Planned Parenthood on Wednesday jumped headlong into the presidential race, officially announcing their support for President Barack Obama’s reelection bid and coming out swinging against Republican nominee Mitt Romney.
The Planned Parenthood Action Fund, a non-profit advocacy group affiliated with the women’s healthcare provider, is launching a $1.4 million political advertising campaign blasting Romney for his stance on women’s health issues.
The ad, which uses turns Romney’s own words during the primary against him, accuses the Republican nominee of wanting to deny women access to critical healthcare services: “When Mitt Romney says, ‘Planned Parenthood, we’re going to get rid of that,’ Romney is saying he’ll deny women the birth control and cancer screenings they depend on.”
The New York Times noted that the ad’s text “can be misleading,” a characterization echoed by Romney’s campaign, which has clarified that he wants to end federal funding of Planned Parenthood but that he will not seek the organization’s outright dissolution.
To officials at Planned Parenthood, the distinction is moot. “Mitt Romney has been much clearer and more direct even than John McCain in his interest in dismantling women’s health care,” said Dawn Laguens, the group’s executive vice president. “The threats have intensified. The Republican primary laid bare and made clear what their agenda is.”
Romney’s campaign, for its part, is again hanging its hat on the sluggish economy, arguing that women voters will be more swayed an indictment of Obama’s economic record than by a selective deployment of wedge issues.
The Planned Parenthood Action Fund is running the ad in the West Palm Beach, Fla., Des Moines, Iowa, and northern Virginia media markets.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.