Trump Sparks Storm On Abortions, Then Tries To Abort The Backlash

At first, he had started a fire when he said that women who undergo abortions should be punished. He clarified that they should face "some form of punishment" if there is a law to outlaw it.

There was worse to come. He said that though he supported punishment for the women who sought abortions, he did not support punishment for the men who would be responsible for them.

As his presidential rivals and main anti-abortion groups hit back at him, he took his remarks back, releasing a new "clarification" that seemed even more scandalous than his original statement. He said that women who undergo abortions are victims and doctors who perform abortions should be punished.

"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. "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."

The controversy has dogged the election just less than a week before Wisconsin Republicans cast their vote in the state's primary, which is central to both Trump and his rivals on the journey to the GOP presidential nomination.

Trump's initial comments were made after MSNBC host Chris Matthews asked him to answer: "should abortion be punished."

"There has to be some form of punishment," Trump said during a televised town hall event.

"For the woman?" Matthews asked, to which Trump replied, "Yes."

How should they be punished? He did not seem too clear about that---probably because he had not thought enough about it.

"I just don't want to talk about that right now," Trump said during a news conference January in Iowa. "Everybody knows my views and I think my views are very plain," Trump said.

He also agreed that if the rule is outlawed, a number of women will seek to do it illegally too.

"Well, you go back to a position like they had where they would perhaps go to illegal places, but we have to ban it," Trump said during the town hall.