What We're Reading - August 23
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Good morning everyone! It’s another busy day here as the Women are Watching bus rolls through Iowa and Missouri. Make sure to follow the Bus Tour tumblr for all the latest updates, and in the meantime check out what we’re reading this morning….
The more women learn about Mitt Romney’s record, the less likely they are to vote for him. “Planned Parenthood [Action Fund] poll: Women negatively swayed by Romney's views” — “A private poll commissioned by Planned Parenthood Action Fund, the political arm of PP, shows Mitt Romney's struggles among women voters in six battleground states as very real, with the potential to get worse with messaging about his positions…. Among the findings: The memo doesn't list the full results, and the survey was taken for a private client with a specific goal in mind. That said, Romney's gender gap among women (it's for the most part been offset by President Obama's gender gap with men) has been a factor in almost every poll for months. At this point in the campaign, women voters already have real, though not deeply engrained, reservations about Mitt Romney. Though just one in five (20%) says they know a lot about Romney and the kind of president he would be, fully 50% say they have doubts and concerns about whether he would make a good president, and by 24 points (44% to 20%) they judge him to be ‘out of step’ on issues affecting women. (By contrast, President Obama is viewed as “in step” by a full 20 points (46% to 26%).”
Disappointing news in Texas. “In Texas, Don’t Even Mention Abortion” — “The Republican-controlled State Legislature in Texas and Gov. Rick Perry are perfectly willing to endanger the general health and welfare of low-income women to further their agenda of eroding abortion rights. And, now, a federal appeals court has given them a green light to do that, at least temporarily. A federal district judge had placed an injunction on a state regulation that excludes Planned Parenthood affiliates, which do not provide abortions, from receiving state money through the Women’s Health Program pending the outcome of a lawsuit brought by the clinics. But the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit lifted that injunction on Tuesday. It is impossible to overstate the callousness of the state regulation and the harm it will inflict. The program serves more than 100,000 uninsured, low-income women, with the federal government paying 90 percent of the roughly $40 million that it costs. The feds are now phasing out support because the rule violates federal law.”
Cecile Richards, Planned Parenthood Action Fund President, will speak at the Democratic Convention alongside Sandra Fluke, Lilly Ledbetter, and Caroline Kennedy. “Cecile Richards to address Democratic convention as party adds 9 women to speaker list” — “Twenty-four years after her mother famously addressed the Democratic National Convention in Atlanta, Cecile Richards will get a prominent speaking slot at this year’s convention in Charlotte. Richards was among nine women added to the roster of convention speakers today in the midst of a public firestorm over women’s reproductive rights that was sparked by Missouri congressman Todd Akin. Richards, the president of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, is expected to highlight the differences between President Obama and the Republican Party on women’s issues. Mitt Romney, the Republican candidate for president, vowed earlier in the campaign to shut down Planned Parenthood, but he later said he meant he would shut down its federal funding sources.”
