With new polling to suggest that Mitt Romney is gaining ground on President Obama among women voters, advocacy groups on both sides of the aisle are dialing up their efforts to use the pro-life/pro-choice debate as a wedge issue.
Gallup/USA Today released a poll yesterday showing that likely women voters in swing state prefer Obama to Romney by the barest of margins (49-48). In April, USA Today said that Obama led Romney among women by 18 points.
“Three weeks out from Election Day and we have further evidence to dispel the liberal storyline of a conservative ‘war on women,’” said Penny Nance of the conservative Concerned Women for America. “Women of this country are concerned about jobs and the deficit, not just free contraceptives, and they are looking for a conservative leader who will improve our economy while keeping us safe at home and abroad.”
CWA and the liberal group, MoveOn.Org, are engaged in a war of women’s ads. Liberals turned to Hollywood celebrities yesterday to attack Mitt Romney over the issue of abortion and Romney’s pledge to end federal funding for Planned Parenthood. CWA countered with a video saying it’s “invasive” to use taxes paid by pro-lifers to finance abortions.
The ad, produced by Concerned Women for America Legislative Action Committee, is designed as a response to a new MoveOn.Org ad featuring Eva Longoria, Kerry Washington, and Scarlett Johansson. CWA didn’t take the celebrity-endorser route, but did follow MoveOn in constructing their message with statements from multiple women.
“I want to talk to you about women,” they say. “Hollywood women. You know, the ones with the personal stylists, a three-bedroom wardrobe, and so into themselves they actually think they speak for all women.”
The CWA dismisses the celebrities’ claim that Romney would overturn Roe vs. Wade by noting that presidents cannot overturn Supreme Court rulings (although they can appoint justices).
“But I’ll tell you what they can do,” they add. “They can make sure these Hollywood elitists don’t succeed in making those of us who actually value human life, including the unborn, pay for another woman’s abortion. Talk about invasive.”
