--- title: John Oliver Mocks Donald Trump on Women's Bodies description: At a Center for Reproductive Rights gala, the 'Last Week Tonight' host insisted Trump has "no clear understanding" of how abortion works. canonical: https://time.com/4547893/john-oliver-donald-trump-abortion/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-10-27T17:35:56.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:38:06.432Z og:title: John Oliver Says Trump Has 'No Clear Understanding' of Women's Bodies og:description: The 'Last Week Tonight' host spoke out at a Center for Reproductive Rights gala. og:url: https://time.com/4547893/john-oliver-donald-trump-abortion/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt419f2f4208f720fe/6988abd6fb4eac079b88fa3b/john-oliver-center-for-repro-rights.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: The Center for Reproductive Rights hosts the 2016 Gala at the Jazz at Lincoln Center - Inside og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: John Oliver Says Trump Has 'No Clear Understanding' of Women's Bodies twitter:description: The 'Last Week Tonight' host spoke out at a Center for Reproductive Rights gala. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt419f2f4208f720fe/6988abd6fb4eac079b88fa3b/john-oliver-center-for-repro-rights.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # John Oliver Says Donald Trump Has 'No Clear Understanding' of Women's Bodies  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Oct 27, 2016 5:35 PM UTC  John Oliver speaks onstage at The Center for Reproductive Rights 2016 Gala at the Jazz at Lincoln Center on October 25, 2016 in New York City. John Oliver speaks onstage at The Center for Reproductive Rights 2016 Gala at the Jazz at Lincoln Center on October 25, 2016 in New York City.Michael Loccisano—Getty Images  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Oct 27, 2016 5:35 PM UTC _Last Week Tonight_ host John Oliver pulled no punches at a Center for Reproductive Rights gala this week, opening by welcoming the “[nasty women](http://time.com/4537960/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-nasty-woman-debate/?iid=sr-link4)—nasty, nasty, nasty… Some of the [nastiest among us](http://time.com/4545228/helen-mirren-nasty-women/?iid=sr-link1), I imagine,” referring to Donald Trump’s [memorable attack](http://time.com/4538271/donald-trump-nasty-woman-interruption-presidential-debate/) on Hillary Clinton during the third debate. As [_Saturday Night Live_](http://time.com/4542803/saturday-night-live-presidential-debate-3-analysis/) did before him, Oliver then launched into a takedown of Trump’s graphic description of a late-term abortion: (“In the ninth month, you can take the baby and rip the baby out of the womb of the mother just prior to the birth of the baby,” Trump said at the debate.) “His discussion of late-term abortions showed no real understanding of how abortions work, no clear understanding of the basic biology of women’s bodies, and a very poor sense of grammar as well,” Oliver said scathingly of that description, [as EW reports](http://www.ew.com/article/2016/10/27/john-oliver-donald-trump-abortion). “So I guess we got, in a sense, what we were asking for.” He also mocked the Republican nominee’s drawing skills. “If you ask Donald Trump to draw a fallopian tube, I cannot imagine what you would get back other than a child’s drawing of a cobra.” Oliver was in attendance at the gala to honor [filmmaker Dawn Porter](http://time.com/4512265/the-racial-politics-of-abortion/?iid=sr-link2), whose documentary _Trapped_ follows a group of reproductive rights workers fighting anti-abortion laws. Author Isabel Allende was also an honoree at the event. \[[EntertainmentWeekly](http://www.ew.com/article/2016/10/27/john-oliver-donald-trump-abortion)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4547893/john-oliver-donald-trump-abortion/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4547893/john-oliver-donald-trump-abortion/"},"headline":"John Oliver Says Donald Trump Has 'No Clear Understanding' of Women's Bodies","datePublished":"2016-10-27T17:35:56.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:38:06.432Z","description":"\"...and a very poor sense of grammar as well.\"","url":"https://time.com/4547893/john-oliver-donald-trump-abortion/","keywords":["Newsfeed","celebrities","Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt419f2f4208f720fe/6988abd6fb4eac079b88fa3b/john-oliver-center-for-repro-rights.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Raisa Bruner","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt419f2f4208f720fe/6988abd6fb4eac079b88fa3b/john-oliver-center-for-repro-rights.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The Center for Reproductive Rights hosts the 2016 Gala at the Jazz at Lincoln Center - Inside","caption":"The Center for Reproductive Rights hosts the 2016 Gala at the Jazz at Lincoln Center - Inside","creditText":"Michael Loccisano—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":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4547893/john-oliver-donald-trump-abortion/","name":"John Oliver Says Donald Trump Has 'No Clear Understanding' of Women's Bodies"}}]}] ```