Birds on the Brain

In July, the Romney campaign cried foul when an Obama campaign ad claimed that the Republican nominee opposed abortion even in cases of rape and incest. At the time, the campaign told TPM that the ad was “false” and a “desperate attempt to change the subject” from the faltering economy. Romney has expressed support for those exceptions. But Ryan is a different story. When Republicans took back the House of Representatives in 2010, they passed a series of bills limiting abortion rights and women’s access to contraceptive care. Ryan voted for all of them, including legislation that would ban abortion in all cases. This Sanctity of Human Life Act, to which he signed on to as a co-sponsor, would also criminalize some forms of birth control. He also voted for a bill abortion-rights activist blasted as the “Let Women Die Act,” which would allow hospitals to refuse to perform a life-saving abortion. Ryan also voted to defund Planned Parenthood and government funding for family planning, which fits Obama’s narrative that Romney is on the wrong side of women’s health issues. The Obama campaign is already using Romney’s promise to defund Planned Parenthood in ads meant to appeal to women voters.