PRESS RELEASE from Democratic National Committee

For Immediate Release
August 21, 2012

Contact: DNC Press

***Listen to the Call Here: http://bit.ly/PuqtS6***

DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Rep. Allyson Schwartz and NARAL President Nancy Keenan Hold Press Conference Call On Mitt Romney’s Republican Party’s Inclusion of  Human Life Amendment in Republican Party Platform In Tampa Today
The Party of Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan, and Todd Akin is Anti-Choice and Bad for Women

Washington, DC – DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Rep. Allyson Schwartz and NARAL President Nancy Keenan held a press conference call to discuss Mitt Romney’s Republican Party’s platform that includes a human life amendment to ban abortion nationwide, without exceptions for rape and incest.  American women know that Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan, and the party they lead are the wrong choice for women and their families.  Mitt Romney should do the right thing and denounce this dangerous language.

 
Below are the remarks from the call as prepared for delivery:
 
Chair Wasserman Schultz
Today Republicans in Tampa voted incredibly restrictive language on the issue of abortion into their Party Platform.
 
A party platform is a statement of values.  It’s a declaration for voters to see what a party stands for, and how a party would like to see their leader govern.  And, this year is no different since their platform was written at the direction of Romney’s campaign. 
 
So, it displays to all the world what Mitt Romney and his party believe.
 
Of course, it’s no surprise that in this year’s Republican Party Platform, we’re seeing example after example of the type of backward-looking policies and ideas Mitt Romney and his Republican Party are embracing.
 
Whether it was naming Czechoslovakia in a draft of their platform document, or putting front and center an economic philosophy weighted toward millionaires and billionaires while middle class families are left behind, in part by not protecting the mortgage interest deduction for middle class families, Americans are all too aware of the kind of backward leadership Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan promise.
 
But nowhere is this more stark than on women’s issues. 
 
The Republican Party platform includes a human life amendment to ban abortion nationwide, without exceptions for rape and incest.  Republicans had the opportunity to strip this language out today, but instead voted to affirm it.
 
In a year that has shown us no shortage of Republican candidates trying to prove themselves more extreme than the other on issues affecting women’s health, Republicans have finally hit rock bottom. 
 
I don’t have to tell any of you how outrageous Republican Rep. Todd Akin’s comments were this weekend.
 
But unfortunately he is not alone in his extreme and dangerous views.  We’re seeing a disastrous and anti-women agenda alive and well throughout the GOP. 
 
Nancy Keenan
 
As a member of the Democratic Party’s Platform Committee myself, I know firsthand how important a party’s platform is in reaffirming our values.  Sadly, Republicans are failing that test.
 
It is only becoming more clear to America’s women that the GOP and the Romney-Ryan ticket are just too extreme for them.
 
A Romney-Ryan Administration offers only to turn back the clock on all that we’ve achieved.
 
In addition to his support of the human life amendment, Romney and Ryan have vowed to take away all federal funding for Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood saves lives by providing important preventative services to women like breast and cervical cancer screenings. 
 
Romney also declared his support for the Blunt-Rubio Amendment – extreme legislation that would allow employers to decide – and deny – health care decisions that should be left to women, like prenatal care, contraception, and mammograms.  And, Ryan co-sponsored a similar piece of legislation.
 
Paul Ryan has gone as far as cosponsoring a bill that could ban in-vitro fertilization as well as many common forms of birth control, including the pill.
 
At every turn and in every conceivable way, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan have proven that they would be an absolute disaster for women.
 
We want hard work to pay off, and responsibility to be rewarded.  We want to be able to reach our full potential, to succeed or fail on our own merits.  And we want choices. Choices that put us in control of our careers, our families, our bodies, and our health.
 
These rights and freedoms will only be protected if one candidate is voted into office, and it isn’t Mitt Romney.  Because when it comes to the issues women face, you either get it or you don’t.
 
The fact that The Human Life Amendment is even considered to be a part of the GOP’s Platform clearly demonstrates that the Republican Party is out of the mainstream – somewhere American women don’t want to be.
 
Rep. Schwartz
 
In light of today’s decision by Republicans to formalize their extreme views on women’s health in their party platform, it’s important to remember that this is nothing new for the GOP.
 
Mitt Romney has said that he would be “delighted” to sign a bill banning “all abortions.”
 
And he endorsed a previous Republican Party Platform, which included the Human Life Amendment, even saying that “I support that being part of the Republican platform and I’m pro-life.’”
 
Just last year, Paul Ryan was among more than 200 Republican co-sponsors of a piece of legislation that would have narrowed the definition of rape.
 
And it should come as no surprise that Governor Bob McDonnell, one of the most anti-choice Republican governors, is heading up the GOP platform committee. 
 
This is just another example of a Republican party -- led by Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan -- whose policies on women and their health are dangerously wrong.
 
Whether a woman has the ability to make her own health care choices – particularly in the case of rape or incest – is not something that our elected officials should be litigating on the campaign trail. 
 
This isn’t the kind of "leadership" women and their families can afford. 
It’s time for Mitt Romney to stand up for women.   He should unequivocally denounce the Human Life Amendment and its inclusion in the Republican party platform.  It would be a step in the right direction for the GOP.