Donald Trump now says abortion laws should not be changed.
It's the latest shift for the Republican presidential front-runner on an issue that's caused him grief since he said earlier in the week there should be "some form of punishment" for women who procured abortions if the procedure was outlawed.
He backed off that remark under fierce criticism, saying if abortion were no longer legal, those who performed abortions should be penalised, not the women who had them.
Now he's shifted again, in a Face The Nation interview being broadcast on Sunday.
In an excerpt broadcast on Friday on CBS, Trump said about abortion: "The laws are set. And I think we have to leave it that way."
He declined several times to say whether he thought abortion was murder. Asked if he disagreed with those who considered the procedure to be murder, he said, "No, I don't disagree with it."
His spokeswoman, Hope Hicks, said Trump meant that abortion laws won't change until he's president. "Then he will change the law through his judicial appointments and allow the states to protect the unborn," she said. That's not a distinction he made in the interview.
The abortion-rights group NARAL Pro-Choice America responded partly tongue-in-cheek to Trump's comment that abortion laws should be left alone. "Donald Trump has seen the light," the group said in a statement, quickly adding, "April Fools."
The group's president, Ilyse Hogue, said Trump's grasp of abortion policy has been "all over the place this week" but added, "We know that misogyny would rule in a Trump White House, and that never bodes well for reproductive healthcare or advancing women's equality."
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Trump has hit a rough patch in his campaign as he heads into the Wisconsin primary Tuesday. His campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, this week was charged with simple battery, accused of grabbing a reporter's arm.
"I think I've had many bad weeks and I've had many good weeks," Trump said in the interview on Friday. "I don't see this as the worst week in my campaign."
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