Donald Trump has gotten a lot of criticism from both sides of the abortion debate for his five different positions on abortion in three days. Those criticisms are legitimate because it shows Trump either doesn’t know what he’s talking about, is faking his position on abortion to appease his supporters, or has no real position at all. But that’s not stopped Maureen Dowd with The New York Times from asking one of craziest questions of the political cycle.

Given his draconian comment, sending women back to back alleys, I had to ask: When he was a swinging bachelor in Manhattan, was he ever involved with anyone who had an abortion?

“Such an interesting question,” he said. “So what’s your next question?”

I’m part of the #NeverTrump (and #NeverHillary) group, but this is absolutely ridiculous. Who cares? No, seriously, who cares? The only way this could be an issue is if some woman comes forward and says she was pressured to have an abortion by Trump in the last ten-15 years or if some woman comes forward and says Trump tried to pay her off into having an abortion because one of his sons had an illegitimate child. But seriously, this is a question which really doesn’t make any sense, nor bring anything new to the debate over Trump’s inconsistency on the abortion question.

But Dowd’s decision to ask this question shows something else. Glenn “Instapundit” Reynolds points out it seems like the media has a double standard over the abortion issue.

https://twitter.com/instapundit/status/716432750715256832

There are probably a few reasons why the media doesn’t ask this question. For one, it’s easier to assume all pro-life public figures have skeletons in their closet when it comes to abortion. So the media starts digging into their past in hopes of coming up with something, anything, to discredit them. This is fine if both sides faced the same scrutiny whenever they come out against something. The best example of this is Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, who the Left likes to put up on a pedestal for her anti-Wall Street rhetoric. But did you know she’s actually in favor of one of the biggest pro-Wall Street, cronyist government programs out there in the Ex-Im Bank? Here’s what she told Bloomberg News in 2014:

Senator Warren believes that the Export-Import Bank helps create American jobs and spur economic growth, but recognizes that there is room for improvement in the bank’s operations. She looks forward to reviewing re-authorization legislation if and when it is introduced.

Isn’t this a great example of hypocrisy? Doesn’t this show Warren’s rhetoric against Wall Street is just bunk? But no one is talking about it because it’s Warren and the Left desperately wants her to be Vice President (if not Julian Castro). So her foible (which is also Barack Obama’s foible) on Ex-Im is fine because of her populist speeches railing against Wall Street in general. The media seems willing to avoid asking this question because they either don’t want offend Warren, or just aren’t interested in keeping her consistent.

The other reason why the media doesn’t ask the “did you ever have/have a partner who had an abortion” question to Democrats is they don’t care and they don’t think it’s an issues with their audience. It might be more shocking to find out if a Democratic politician suggested to a friend or partner to NOT have an abortion and either keep the child or put it up for adoption. Even then, it’s no guarantee Democratic voters would care because the politician comes down on the right side of the issue. You’d think the feminists on the Left would have a problem because it sounds like a male is trying to force a woman to do something she doesn’t want to do.

There are plenty of things to criticize Trump over in this election cycle. His claim to be an outsider (when he really isn’t one), his bizarre and inconsistent foreign policy, his love of tariffs, his rhetoric on immigration, his health care policy, his hatred of the press (unless they write something he likes), and his promise to make things better without detailing exactly how that will happen are all legitimate criticisms. Even Trump’s waffling position on abortion makes zero sense, and shows his inability to articulate a position at all. But asking him if he had a partner who had an abortion during his “swinging bachelor in Manhattan” days is ridiculous. It would just be nice if the media would be willing to ask similar questions of Democrats.