Hillary Clinton targets Donald Trump on women's issues
Hillary Clinton raised the specter of a Donald Trump presidency as detrimental to women's health rights in her first speech Friday as the presumptive Democratic nominee.
"When Donald Trump says 'let's make America great again,' that is code for 'let's take America backward' -- back to a time when opportunity and dignity were reserved for some, not all. Back to the days when abortions were illegal, women had far fewer options and life for too many women and girls were limited," Clinton said at a Planned Parenthood Action Fund event in Washington, D.C. "Well Donald, those days are over."
Clinton spotlighted Trump's opposition to abortion, paid family leave, and pay equity during the event, and she attacked some of the derogatory comments Trump has directed at women over the course of his campaign.
"He actually thinks guaranteeing paid family leave would leave America less competitive," she said. "He says if women want equal pay, we should just -- and this is a quote -- 'do as good a job' as men, as if we weren't already."
Trump has publicly declared that "women should have absolute access to capital," but he's glossed over the question of implementing federal legislation to ensure equal pay. In November at a Manchester, New Hampshire event, Trump reportedly told one woman who asked about getting paid the same as a man: "You're gonna make the same if you do as good a job."
Clinton went on to slam Trump for wanting to appoint a Supreme Court justice who would overturn the controversial Roe v. Wade ruling and for his plans to defund Planned Parenthood.
"And," she added, "he wants to go after so many of the fundamental rights we have, including safe and legal abortions. And he actually said women should be punished for having abortions."
The former first lady acknowledged that Trump had "tried to walk back his comments" about imposing a punishment on women for having abortions, but she warned: "Anyone who would so casually agree to the idea of punishing women like it was nothing to him -- the most obvious thing in the world -- that is someone who doesn't hold women in high regard. Because if he did, he would trust women to make the right decisions."
She noted his controversial remarks, referring to some women as "pigs, dogs, and disgusting animals" and said that the comments make it "kind of hard counting on him to respect our fundamental rights."
Of the Republican party in general, Clinton blasted them as promoting "limited government everywhere" -- "except for when it has to deal with women's choices."
She laid out her own pro-women's health agenda in contrast and reiterated her call to repeal the Hyde Amendment, which bars federal funds from being used to help pay for abortions except in the case of rape, incest, or a concern for the health of the mother. The cost of an abortion, she asserted, can be prohibitive for poor women.
"Let's repeal laws like the Hyde Amendment that make it nearly impossible for low-income women, disproportionately women of color, to exercise their full reproductive rights," Clinton said.
In conclusion, she said, "We have to ask ourselves -- and you have to ask everyone you come in contact with -- do we want to put our health, our lives, our futures in Donald Trump's hands?"
Clinton's speech followed an hour-long meeting at her Washington home Friday morning with progressive icon, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren. President Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and Warren all officially endorsed Clinton Thursday.
Clinton clinched the nomination on Monday night after she secured enough superdelegates to reach the threshold needed to win the nomination. That title won't be official until the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia this July.