Donald Trump Wants To Punish Women Who Get Abortion -- Then He Doesn't

Donald Trump drew flack from both sides of the aisle after he suggested that women should be punished for having abortions — and then reneged on his comments just as soon as they spread through the Twitter and Facebook worlds.

Speaking to MSNBC's Chris Matthews, Trump reiterated his anti-abortion stance, saying that it should be illegal. When Matthews pressed him further, Trump said, "There has to be some form of punishment."

"For the woman?" Matthews asked.

"Yeah, there has to be some form," Trump said.

MSNBC was scheduled to air the exchange Wednesday night but published the abortion excerpt on their Twitter account at 3:15 p.m. Eastern time (presumably once they realized they had yet the latest viral Trump blunder).

After Trump's comments took off, his campaign put out a statement just before 5 p.m. Eastern walking back his comments almost entirely.

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

It's unclear exactly what time the interview took place. But for those keeping score at home, it took Trump less than two hours from the time the exchange was released to do a complete 180 on a policy matter very dear to many Republican voters.

And so, Trump was hit from all sides.

From the left, he was hammered for his poor track record on women's issues. And from the right, questions about his viability in a general election only got louder.

Hillary Clinton, his likely rival in a general election, didn't wait long to strike, even stealing one of his signature phrases in a Twitter post: "Yet another idea from @realDonaldTrump that's ignorant, reckless, and frankly absurd. Sad!"

The Democratic National Committee said in a tweet that "Donald Trump's comments on abortion are unacceptable, inexcusable, but—unfortunately—not unbelievable."

His Republican challenger John Kasich said in a statement that "Donald Trump is not ready to be Commander in Chief," and Ted Cruz said Trump "hasn't seriously thought through the issues."

Penny Nance, the head of the pro-life Concerned Women for America, told the New York Times that Trump, "doesn’t understand pro-life people or the life issue. He instead became the caricature that the left tries to paint us to be.”

Not exactly a sterling Wednesday for the Republican front-runner.

At the end of the day, though, Trump's newest best friend had his back.

Speaking on his monthly "Ask the Governor" radio show Wednesday night, New Jersey Gov. and Man Who Is Definitely Not Pandering For A Vice Presidential Nod Chris Christie said he had not heard what Trump said but that, "people misspeak all the time."

Christie, who would know a thing or two about misspeaking, said that "with (Trump), people want to make a bigger deal of it. I think he cleared it up."

Image via Gage Skidmore, Flickr, used under Creative Commons