Statement by Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Action Fund, on the results of the 2012 Iowa Republican caucus:
For Immediate Release: May 11, 2012
“The Iowa Caucus was a race to see which candidates could go furthest to the right, and Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, and Ron Paul were the winners. They are so far out of the mainstream on women’s health they will have difficulty gaining the support of moderate women voters who are key to winning the presidency. They support ‘personhood’ initiatives that could ban common forms of birth control and in vitro fertilization (IVF); they want to overturn Roe v. Wade; and they want to ban Planned Parenthood from providing preventive health care to millions of women through federal programs, even though one in five American women has turned to Planned Parenthood health centers at some point in her life for high-quality health care.
“That’s why the Planned Parenthood Action Fund has launched Women are Watching, its campaign to educate, engage, and activate supporters across the country for the 2012 elections.
“As the candidates continue to veer to the far right during the primaries, they will be digging themselves a big hole with women voters.”