Mitt Romney's selection of Paul Ryan as running mate ought to give Romney a much needed boost with women. Or something:
Any Republican vice presidential candidate is going to be broadly anti-abortion, but Ryan goes much further. He believes ending a pregnancy should be illegal even when it results from rape or incest, or endangers a woman’s health. He was a cosponsor of the Sanctity of Human Life Act, a federal bill defining fertilized eggs as human beings, which, if passed, would criminalize some forms of birth control and in vitro fertilization. The National Right to Life Committee has scored his voting record 100 percent every year since he entered the House in 1999. “I’m as pro-life as a person gets,” he told the Weekly Standard’s John McCormack in 2010. “You’re not going to have a truce.”
And if you thought Romney was tone deaf with
his claim that he will learn about what women care about by asking his wife:
To (Ryan), a woman’s claim to bodily autonomy or self-determination doesn’t merit even cursory consideration. Here’s his analogy: “The car which I exercised my freedom of choice to purcha... does not ‘qualify’ for protection of human rights. I can drive it, lend it, kick it, sell it, or junk it, at will. On the other hand, the widow who lives next door does ‘qualify’ as a person, and the government must secure her human rights, which cannot be abandoned to anyone’s arbitrary will.”
How far would Ryan go?
According to another Journal Sentinel article, he “would let states decide what criminal penalties would be attached to abortions. Ryan said he’s never specifically advocated jailing women who have abortions or doctors who perform them, but added, ‘If it’s illegal, it’s illegal.’”
The
bullet points:
- Voted YES on banning federal health coverage that includes abortion. (May 2011)
- Voted NO on expanding research to more embryonic stem cell lines. (Jan 2007)
- Voted NO on allowing human embryonic stem cell research. (May 2005)
- Voted YES on restricting interstate transport of minors to get abortions. (Apr 2005)
- Voted YES on making it a crime to harm a fetus during another crime. (Feb 2004)
- Voted YES on banning partial-birth abortion except to save mother’s life. (Oct 2003)
- Voted YES on forbidding human cloning for reproduction & medical research. (Feb 2003)
- Voted YES on funding for health providers who don't provide abortion info. (Sep 2002)
- Voted YES on banning Family Planning funding in US aid abroad. (May 2001)
- Voted YES on federal crime to harm fetus while committing other crimes. (Apr 2001)
- Voted YES on banning partial-birth abortions. (Apr 2000)
- Voted YES on barring transporting minors to get an abortion. (Jun 1999)
- Rated 0% by NARAL, indicating a pro-life voting record. (Dec 2003)
- Rated 100% by the NRLC, indicating a pro-life stance. (Dec 2006)
- Prohibit transporting minors across state lines for abortion. (Jan 2008)
- Bar funding for abortion under federal Obamacare plans. (Jul 2010)
- Prohibit federal funding for abortion. (May 2011)
- Congress shall protect life beginning with fertilization. (Jan 2011)
- Prohibit federal funding to groups like Planned Parenthood. (Jan 2011)
- Grant the pre-born equal protection under 14th Amendment. (Jan 2007)
As highlighted by
Emily's List:
Paul Ryan voted for the Protect Life Act, which grants hospitals far-reaching powers to deny women abortion care, without any exception for emergency situations. US law currently requires hospitals receiving federal funds to provide emergency care to anyone in need up to the point at which they can be stabilized or transferred, if the original hospital is incapable of providing the care they need. "The misnamed Protect Life Act is about allowing women to die if they need an emergency abortion," said Meghan Rhoad, women’s rights researcher at Human Rights Watch. "It is a vicious attack on women’s rights and on the most basic right to life.’”
And it goes without saying that Ryan
voted against the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. But certainly Romney's wife approves of the selection, so there's that.