title:  Planned Parenthood Slams Republicans For Pretending To Be Shocked By Trump’s Abortion Stance
text: When the story broke on Wednesday about Donald Trump saying women should be punished for getting an abortion, I was, honestly, confused by the outrage. People were talking like no one has ever been so far off the deep end. As if punishing women for having an abortion wasn t a central pillar of Republican ideology. All I could think was,  But that s what Republicans have been trying to do for years! Why are people shocked? Apparently, I m not the only person to have noticed that:Planned Parenthood Executive Vice President Dawn Laguens said presidential candidate Donald Trump had exposed the real views of many Republicans. A plan to punish women who seek abortion in this country is not news, it s actually the Republican Party platform  they re horrified to have been outed for what they do every day, which is punish women who seek abortions. To back laws that tell doctors 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,  she said Thursday morning during an appearance on CNN.  I mean, all of these things. That s what their agenda is day in and day out. They do punish women. Yeah, pretty much. But it s worse than that. Republicans have proposed laws that would make it legal to kill abortion providers. They ve criminalized pregnancy in several states which has resulting in a growing trend of women being arrested for miscarrying. The idea of punishing women is not at all a new idea for Republicans. Laguens is exactly right when she says the problem other Republicans have is that Trump is saying it out loud.This has been the main objection to Trump from the GOP the entire time. He s not sophisticated enough to use dog whistles or anything resembling subtlety. He just says what Republicans actually think and want without the veil of respectability they ve built. While it excites a base that s tired of being unable to wear their racism on their sleeve (or their pointy white hood), it s made moderate Republicans and Independents recoil in disgust.As long as Trump continues to expose the core of Republican ideology to the world, he s an enormous threat to their agenda and he s primed to not just lose in November, but lose BIG.Keep up the good work, Donald!Featured image via Getty