The claim first surfaced in a document posted to the campaign’s website Wednesday titled, “5 Things You Need To Know About Mitt Romney.” The last bullet point — which has been retweeted by Barack Obama and his campaign staffers over the past 24 hours— says, “He’d get rid of Planned Parenthood and outlaw abortion.”
A review of the Republican’s conflicted abortion record reveals that claim to be a stretch, at best. While Romney has undergone a long, public evolution on this issue over the past two decades — straining, at times, to defend his pro-life credentials to suspicious conservatives — he’s never called for an outright federal ban on all abortions.
Rather, Romney’s current position advocates overturning Roe v. Wade and allowing states to make their own abortion laws. He has also supported ending federal funding for Planned Parenthood — tough positions to sell in the general election, perhaps, but nowhere near the Obama campaign’s characterization.
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