Evan Vucci / AP
Mitt Romney speaks during a campaign rally Oct. 9, 2012 in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio.
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney told The Des Moines Register he does not plan to pursue abortion-related legislation if elected.
The media immediately seized on the comments as a promise by Romney to back away from some of his harsher rhetoric on abortion. He has said he would prefer Roe v. Wade, which protects a woman’s right to abortion, be overturned and that abortion should be allowed only in instances of incest, rape, and to protect the health of the mother.
Yet, parsing the words of a man who has changed his mind on this subject in the past (he ran as a pro-choice candidate for the U.S. Senate and governor of Massachusetts), isn’t easy.
Here’s what he said:
“There’s no legislation with regards to abortion that I’m familiar with that would become part of my agenda,” Romney told the Register’s editorial board on Tuesday.
So no current legislation, but does that mean he would consider approving anti-abortion legislation brought forward by a Republican Congress? A clarification from a Romney campaign spokeswoman Andrea Saul seemed to suggest he would.
“Mitt Romney is proudly pro-life, and he will be a pro-life president,” she said in one statement. In another, she went further: “Governor Romney would of course support legislation aimed at providing greater protections of life.”
When Romney appeared on NBC’s Meet the Press in September he once again re-affirmed his anti-abortion position and said he would “encourage pro-life policies” if elected president and appoint Supreme Court justices that would reverse Roe v. Wade.
Romney said he would seek to ban the use of U.S. funds being used overseas for abortion in both the Meet the Press and Register interviews.
Romney’s running mate Rep. Paul Ryan has taken even stauncher positions on abortion in the past, supporting legislation that sought to limit abortions to cases of “forcible rape,” a divisive term.
Both the Obama campaign and Planned Parenthood criticized Romney’s comment to the Register as just another demonstration of his flip-flopping. The Planned Parenthood Action Fund called it a “misleading” comment.
“Let’s be clear: Mitt Romney wants to overturn Roe v. Wade, end federal funding for Planned Parenthood preventive services, end insurance coverage for birth control, and repeal health protections for women,” the organization said in its statement.
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With what is he familiar?
How many times can you flip something 'till it is done?
Like talking to the wind in a Hurricane, ALWAYS changing, Chicken Ranch Politics. Dance Gov Dance. Again with the multiple choice. Can we find any Rebels in Syria to give arms to that share this American point of view? This is "Where it gets Wierd". Take nimber "?", hey Count where we at on the Woman's rights change number?
Mitt Romney's theme song
It sure is hard to keep up with all of this guy's flipflops. I wonder if dementia is setting in - he is approx. 65 and it's kind of telling that he can't remember most of the things he has said, even though those things are all on video. Scary.
The "War on Women" is over in the Muslim and African countries, and China if you take the infanticide of female conceived and born into consideration. All throughout his Primary Campaign Romney had resolutely proclaimed that Rowe vs. Wade was settled Law, and women's privacy rights in their 1st trimester should be respected. The problem with the liberal mind is that it can't conceive of anyone holding to that legal truism still professing the principle of Right to Life, and a supportive government that actively worked to lessen abortion in this country, and certainly not promote and expedite it.
Keith Longey needs to get his head out of the sand. There...breathe deep and get that oxygen to your brain...
Do you have anything sensible to say on the facts that I presented fool?
All throughout the campaign Mitt has also said that he would appoint Supreme Court Justices that would overturn Roe V. Wade, that he would support and sign legislation that would grant personhood to fetuses and that he would pull all funding to Planned Parenthood.
Nice try Keith but quibbling is lying.
Longey you must be deaf or only watch Foxnot News.Romney told Mike Huckabee that he support's a personhood amendment,which would make Roe v Wade null and void.A personhood amendment was was voted down in Mississippi of all place's.You consertive's would make a 12 year old rape or incest victim carry a pregnancy to term even if it threatened her life.What a bunch of nice caring people you are.
Here's the link to Mitt's statement. It looks like the Internet is making the Etch-a-Sketch obsolete as a political campaign device.
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2011/10/03/334190/mitt-romeny-constitutional-amendment-abortioneption/
Cabbie,
Here's a little Pew Poll statistic from their "Democratic" leaning September poll.
19% of Republicans thought Romney not conservative enough while 72% thought he was about right. This was before his newest statement on abortion. So he thinks he can pick up Pro-Choice Independents and not lose his base?
Is this dance done with large feather fans and little tassel things - in an artistic manner? Does he know that you have to be real careful when you bow?
I don't know where you get your misinformation, but Rowe vs. Wade secures the right to unfettered abortion and choice to women in their first trimester, but leaves to the separate states the power to regulate the conditions and procedures for aborting a life in the second or third trimester. If you have problems with Mississippi, take it up there..thats not on Romney's shouders. If you get your information from watching Hukabee on Fox News, joca, don't be accusing me of getting my information there. Try Romney's website fool, to get the straight information unfiltered by the Obama loving media.
An Open Letter to the American Middle Class
(Sooknarine, Teekuck, AddictingInfo.org, October 9, 2012) “One thing that is overlooked in this Presidential race is the lack of Mitt’s character and honesty… a telling sign of what a person is really made of. It is no secret that Mitt Romney has been caught telling lies about everything under the sun: he is called out on his changing opinions and ‘flip flops’ from sun up to sun down.”
The stakes in this election are very high for the American Middle Class, even higher for those in need, the poor, disabled and disenfranchised. But for the American Middle Class in particular, we have been under siege for the last 30 years. Incomes have been stagnant, our jobs outsourced overseas, higher education becoming out of reach for our children and the high cost of healthcare bankrupting our financial status.
The very fabric of the social compact is in jeopardy and yet we have a close election. This seems to make no common sense to me. The Republican Party has not done “ONE” thing to help the American Middle Class, they have removed and want to remove regulation in the banking and financial industry that has already sent us into the Great Recession. They promise to impose a so-called “Christian” Theocracy on all Americans, void of science and fact; increasingly interested in our reproductive rights and our personal freedoms and privacy. The GOP has exhibited a lack of “COMPASSION” for the poor and the sick that is clearly anything but Christ-like.
Under our current tax system, a parent can leave up to five million dollars to their children, but Romney wants to do away with that limit, obviously to leave his hundreds of millions to his children without paying any taxes at all. This may seem fair in a first glance, but originally the five million limits were set so that the family home could be passed on within the family. Mitt Romney also wants to cut taxes by another 20% on the wealthiest 1% of this Country. All of this has to be paid for, and how do the Republicans want to pay for this? With the social compact, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Veterans Benefits, VA Hospitals, Food Stamps, Affordable Care Act, Education Grants and Loans, with the entire social safety net.
But in the debate Mitt Romney lied to us, softened his words like the serpent to Jesus he promised us the world for our Middle Class souls. Whispering to us, I am a good guy, I have “ALL” of your interests at heart; despite the fact that in a secret video he had disdain for 47% of Americans, our seniors, our veterans and our fighting warriors in harm way. He tells you with such concern and empathy as if he were “SELLING” funeral insurance that his healthcare plan will “ALSO” cover pre-existing conditions, we want to believe his Pepsodent smile and sympathetic head tilt. But the serpent is a liar, as his staff comes behind him to uncover his lies, no Mitt Romney has NO PLAN to cover those with pre-existing conditions. The serpent tells us to our face, with shock and hurt in his eyes, “I have no plans to give the wealthiest among you a tax cut, where did you hear such a thing” without missing a beat, the lies go on and we want to believe. But what is at risk in those beliefs are Medicaid for those in convalescent homes, the Mortgage Interest Exemption for those of us in the suburbs that own homes and the Charitable Deduction which will decimate the Red Cross, Easter Seals, March of Dimes and Catholic Charities. Cuts aimed directly at the America Middle Class….yet we want to believe…
America “WE” must be ever vigilant this election, it CANNOT BE ABOUT STYLE, the serpent is all about style. The serpent has told us the truth, but we must read between the lines. They have told you they want to convert Medicare in to a voucher system; they have told you that they want to shred the Safety Net, and they want to remove regulations so that they can use every last resource in this Country, pollute our air, water and coastlines. If you listen they are telling you what they are going to do. Even though Romney has “soften” his word on abortion have no doubt in your mind, they are going to outlaw your wife’s, daughters, grand-daughters, girlfriend and mothers freedom over her body, they are going to impose their religious beliefs on gay Americans, and they are going to impose “THEIR” form of Christianity on all Christians and non-Christians alike.
Remember the serpent looks for your prejudices the weaknesses in your humanity and that is where he weaves his web of deceit. Mitt Romney is not TRUSTWORTHY he will betray the American Middle Class as Judas betrayed Jesus; he will make it harder for you and your family to live free, to pursuit happiness. Some in the Press have great intentions, “WE” as American must be vigilant, and character and honesty do matter.
A warning to all, if the Republican Party is able to win this election by cheating (voter suppression) and lying….Democracy is dead, because both Parties will take that as a signal that the TRUTH is dead and that “WE” would prefer corruption and lies to ethics and trust. The Press has a responsibility to CHAMPION the TRUTH; they are already on the precipice of irrelevance. So goes the Truth, so goes the Press and so goes DEMOCRACY…
So true ... I wish someone would talk about how dangerous Romney is.
Romney Won Using a Debate Technique Called the Gish Gallop (Newsvine)
http://redsfan.newsvine.com/_news/2012/10/04/14226423-romney-won-using-a-debate-technique-called-the-gish-gallop
Just more slight of hand from Romney, if he gets in he'll show you whats up his sleeves! VOTE DEM!!!
What a bunch of stupid, sore losers this liberal leftwingnut crowd is. You lie about the positions Romney has espoused, and then you lie again by stating he is lying when he sets the record straight. 70 million people watched unfiltered by the Obama campaign echo chamber media the debate last week where your weak, lame brain candidate got his big bat ears pinned back by Romney. So now you are back to the lying attack adds on his character of last Spring and Summer, never realizing you are just talking to each other and not the wiser electorate at large. What fools you be! LOL!
Well then, which time was it that Mitt was lying...the first time or the second time?
It's not a lie when someone quotes what Mitt actually said...unless...Mitt was lying in the first place. Kinda like that quip of his when he said:
"He did not cause this recession, but he made it worse.", and then later, he said:
"He didn't create the recession, but he made it worse and longer."
But then he flipped and he flopped and backtracked when asked about that and stammered:
"I didn't say that things are worse."
Oh, but yes he did say that...twice...and then he lied about what he'd said.
Even a die-hard con like Keith can't spin that. But he may try...
Hey folks (especially Sedwinmars), I am truly saddened and sickened that we are now comparing "progress" with the eliminating of millions of unborn HUMANS. This seems like a giant step BACKWARD to me. Please miss me with the "Protect the woman" argument. Let's "Protect the baby". That's a no-brainer. Women need to "Protect themselves" from men who want to simply have sex with them and then put the infant TO DEATH. Okay, give me the "What about rape or incest" argument. Let's say that in those cases abortion is permitted. Now what? What about the millions of HUMANS being killed (before they have a chance to live - as you are now living, breathing, thinking, and reading this comment) in cases that have nothing to do with sexual foul play (i.e. rape and incest). Are you now Pro-Life with me IF I concede to those instances??? Or is that just a decoy argument that sidetracks us from the hard facts. Once again, the MILLIONS of HUMANS not given a chance to be born, to live, and to grow in this world - as we've been given the chance to.....THAT'S the practical, hard facts.