Pro-life movement unified in swift rebuke of Trump

NEW YORK (AP) - Donald Trump's remark that women getting abortions were they to be banned should be punished drew swift, unified condemnation from the anti-abortion movement - evidence of the distinctive role it plays at a time when many right-of-center constituencies are struggling with their responses to the Republican presidential front-runner.

Trump soon backtracked from Wednesday's comments but not before anti-abortion leaders forcefully repudiated him.

"There was no time to get on the phone and compare talking points, but all the comments were consistent," said Mike Gonidakis, president of Ohio Right to Life. "The foundational premise of the pro-life movement is to protect both the mother and the unborn child. We don't leave one of them behind."

The anti-abortion movement is by no means monolithic - there are sometimes sharp splits over political tactics and the question of whether abortion bans should make exceptions for rape and incest. But there is common ground around the belief that life begins at conception, and a consensus that this belief takes precedence over short-term political calculations.

"The pro-life movement has a more than 40-year history of working together," said Kristi Hamrick, a spokeswoman for Americans United for Life. "There's a tremendous consensus."

Once Trump's remarks were reported, said Hamrick, "There was no need to ask each other, "What do you think of this?' It's wrong."

Alesha Doan, a political science professor at the University of Kansas, has studied the anti-abortion movement. She said Trump's remarks undercut its long-evolving strategy of voicing empathy with women considering abortion.

"It's been a very successful message, portraying women as victims," Doan said. "Trump's remark really conflicts with that strategy."

For some anti-abortion activists, Trump's remark brought back bad memories from 2012, when Republican candidates in Indiana and Missouri blew winnable Senate races after provocative comments on rape and abortion. In Missouri, Todd Akin declared the female anatomy capable of preventing pregnancy in the case of "a legitimate rape," while Indiana candidate Richard Mourdock said pregnancies that result from "that horrible situation of rape, that is something God intended to happen."

"A lot of pro-life leaders would not want an Akin or Mourdock situation playing out on the national stage," said Professor Michael New, an abortion opponent who teaches economics at Ave Maria University in Florida.

He noted over the past four decades, Republican presidential nominees have been staunch and articulate supporters of the anti-abortion cause.

"The concern with Trump is that you'd get a person who doesn't articulate the positions well and says things that could be damaging," New said.