--- title: Donald Trump on Abortion: I'm Saying Women Punish Themselves description: Trump further walked back previous comments that women should be punished for having an abortion, saying he meant women "punish themselves" canonical: https://time.com/4340358/donald-trump-women-abortions-punish/ author: Daniel White article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-05-18T18:34:11.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T17:38:40.432Z article:section: Politics og:title: Donald Trump on Abortion: 'I'm Saying Women Punish Themselves' og:description: “I didn’t mean punishment for women like prison" og:url: https://time.com/4340358/donald-trump-women-abortions-punish/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6be03fd6aafed6a2/698893a52dce01c25a9e91fc/gettyimages-5287764001.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: US-ELECTION-TRUMP og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Donald Trump on Abortion: 'I'm Saying Women Punish Themselves' twitter:description: “I didn’t mean punishment for women like prison" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6be03fd6aafed6a2/698893a52dce01c25a9e91fc/gettyimages-5287764001.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump on Abortion: 'I'm Saying Women Punish Themselves' by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White May 18, 2016 6:34 PM UTC  U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump addresses the audience in Eugene, Ore. on May 6, 2016 U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump addresses the audience in Eugene, Ore. on May 6, 2016Rob Kerr—AFP/Getty Images by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White May 18, 2016 6:34 PM UTC Donald Trump has further walked back previous comments suggesting women should be punished for having an abortion, saying in [a new interview](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/22/magazine/donald-trump-primary-win.html?%5Fr=4) that he meant women “punish themselves.” In an interview with the _New York Times Magazine_ published Wednesday, Trump attempted to [clarify what he meant in March](http://time.com/4276862/donald-trump-abortion-ban-punishment/) when he said there should be “some form” of punishment for women seeking abortions if the practice was banned. “I didn’t mean punishment for women like prison. 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,” Trump told the _Times_. This is the second time Trump has moderated his position on abortion. The presumptive Republican presidential nominee was [met with strong criticism from both sides](http://time.com/4277698/donald-trump-abortion-christie-carson/) of the aisle after his original comments apparently endorsing punishment, causing him to quickly release a statement disavowing the position. “If Congress were to pass legislation making abortion illegal and the federal courts upheld this legislation, or any state were permitted to ban abortion under state and federal law, the doctor or any other person performing this illegal act upon a woman would be held legally responsible, not the woman,” Trump said in the statement. “The woman is a victim in this case as is the life in her womb. My position has not changed—like Ronald Reagan, I am pro-life with exceptions.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4340358/donald-trump-women-abortions-punish/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4340358/donald-trump-women-abortions-punish/"},"headline":"Donald Trump on Abortion: 'I'm Saying Women Punish Themselves'","datePublished":"2016-05-18T18:34:11.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T17:38:40.432Z","description":"“I didn’t mean punishment for women like prison\"","url":"https://time.com/4340358/donald-trump-women-abortions-punish/","keywords":["2016 Election","abortion","2016 Election topic","Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6be03fd6aafed6a2/698893a52dce01c25a9e91fc/gettyimages-5287764001.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Daniel White","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/daniel-white/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6be03fd6aafed6a2/698893a52dce01c25a9e91fc/gettyimages-5287764001.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US-ELECTION-TRUMP","caption":"US-ELECTION-TRUMP","creditText":"Rob Kerr—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4340358/donald-trump-women-abortions-punish/","name":"Donald Trump on Abortion: 'I'm Saying Women Punish Themselves'"}}]}] ```