In what may be a first for U.S. presidential campaign advertisements, actress Elizabeth Banks is warning that presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney would strip Planned Parenthood of funding and prevent some women from receiving treatment for conditions like migraines and "a heavy flow."
"Planned Parenthood was my health care provider when I didn't have insurance after I graduated from college," the "Hunger Games" star says in a video released on President Barack Obama's YouTube channel on Wednesday. "Yes, I got birth control, but it was for my massive migraine headaches and my heavy flow. Yeah, I'm on the record saying I have a heavy flow."
"The services that they provide -- what is it? Ninety-five percent of them don't involve anything controversial. So for that little 5 percent that Mitt Romney decides he doesn't agree with, he's going to take away cancer screenings?" Banks continues. "What is he doing? He's going to take away people's access to health care close by. We're talking about working-class ladies who need health care."
"President Obama has not compromised on women's rights and that's why President Obama needs to stay in office," she concludes.
Speaking to KDSK in March, Romney said that he would “get rid” of the family planning organization.
“The test is pretty simple: Is the program so critical, it’s worth borrowing money from china to pay for it?” the candidate explained. “And on that basis of course you get rid of Obamacare, that’s the easy one. Planned Parenthood, we’re going to get rid of that.”
In February, Romney said it was even “wrong” for private organizations like like Susan G. Komen for the Cure to fund Planned Parenthood’s breast cancer screenings for poor women.
“Look, the idea that we’re subsidizing an institution which is providing abortion, in my view, is wrong,” the former Massachusetts governor told conservative radio host Scott Hennen.
During a round-table discussion on ABC in June, Romney’s senior campaign adviser, Eric Fehrnstrom, insisted that social issues important to women, like contraception coverage and abortion rights, were “shiny objects” that were being used to distract voters.
“Mitt Romney is pro-life,” the senior adviser admitted to ABC’s George Stephanopoulos. “He’ll govern as a pro-life president, but you’re going to see the Democrats use all sorts of shiny objects to distract people’s attention from the Obama performance on the economy. This is not a social issue election.”
(h/t: The Hill)
