Even abortion opponents can't believe how out of touch Donald Trump is

Donald Trump's latest controversial remarks — calling for "some sort of punishment" for women who have abortions — aren't going over well with the anti-abortion crowd, either.

The Republican front-runner's comments, which occurred during an interview with MSNBC's Chris Matthews that will air Wednesday night, spread quickly online. And while the reaction was predictably outraged, some of the pushback against Trump’s punitive proposal came from an unexpected source: leaders of the "pro-life" movement, the very people with whom Trump claims he is ideologically aligned.

In a statement, Jeanne Mancini, president of the March for Life Education and Defense Fund, said Trump’s comments were “completely out of touch with the pro-life movement and even more with women who have chosen such a sad thing as abortion.”

“Being pro-life means wanting what is best for the mother and the baby,” Mancini said. “Women who choose abortion often do so in desperation and then deeply regret such a decision. 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. We invite a woman who has gone down this route to consider paths to healing, not punishment.”

Susan B. Anthony List, another group that opposes abortion, also responded with a statement from its president, Marjorie Dannenfelser.

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“As a convert to the pro-life movement, Mr. Trump sees the reality of the horror of abortion,” Dannenfelser said. “But let us be clear: punishment is solely for the abortionist who profits off of the destruction of one life and the grave wounding of another.”

Dannenfelser had already opposed Trump in January, when she and nearly a dozen anti-abortion activists signed a letter calling on voters to “support anyone but Donald Trump” in advance of Iowa’s Feb. 1 caucuses.

Trump said in January that he had been "pro-life a long time," but many abortion rights opponents did not trust that he had fully converted to their cause. Trump had called himself "pro-choice" in 1999, although he said he hated the "concept of abortion."

On Twitter, some political commentators said Trump’s remarks Wednesday suggested a candidate who is pandering to what he thinks his supporters want to hear:

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Others worried that Trump's remarks will only help the party's Democratic rivals in the general election:

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But at least one fellow Republican stopped short of disavowing Trump’s remarks outright.

His chief rival for the party's nomination, Ted Cruz, said through his campaign that his focus was on punishing the doctors who perform abortions, not the women who get them:

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Trump himself responded to the controversy just hours after his initial remarks, insisting his anti-abortion position was sincere and reversing his comments about punishing women.

"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," he said in a statement, "the doctor or any other person performing this illegal act upon a woman would be held legally responsible, not the woman. 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."

With that statement on Wednesday afternoon, Trump disavowed his own proposal even before the full interview aired on MSNBC Wednesday night.

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