Trump on abortion: ‘I’m saying women punish themselves’

Donald Trump is further distancing himself from controversial comments he made in March about punishing women for having abortions if the procedure were illegal, saying he meant that women “punish themselves.”

{mosads}“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,” the presumptive Republican presidential nominee said in an interview with the New York Times Magazine published Wednesday.

When asked by MSNBC’s Chris Matthews in March whether he supported criminal penalties for abortion, Trump said yes, there should be “some form of punishment.”

After receiving backlash from both sides of the abortion debate, Trump later that day walked back the comments, saying only doctors who perform illegal abortions should face criminal charges.