Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Planned Parenthood chief hits Romney, Ryan on women's reproductive rights

The head of Planned Parenthood hailed President Obama for his support of women's reproductive rights Wednesday, while slamming Mitt Romney for trying to "turn the clock back on a century of progress" for women.

Cecile Richards, the family planning group's president, addressed the Democratic convention in Charlotte Wednesday night and criticized Romney and his running mate, Paul Ryan, for their commitment to "ending insurance coverage for birth control."

Romney has vowed to revoke federal funding of the organization, which has been a target of Republicans for performing abortions.

But Democrats welcomed Richards at their convention in Charlotte.

She used her address to argue that Romney intends to cut preventive care for women -- and cited personal stories, like that of a young woman whose stage-two breast cancer was caught at a Planned Parenthood health center.

"Two years ago, when Paul Ryan, John Boehner, Todd Akin and the Tea Party took control of the House of Representatives, they promised to create jobs and jump-start the economy. But, instead, on day one, they came after women's health," Richards said.

"They voted to end cancer screenings and well-woman visits for five million women. They voted to end funding for birth control at Planned Parenthood, and for good measure, they even tried to redefine rape, " she said, "And now, Mitt Romney is campaigning to get rid of Planned Parenthood and overturn Roe v. Wade. And we wont let him."

"It's like we woke up in a bad episode of Mad Men," Richards continued. "Because when Mitt Romney says he'll 'get rid of' Planned Parenthood, and turn the clock back on a century of progress, it has real consequences for the three million patients who depended on Planned Parenthood last year."