GOP candidates continue race to see who’s worst for women’s health at personhood forum tonight
For Immediate Release: Jan. 27, 2013
TO: Interested Parties
FROM: Catherine Welker, Planned Parenthood Action Fund
DATE: January 18, 2012
RE: GOP candidates continue race to see who’s worst for women’s health at “personhood” forum tonight
Three days before the South Carolina Republican primary, the GOP presidential candidates continue their race to see who is worst for women’s health by attending Personhood USA’s forum tonight in Greenville. Personhood USA is the same group that pushed the “personhood” initiative that was widely rejected in Mississippi in November.
Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, Rick Santorum, and Rick Perry are confirmed to attend and discuss their support for “personhood,” extreme legislation that could ban birth control, in vitro fertilization, and abortion, even in the cases of rape or incest.
While Mitt Romney won’t be at the forum, he might as well be, since he is just as out of touch as his fellow GOP presidential candidates and is on record supporting “personhood.”
During an interview with Mike Huckabee on FOX News in October, Romney said he “absolutely” supported “personhood.”
As the New York Times put it, “The ‘personhood amendment,’ granting legal rights to human embryos, might have seemed to be a political nonstarter after voters in Mississippi, arguably the most conservative and anti-abortion state in the nation, rejected such a proposal last month.”
The simple fact is, the more the GOP presidential candidates campaign on “personhood” and attack women’s health, the more out of sync they are with the position of key voting groups needed to win the presidency — including women voters, young voters, and moderate voters.
These voters don’t want politicians to play politics with women’s health.
That’s why Planned Parenthood Action Fund launched Women are Watching, its campaign to educate, engage, and activate supporters across the country for the 2012 elections.
It includes a website, womenarewatching.org, and an aggressive social media campaign, with @ppact using the hashtag #women2012 to engage supporters on key women’s health issues.