive federal funding. “Frankly, for the general election I think that’s a very good issue for me,” he added.