The Planned Parenthood PAC launched a new initiative aimed to put Republican candidates and elected officials on notice for issues regarding women’s health.
The initiative, called “Women are Watching,” held a rally on Monday in West Chester.
Among those in attendance were state House candidates Bret Binder (D-Chester), Beth Alois (D-Delaware), Paul Drucker (D-Chester) and Mike Hays (D-Chester) along with 100 prospective voters.
They all rallied against Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan and Rep. Dan Truitt (R-Chester) – who is also Binder’s opponent in HD-156 – for their stances on women’s health this election.
“Politicians who would defund Planned Parenthood as Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan have both pledged to do would deny millions of women access to birth control and cancer screenings,” said Dayle Steinberg, of Planned Parenthood PA PAC. “Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan clearly don’t understand that women and families will be directly hurt by their out-of-touch views.”
The West Chester stop was the third stop of the 17-day initiative nationwide. Planned Parenthood volunteers will also be canvassing 30,000 Republican and Independent women voters through the mail, door-to-door, and by phone.
A nationwide “Women Are Watching” tour will roll through swing states and make stops at the RNC and DNC. They plan to turn out a quarter of a million supporters.
Given Missouri Rep. Todd Akin’s recent comments on “legitimate rape,” and women’s bodies’ ability to somehow block unwanted pregnancies, the initiative will no doubt be plugging forward full steam ahead over these next 11 weeks.
The Obama campaign threw their hat in the ring on the issue of today, criticizing Ryan for an “extreme record” on women’s health.
They cited a radio interview with KDKA’s Jon Delano as the proof that Ryan’s values are not far off from Akin’s when it comes to the issue.
“As a Republican leader in the House, Paul Ryan worked with Todd Akin to try to narrow the definition of rape and outlaw abortion even for rape victims,” said Desiree Peterkin Bell, senior adviser for Obama Communications in Pennsylvania.
“He may hope that American women never learn about this record, but they deserve an answer to why he wanted to redefine rape and remove protections for rape victims. Labeling these critical issues of women’s health as ‘distractions’ and refusing to answer whether he believes rape victims need to be protected, as he did yesterday in an interview in Pittsburgh, is a great disservice to women across America.”
Mitt Romney went on record to denounce Akin’s statements, saying “His fellow Missourians urged him to step aside, and I think he should accept their counsel and exit the Senate race.”
Loading ...
14 Responses
Mr. Gleason (author) – I invite you down to visit the Planned Parenthood in West Chester on a Tuesday morning or a Saturday. There is a pro-life group that holds a vigil there in defense of the unborn all of the time. Where is their story? Where is that covered? Come speak to us and get both sides of the story.
Women are watching all right. We’re watching liberal women make fools of themselves, as usual. Take a look at some of the things that are going on in the world, and this country, and maybe you’ll realize how trivial all this whining about so called “women’s health” is.
The chances that any of the women in that picture are still physically able to reproduce at their advanced ages are very slim. The chances that any man would choose to put a baby in any one of them are even slimmer.
That poor boy looks like he’s being held hostage.
Planned Parenthood does not utilize money that they receive from the government to fund their PAC. They have raised money from women and men who support their views and the views of any politician who demonstrates policies that are representative of those views; which in most cases is the Democratic party. People chose to donate the funds for that specific purpose!!
It is surprising that this issue is focusing so much on abortion! While it is a legitimate concern, the real issue is Women’s Rights!! I support Planned Parenthood because they support women’s right to live a healthy life. Without Planned Parenthood, many economically struggling women will not have access to health care for cervical cancer screening, breast cancer screening and birth control.
Anyone voting one way or another on abortion in this election is an idiot. We got bigger fish to fry.
Any entity that receives public funds should not be allowed to have a PAC.
And the initiative should be called “Liberal Democrat Women are Watching”, instead of trying to appear as though they speak for all women.
Hoooray for women enthusiastic about killing their own children!
Can’t get more obtuse either side. The “PA Bar Assn” commandeering Dems or the “Bow to your Husband No Matter How Ill-Informed He May Be” Republicans. It’s not the regular voters doing this disservice to women of child-bearing age, it’s the political hacks. They limit our choices at the polls, oppress us economically and lock out the best and brightest from government service with gerrymandered “safe” districts in which to sanction such inappropriate meddling-by-legislation in Womens’ Health. I despise the crude progressives who have forced themselves into the Democratic ranks, but even more revolt at having a collective of Evangelical-Driven ideologues making choices for which I alone take responsibility. After decades of misery fighting the insensible Catholic Priests for their assault on Choice, I left the Church when it became obvious that Bishops were clueless out in left field with Barry Bonds on pedophelia. My grandkids lost their parochial school due to victim’s lawsuits: the price they paid for putting “men only” in decision-making positions. Peer Pressure and Pressure for Sex and Economic Pressure ultimately impose a “perfect storm” of IT’S MY BODY revolt by prospective mothers who refuse to trust any so-called “men” making such XY chromosone invasions into their wombs.
You are all laughable. I was at the rally and it was way over 100 regular people, maybe 10 staff. Republicans are running scared because they know how much they’ve lost the women’s vote.
Absolutely we should defund Planned Parenthood. They spent 450,000 on Democrats campaigns in 2010 and 2,000 on Republican. Hardly impartial. Why should the public funds be used to fund one party?
“R & R are honest men”. WOW, what does honest mean? I can’t tell by their hypocrisy by their changing positions on who they talk to and denying their voting and work records. Yes, the economy needs work but I have not heard a credible plan in 4 years from any Republican except what got us into this mess in the first place. AND they only want to discuss social issues as evidenced by the H#3 bill that Ryan & Akin cosponored, all the defunding of Planned parenthood and transvaginal ultrasounds as if this is job creation and pro life for the working poor and middle class. A vote for Romney is a vote for taking us back to the 18th century.
This event was dead. WC is happy with Dan Truitt and so am I. I’m a Democrat who will be voting for Mr Truitt so Mr Binder needs to get the message! I hate the phone calls and I hate the attacks, Romney and Ryan are honest men and although I may disagree with their views at times, I can trust them! We need to worry about the economy first… Social issues can wait this time!
Those women were bused in, only a couple were from the area, so the “100 prospective voters” is probably more like 10 (who would vote democrat anyway), but that’s the left leaning reporting for ya’. Shame on that Mr. Binder for calling me & trying to make it sound like this was “his” event. It was a planned stop on the Planned Parenthood trail, not something he organized. I guess he’ll start calling himself a “community organizer” next…
No one attended…this is a Pro Life, not Pro Murder area.