Day Two: More of the Same at the Republican National Convention

What You Won’t Hear from Tonight’s RNC Speakers

WASHINGTON, DC — As the Republican National Convention heads into its second evening in Tampa, Planned Parenthood Action Fund is continuing to educate voters about what’s at stake for women’s health in this election by highlighting the policies of the Romney/Ryan ticket and the Republican Party that are out of touch and dangerous for women and their families.  

Americans — including the majority of mainstream Republicans — believe that politics have no place in a woman’s personal medical decisions.  Those decisions should be left to her, with the consultation of her family, her faith, and her doctor or health care provider.

Tonight’s speaking lineup includes a variety of politicians aligned closely with Mitt Romney who have deeply troubling records on women’s health.  Some of those speakers include

• VICE-PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE PAUL RYAN, who among other things, has stated that he would end all safe and legal abortion with no exceptions for rape, incest, or the health of the woman.  Ryan also authored a budget plan to dismantle Medicaid, jeopardizing the basic health care millions of women rely on, and sponsored so-called “personhood” legislation, which would give full constitutional rights to fertilized eggs and could ban some forms of birth control and fertility treatments.
• SEN. RAND PAUL (R-KY), who held up a flood insurance bill in the middle of hurricane season, insisting that the Senate agree that life begins at “the moment of fertilization.”  He also insisted on staging an abortion-related vote rather than allowing the chamber to proceed with passing the flood insurance bill.
   
• SEN. JOHN THUNE (R-SD), who co-sponsored legislation that would allow bosses to refuse to provide birth control coverage in their employees’ health insurance plans.  Then he voted for a measure that went even further — allowing any corporation or health plan to refuse to cover any health care service they object to, such as cancer screenings, maternity care, HIV/AIDS treatments, and others.  This year, Senator Thune also voted against the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, a bipartisan measure to combat domestic violence and sexual assault.

• TIM PAWLENTY, who as governor of Minnesota, sought deep cuts to Minnesota’s family planning budget and pushed for ineffective abstinence-only curricula while cutting comprehensive sex education programs for teens.

• MIKE HUCKABEE, who has said he would “most certainly” overturn Roe v. Wade — ending safe and legal abortion, and as governor of Arkansas, signed many anti-women bills into law, including an extreme abortion ban, The Woman's Right to Know, and a bill requiring parental consent for a minor's abortion.