As Planned Parenthood's executive vice president Dawn Laguens appeared as a guest on Thursday's CNN New Day to react to Donald Trump's initial comments about proscribing legal punishment for women who have illegal abortions, the pro-abortion activist acted as propagandist as she repeatedly asserted that pro-life Republicans seek to "punish" women by illegalizing abortion, and claimed that Republicans like Ohio Governor John Kasich already do so "every single day" because of laws they have passed to restrict abortion.
As co-host Alisyn Camerota mildly challenged her assertion that restricting abortion could be considered a "punishment" of women, Laguens refused to back down from her over the top claims. After Camerota read a statement from March for Life condemning Trump's remarks, Laguens whined:
They're horrified to have been outed for what they do every day, which is punish women who seek abortion, to back laws that tell doctors that they must lie to women, to work to shut down clinics, to ban certain procedures that doctors say are important for women's safety and health. I mean, all of these things, that's what their agenda is day in and day out. They do punish women. And so they can be upset that Donald Trump is saying it out loud and proud if you will, but I really don't draw a distinction between what the effect of their agenda is and their efforts to punish women every single day.
Laguens was very much on her propagandistic message as she managed to utter some form of the word "punish" eight times in the entire segment, speaking the words "punish women" six of those times.
After playing a clip of Trump's original statement about punishing women, Camerota began the segment sounding sympathetic toward Planned Parenthood as she posed: "Dawn, can you just take us inside Planned Parenthood and tell us what happened inside the conference rooms there when you heard that Donald Trump had spoken about banning abortion and then criminalizing women who sought one."
Laguens began by being more deceptive than Camerota seemed to expect as she absurdly claimed:
Well, let me say, Alisyn, that a plan to punish women who seek abortion in this country is not news. It's actually the Republican Party platform. And Donald Trump just said more bluntly, as he is usual to do, that he supports the same dangerous and extreme agenda that Ted Cruz has voted on in the Senate and John Kasich has made the law of the land in Ohio.
Camerota jumped in to push back: "But, Dawn, hold on, I mean, John Kasich hasn't made it the law of the land to send women to jail, and Ted Cruz hasn't voted on that in the Senate."
The Planned Parenthood official refused to back down:
...if you look at what's gone on in this country since 2010 -- led by John Kasich, Ted Cruz -- they have had an agenda to punish women, to quote Trump, through making them drive 500 miles to get an abortion, to come three times for an appointment to take two pills, to stand outside of health centers and yell obscenities at doctors and women who go there, and to stand up for that. So I don't think that saying there's some difference between them when you look at their records. Ohio is now considered second only to Texas in the number of anti-abortion laws that have been passed.
After Camerota sought clarification by wondering, "You're not drawing any distinction between restricting access to abortion -- as John Kasich has done in Ohio -- and saying that women should be criminalized," Laguens charged that "I think the only outrage on the side of Cruz and of Kasich and the pro-life or anti-abortion opponents is that they've been outed by Donald Trump being kind of the id of the Republican Party."
After the CNN host recalled Kasich's criticism of Trump's comments, Laguens took aim at the Ohio governor as she concluded:
For 18 bills in Ohio that John Kasich has backed that make getting an abortion safely and legally more difficult for the women of that state, he punished women every day he was governor, and so trying to draw a distinction between what Donald Trump says and what John Kasich has actually done as governor of a major state, it's now ranked as the second worst state behind Texas for women seeking reproductive health care. And that's an agenda he has been proudly in favor of.
She added:
And to say he has a few exceptions, but of course, the Senate, Ted Cruz, no exceptions, the bills that have passed, these are just real evidence of a party and candidates who are completely out of touch with women in this country. One in three women in America has had an abortion. Are they going to punish them all?
Below is a complete transcript of the segment from the Thursday, March 31, New Day on CNN:
ALISYN CAMEROTA: Okay, back to our top story. Trump igniting a firestorm Wednesday when he said that women who get abortions should be punished.
[clip of Donald Trump with MSNBC's Chris Matthews]
Well, Trump backtracked twice within just a few hours, but not before hearing a heap of criticism. Here to respond is Planned Parenthood's executive vice president, Dawn Laguens. ... Dawn, can you just take us inside Planned Parenthood and tell us what happened inside the conference rooms there when you heard that Donald Trump had spoken about banning abortion and then criminalizing women who sought one.
DAWN LAGUENS, PLANNED PARENTHOOD: Well, let me say, Alisyn, that a plan to punish women who seek abortion in this country is not news. It's actually the Republican Party platform. And Donald Trump just said more bluntly, as he is usual to do, that he supports the same dangerous and extreme agenda that Ted Cruz has voted on in the Senate and John Kasich has made the law of the land in Ohio.
CAMEROTA: But, Dawn, hold on, I mean, John Kasich hasn't made it the law of the land to send women to jail, and Ted Cruz hasn't voted on that in the Senate.
LAGUENS: Well, Donald Trump said that he thought that women should be punished, and of course he said he backtracked. I think we really saw what was in his heart in his first comment, but if you look at what's gone on in this country since 2010 -- led by John Kasich, Ted Cruz -- they have had an agenda to punish women, to quote Trump, through making them drive 500 miles to get an abortion, to come three times for an appointment to take two pills, to stand outside of health centers and yell obscenities at doctors and women who go there, and to stand up for that. So I don't think that saying there's some difference between them when you look at their records. Ohio is now considered second only to Texas in the number of anti-abortion laws that have been passed.
CAMEROTA: Okay, just to be, I hear you, Dawn, but just to be clear, you don't think there's a difference. You're not drawing any distinction between restricting access to abortion -- as John Kasich has done in Ohio -- and saying that women should be criminalized. I mean, he couldn't even answer the question if they should be fined or go to jail. He had to think about it. You don't think there's a distinction between those two.LAGUENS: I believe that when you look actually at their record, that the things that have been passed, the laws that have been passed that criminalize abortion activity, that force clinics to close rather than to provide services that would then be outside of the law and risk being sent to jail for doctors or women. There's no evidence of where these laws would stop or what these folks would do. And I think the only outrage on the side of Cruz and of Kasich and the pro-life or anti-abortion opponents is that they've been outed by Donald Trump being kind of the id of the Republican Party
CAMEROTA: Well, this is, I mean, what the pro-life groups and advocates say is that he is far beyond the mainstream and far beyond where they are and their position on abortion. Let me read you their comment. This is from March for Life. They say, "Being pro-life means wanting what is best for the mother and the baby. No pro-lifer would ever want to punish a woman who has chosen abortion. This is against the very nature of what we are about."
So clearly they see a very big difference between what Donald Trump said yesterday about criminalizing women who get or seek an abortion and where Ted Cruz and John Kasich have been on this.
LAGUENS: Again, I would just maintain, Alisyn, that they're horrified to have been outed for what they do every day, which is punish women who seek abortion, to back laws that tell doctors that they must lie to women, to work to shut down clinics, to ban certain procedures that doctors say are important for women's safety and health. I mean, all of these things, that's what their agenda is day in and day out. They do punish women. And so they can be upset that Donald Trump is saying it out loud and proud if you will, but I really don't draw a distinction between what the effect of their agenda is and their efforts to punish women every single day.
CAMEROTA: John Kasich himself does see a difference, a big difference between where Donald Trump is and where his initial statement was to Chris Matthews and what John Kasich has done. So let me just play that for you, what Kasich said yesterday.
GOVERNOR JOHN KASICH (R-OH): I mean, I do have exceptions for rape, incest and life of the mother, but of course women shouldn't be punished. I don't, look, you know, I think probably Donald Trump will probably figure out a way to say that he didn't say it or he was misquoted or whatever, but I don't think so. I don't think that's an appropriate response, and I think it's a difficult enough situation than to try to punish somebody.
CAMEROTA: Kasich says it's a difficult enough situation rather than to try to punish someone. What's your response to that?
LAGUENS: For 18 bills in Ohio that John Kasich has backed that make getting an abortion safely and legally more difficult for the women of that state, he punished women every day he was governor, and so trying to draw a distinction between what Donald Trump says and what John Kasich has actually done as governor of a major state, it's now ranked as the second worst state behind Texas for women seeking reproductive health care. And that's an agenda he has been proudly in favor of. And to say he has a few exceptions, but of course, the Senate, Ted Cruz, no exceptions, the bills that have passed, these are just real evidence of a party and candidates who are completely out of touch with women in this country. One in three women in America has had an abortion. Are they going to punish them all?
CAMEROTA: Dawn Laguens, we appreciate getting the position of Planned Parenthood. Thanks so much for being on New Day.
