Women who have abortions must be punished! (And flogged, tattooed and dragged behind an Uber).

Donald Trump wants to ‘punish’ women who have abortions.

That’s what he said today in one of the most extraordinary outbursts in a gob-smackingly bizarre US election campaign that makes Australian politics look like a fun night out with friends.

You could not make this shit up.

It’s not yet clear how Trump wants women who have abortions to be punished. Jail maybe? A fine? Public flogging? Tattooing them with a picture of an embryo? Dragging them through the streets behind an Uber?

You can watch Trump making his gob-smacking statement below (post continues after video)

Frankly, I think he’s totally on the money with the punishment idea. All those careless sluts getting knocked up, all those bolshie women who want to decide when they have babies and how many….. this feminist madness just has to stop.

And I have the perfect idea for how President Trump and the male-dominated anti-abortion lobby whose votes he is trying to win could punish them.

Here it is:

Women who have abortions should be forced to foster unwanted children. Think about it. Just quietly, it’s genius. All those babies, kids and teens who have been abused, neglected, beaten or abandoned could be forced upon women who had illegal abortions!

This would work so well! It’s win-win! New homes for the kids whose parents don’t want or aren’t capable of taking care of them. And a fitting punishment for all the women who THOUGHT they’d got away with making a positive decision about when and how often they became mothers! A real gotcha moment for those reckless slurries. Donald, are you in?

Except…..wait.

Women who have abortions do so because they know with complete and desperate certainty that they can’t be mothers to a(nother) baby at that time. They are very clear about this. It’s not like they’re all, hmmmm, maybe I’ll flip a coin because whatevs.

If legal, affordable abortion is not available, women have always gone the DIY route, risking their lives by butchering their own bodies. That’s how desperate we are to control our fertility. Because when you can’t control your fertility, you can’t control your life.

And if you force women to have babies they don’t want, can’t afford or aren’t capable of looking after? If you take away their ability to access safe, legal and affordable abortion?  Those unwanted babies will be at great risk of being abused, neglected and abandoned. Those unwanted babies will become unwanted children and then damaged adults. The cycle of abuse and poverty will continue.

And what about the cost to the mothers of these children? Their inability to work or afford housing or food for themselves and their families? What about other children they might have who will also suffer as their mother’s time, patience, finances and energy are stretched and stretched again, far beyond the breaking point they can see as clearly as the two unwanted lines on a stick that threatens to blow up their lives.

Unwanted babies create a ripple effect of destruction across multiple lives. Across generations. So I’ve always wondered why anyone would want to force women to give birth to babies they don’t want, why anyone would be arrogant and reckless and stupid enough to think that could end well for either the mother or the unwanted baby.

But back to punishment because that idea is truly awesome.

As a report in the Huffington Post today notes:

A record number of restrictions on abortion have been passed since Republicans swept control in a slew of state legislatures in 2010; many of these provisions are meant to dissuade patients from seeking abortions and punish them if they do.

Requiring a patient undergo a waiting period of 24, 48 or 72 hours before having an abortion is a form of punishment. Banning telemedicine for medication abortion punishes patients in rural areas. Requiring an ultrasound in which the provider describes the details of the fetus to the patient is a form of punishment. Mandating biased counseling, in which doctors are required to tell patients that abortion causes breast cancer or depression, is a form of punishment.

Forcing providers to use an outdated regimen for administering medication abortions, which carries a higher risk of side-effects, is a form of punishment.  And requiring adolescents to get permission from both of their parents to have the procedure, while mandating abstinence-based sex education at the same time, punishes teens for getting pregnant.

Donald, we know you don’t care about women or abortion; that you will do anything to win votes and become President. We know that you are utterly mercenary and will without hesitation throw women under a political bus if it will help you grab power.

Sure, stop women from having abortions and punish them when they try. Because everyone knows women get pregnant alone without the involvement of a man. Funny how you’re not suggesting men be punished or even held financially responsible for the unwanted babies they help to make. That might be a bit too close to home, hey, Donald?

Can I suggest you spend a little less time shooting your mouth off and a bit more time finding a shade of fake tan that makes you look less like a tandoori chicken. Because having to look at your angry little orange face is punishment enough for all of us.