Trump Exposes Republican Rift With Calls For Abortion 'Punishment'

03:38

March 31, 2016

Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump films a town hall meeting for MSNBC with Chris Matthews at the Weidner Center located on the University of Wisconsin Green Bay campus on March 30, 2016 in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Candidates are campaigning ahead of the Wisconsin primary on April 5. (Tom Lynn/Getty Images)

Donald Trump has backed off his comments that women who get abortions should face “some form of punishment” if the practice is banned. But the Republican presidential front-runner drew bipartisan criticism for his statement, which brought to mind the days before abortion was legal in the United States. University of Illinois professor Leslie Reagan joins Here & Now's Jeremy Hobson for a look at the history of abortion law.

Guest

Leslie J. Reagan, professor of history, medicine, gender and women's studies, and law at the University of Illinois. She's author of "Dangerous Pregnancies: Mothers, Disabilities, and Abortion in Modern America."

This segment aired on March 31, 2016.

policy