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Wednesday, May. 15, 2024

Does Donald Trump ‘want to criminalize women’ who get an abortion?


no

In his 2024 presidential campaign, former President Donald Trump has said states should decide whether, in certain instances, to prosecute women who get an abortion.

In April, Trump said in a video that states should determine abortion law and that he supports exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother. He told Time magazine that states should decide whether women who get an abortion after a specified number of weeks should be prosecuted.

The criminalization claim was made in a TV ad featuring a Wisconsin woman that was released May 13, 2024, by American Bridge 21st Century, a Democratic super PAC.

The ad cited Trump’s 2016 comment while campaigning in Wisconsin that “there has to be some form of punishment” for women who get an abortion.

Later that day, Trump’s campaign said Trump meant to say that if abortion were outlawed, doctors who perform abortions should be punished.

See a full discussion of this at Wisconsin Watch

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

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