Democrats have produced a Web video highlighting GOP front-runner Mitt Romney's recent statement that he plans to "get rid of" Planned Parenthood. The ad features Romney speaking to St. Louis TV station KDSK.
In it, listing programs he would cut to help reduce spending and the deficit, he says, "Of course you get rid of Obamacare, that's the easy one, but there are others: Planned Parenthood, we're gonna get rid of that. The subsidy for Amtrak, I would eliminate that. The National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, both excellent programs, but we can't afford to borrow money to pay for these things."
Watch it here:
On a call with reporters today on what they called Romney's "shameless race to the far right," Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) and Planned Parenthood Federation of America President Cecile Richards responded to the GOP presidential hopeful's commentary. Schakowsky said that Romney has "become the most extreme candidate on issues affecting women" as a result of "just trying to woo Tea Party voters."
"It's not just about Planned Parenthood. This disregard for women's health has been [a] growing theme for Mr. Romney and his campaign," Richards said, listing Romney's support for the Blunt-Rubio amendment and his endorsement of personhood amendments as other examples of this trend.
Senior Romney adviser Eric Fehrnstrom said on Tuesday night that Romney's plan was not "getting rid of the organization" but, rather, its federal funding. Asked whether that distinction was important, Schakowsky told The Root that it was not: "If Mitt Romney could get rid of Planned Parenthood, he would do that," she explained. "The most he can do is get rid of the federal funding, which would have a significant effect on women in this country … when he said get rid of it, he meant he could do whatever he could to get rid of it, so I think it's not really a true difference in meaning."