Romney: New Abortion Laws Not ‘Part Of My Agenda’

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Anti-abortion advocates hoping for a legislative push to limit abortion in a Mitt Romney administration may be out of luck. 

“There’s no legislation with regards to abortion that I’m familiar with that would become part of my agenda,” Romney told the Des Moines Register Tuesday. 

Romney has tried to distance himself from the Republican platform’s strict limits on abortion and uncomfortable questions about conservatives and abortion rights raised in the wake of Todd Akin’s “legitmate rape” fiasco. At the same time, he’s promised to use to use the power of the executive order to deny federal funding to global family planning groups that work with abortion services. He’s also said he wants to see Roe v. Wade overturned.  

Romney’s running mate, Paul Ryan, was a co-sponsor of the 2011 House bill that sought to impose new restrictions on federal funding for abortion, limiting coverage to victims of “forcible rape.”

Update:

Planned Parenthood’s political arm called Romney’s abortion comments “misleading.”

“Mitt Romney has been crystal clear that if he’s elected President, he will work to overturn Roe v. Wade.  Mitt Romney’s views on women’s health are far outside of the mainstream, and that’s why he’s trying to hide them in the last weeks until the election,” Dawn Laguens, vice presient of Planned Parenthood Action Fund said in a statement. “Let’s be clear: Mitt Romney wants to overturn Roe v. Wade, end federal funding for Planned Parenthood’s preventive services, end insurance coverage for birth control, and repeal health protections for women.”

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