NOW Calls on Romney and Ryan to Renounce Republican Party Platform Policy on Abortion Care

Today, the Republican Party demonstrated again why Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are wrong for women in the U.S. The party’s committee platform approved an anti-abortion plank that champions a human life amendment to the U.S. Constitution without mentioning any exception for rape, incest, or preservation of the health or life of the woman. Yet within the past 24 hours Romney-Ryan have indicated support for rape, incest and life of the woman exceptions to abortion restrictions. So, which is it? If in fact these candidates do support such exceptions, they should renounce the party’s failure to include them in its 2012 platform.

Romney and Ryan should also condemn the platform’s encouragement of state laws mandating medically unnecessary ultrasounds and waiting periods. These provisions are aimed simply at increasing the cost of abortions and personally humiliating women who seek them. How does this respect women?

One in three women in the U.S. will have an abortion by the age of 45, making this procedure a common and necessary aspect of women’s health care needs. Women deserve leaders who will champion their access to the full range of reproductive health services, not those bent on turning the clock back on our fundamental rights.

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Contact: Caitlin Gullickson, media[at]now.org, 202-628-8669 ext 123