CNN focus group confirmed that Paul Ryan’s low point in last night’s vice presidential debate was his answer on abortion. Ryan made clear that if elected, the Romney/Ryan administration would impose their personal beliefs about abortion

For Immediate Release: Jan. 27, 2013

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A CNN focus group confirmed that Paul Ryan’s low point in last night’s vice presidential debate was his answer on abortion. Ryan made clear that if elected, the Romney/Ryan administration would impose their personal beliefs about abortion on the entire country – ending safe and legal abortion. As CNN’s focus group demonstrated, Romney and Ryan’s promise to involve politicians in a woman’s personal health care decisions is dangerous for women’s health and deeply unpopular.  

Watch the clip of CNN discussing the focus group’s finding here.

In response to questions about abortion, Ryan said, “The policy of a Romney administration is to oppose abortion with exceptions for rape, incest and life of the mother.” He followed with, “We don’t think that unelected judges should make this decision; that people through their elected representatives in reaching a consensus in society through the democratic process should make this determination.”

The Romney/Ryan administration would:

• Overturn Roe v. Wadeand end safe/legal abortion. 
  • The president holds sway over what abortion rights look like. According to the Washington Post, “The Supreme Court is certainly the only body that can overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that legalized abortion. But that does not mean the president does not hold sway over what abortion rights look like in a wide variety of ways,” such as regulating Medicaid, passing federal abortion regulations, and appointing Supreme Court judges.
• “Get rid” of Planned Parenthood, which would deny women access to birth control and cancer screenings.
• Would end the nation’s family planning program, which provides preventive care to nearly five million women, and cut off access to birth control for women who need it the most.
• Repeal the Affordable Care Act, undoing the greatest advance for women’s health in a generation, and cut off millions of women from no co-pay birth control and other preventive health services.

• Support “personhood” efforts, which have been rejected in MS, CO, and OK, and that could ban forms of birth control and IVF.