Trump says he would 'protect' women, 'whether the women like it or not'

Former President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he would "protect" women "whether the women like it or not," a comment the Harris campaign immediately pounced on.

Trump said at his rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin, that his "people" previously told him they did not think he should say that he wanted to "protect the women of our country," comments he has previously made on the campaign trail.

"I said, 'Well, I’m going to do it, whether the women like it or not,'" Trump said. "I’m going to protect them."

Vice President Kamala Harris and her campaign quickly highlighted his comments on X.

"Donald Trump thinks he should get to make decisions about what you do with your body," Harris said in a post. "Whether you like it or not."

A Harris campaign spokesperson, Sarafina Chitika, also said on X that Trump "thinks he knows better than the women of America."

Reached for comment, Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said: "Harris may be the first woman Vice President but she has implemented dangerously liberal policies that have left women worse off financially and far less safe than we were four years ago under President Trump.

"Women deserve a President who will secure our nation’s borders, remove violent criminals from our neighborhoods, and build an economy that helps our families thrive — and that’s exactly what President Trump will do," Leavitt added, pointing to the White House's record on migration and the economy.

Harris has centered much of her campaign on preserving and expanding reproductive rights after the end of Roe v. Wade. She frequently says at rallies that she wants to sign a bill reinstating the protections of the landmark Supreme Court case into law.

Trump’s campaign is trying to win over female voters in a race in which polling indicates razor-thin margins across several battleground states.

Trump, already facing criticism from within his Republican ranks for being “overly masculine” and for underperforming among female voters in recent polling, has taken credit for the end of Roe v. Wade, saying he was able to “kill” it, and he has lauded the issue of abortion’s being sent to the states. Trump has also said he would not sign a federal abortion ban.

An NBC News poll this month indicated a large gender gap in voter preferences for the candidates, with women backing Harris by a 14-percentage-point margin and men supporting Trump by a 16-point margin.

The same poll found that voters considered abortion to be their top motivating issue, with 22% saying they consider it important enough that they would vote solely on the issue.