Trump Was Right the First Time: Women SHOULD be Punished for Having Abortions

Some may remember a 2016 interview with MSNBC in which Donald Trump stated that he believed there "has to be some form of punishment" for women who get abortions if it were ever outlawed. He followed up with, "I haven’t determined what the punishment should be.”

This simple pro-life statement triggered feminist meltdowns and moral panic from both the right and the left.

The President of March for Life, Jeanne Mancini, immediately released a statement in response, saying:

"Mr. Trump’s comment today is completely out of touch with the pro-life movement and even more with women who have chosen such a sad thing as abortion... We invite a woman who has gone down this route to consider paths to healing, not punishment."

Other pro-life activists echoed this sentiment. Trump's presidential rival at the time, Hillary Clinton, called his statement "abhorrent."

It only took a few hours for the Trump campaign team to walk back his remarks, stating that if abortion were made illegal, only the abortionist would be charged with the crime. In a second statement, Trump clarified:

"The woman is a victim in this case, as is the life in her womb."

This raises a fundamental question: If pro-lifers claim that abortion is, in fact, murder and should be treated as such legally, why wouldn’t a woman who conspires to end an unborn child’s life be held criminally responsible alongside the abortionist?

This question defines the "abolitionists," a small but active dissident movement that seeks to legally classify abortion as homicide. They frequently use the language of the American anti-slavery movement to call for the total abolition of the practice. Abolitionists have repeatedly clashed with the mainstream pro-life movement, which they claim has compromised too easily on the issue—particularly in its unwillingness to prosecute women who obtain abortions.

Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life, has had multiple conflicts with abolitionists (sometimes called "pro-prosecutionists"). She has labeled them "religious zealots," refused to debate them because she views them as "cult members," and even stated that she is more concerned about her life being taken by one of them than by a "crazy leftist."

While not self-identifying as an abolitionist, Dr. Abby Johnson, a prominent pro-life activist and former Planned Parenthood director, has spoken out against what is often called the "two-victim narrative." In a post on X, she wrote:

If I would have known that I could have been possibly been penalized for having an abortion, I would have NEVER had one. If I would have not had my first abortion, I would have never walked into the doors of Planned Parenthood to work there. If I wouldn’t have worked there, I wouldn’t have had my second abortion. And if I wouldn’t have worked there, I wouldn’t have the souls of 22,000 innocent children’s lives on my soul for the rest of my earthly life. To stop a woman from having an abortion by teaching her that her actions have consequences is the most compassionate thing I can think of.

So what exactly are the main arguments against women being criminalized for abortion?

Most boil down to political strategy. Many prominent pro-life activists believe their movement cannot make meaningful progress if it is perceived as too condemning of women, especially in today's highly feminized cultural landscape. The strategy for abolishing abortion is meant to be incremental so that pro-life activists are not viewed as more "extreme" than they already are.

However, the most common response from pro-life organizations against prosecuting women is that society has sold them a massive lie. Through culture, education, and media, they are led to believe abortion is not murder. Therefore, they "don't know what they are doing" and are the "second victims" of a multi-million-dollar industry that thrives on their naivety. Activists frequently point out (rightfully so) that many women—such as young teenagers or victims of sex trafficking—have been coerced into having abortions and should not be punished for a crime they did not willingly commit. Additionally, they argue that women who have had abortions often suffer mentally and emotionally, making legal consequences unnecessary.

The problem with this argument is that it treats abortion differently than any other homicide, inadvertently affirming the pro-abortion position that unborn babies have less inherent value than people outside the womb. It is inconsistent to claim that abortion is murder while arguing that a mother who ends her child’s life should face no punishment.

If abortion were completely outlawed in a state, a woman who sought one illegally would not be acting out of naivety—she would be consciously violating the law to commit what is legally considered murder. There is no "lack of intent" defense when someone actively commits homicide. The fact that a woman might personally believe abortion is not murder is irrelevant; laws are not enforced based on whether the perpetrator thinks their crime is morally wrong. A society operating on that basis would be chaotic and detached from objective truth.

Yes, women may seek out abortions out of desperation, but they do so of their own free will. If we treat women as having equal agency under the law in areas such as voting, driving, and owning property, then they should also be held accountable when it comes to taking a life. If a woman were coerced or forced into having an abortion, of course, that would be considered in court—just as "mens rea" (criminal intent) is evaluated in every other crime, it would also apply to abortion.

A law punishing women for obtaining abortions would not mean that every single woman who has ever had an abortion would be thrown in jail. American laws are never enforced retroactively, and attempting to do so would cause immense societal upheaval. In reality, applying equal protection to unborn babies would likely result in few imprisonments because it would deter most women from seeking abortions in the first place. It could also lead to more careful sexual decision-making among both men and women, reducing the number of unwanted pregnancies.

Yes, many women who have abortions experience deep regret and emotional pain, which can feel like a punishment in itself. This is a tragic reality, but the existence of spiritual and emotional consequences does not mean there should be no legal consequences. We do not apply this reasoning to people who regret child abuse or gang violence. It is heartbreaking that so many women carry the weight of their abortions for a lifetime, but that number could be reduced if they had been deterred from having one in the first place.

Please leave your opinions / comments on these stories below, we appreciate your perspective!