(CNN) - President Barack Obama and GOP challenger Mitt Romney are sparring over abortion on the Virginia airwaves.
Obama's campaign on Thursday released a new television ad, "Seen," in response to a spot Romney's campaign aired on Wednesday.
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Romney's ad aired on three television stations in the Virginia area, according to the political ad tracking firm CMAG, and the Obama campaign says their spot will run in Virginia.
While Romney's campaign usually announces a new television ad, the campaign did not release or post to their website an announcement of the Wednesday ad.
The narrator in Obama's ad references Romney's spot, then shows a clip from a 2008 Republican primary debate.
One of the moderators, CNN's Anderson Cooper, is seen asking, "If Roe v. Wade was overturned and Congress passed a federal ban on all abortions and it came to your desk, would you sign it, yes or no?"
"Let me say it. I'd be delighted to sign that bill," Romney answers.
The ad does not include the rest of Romney's response to the question.
"But that's not where we are. That's not where America is today," Romney said. "Where America is is ready to overturn Roe v. Wade and return to the states that authority. But if the Congress got there, we had that kind of consensus in that country, terrific."
Cooper's question was prompted by a viewer-submitted question, who posed the hypothetical that the Supreme Court had overturned the landmark ruling.
The Obama spot then condenses the nuance. "Banning all abortions?" asks the narrator, and Romney's reply: "I'd be delighted to sign that bill."
The narrator continues, "Trying to mislead us? That's wrong. But ban all abortions? Only if you vote for him."
Romney's Wednesday spot shows him as more moderate than some have suggested.
"You know those ads saying Mitt Romney would ban all abortions and contraception seemed a bit extreme, so I looked into it," she says. "Turns out Romney doesn't oppose contraception at all. In fact he thinks abortion should be an option in cases of rape, incest, or to save a mother's life."
Abortion returned to focus after the Republican candidate said in a recent interview, "There's no legislation with regards to abortion that I'm familiar with that would become part of my agenda."
The candidate and his campaign sought to clarify that he would support efforts to end federal funding for Planned Parenthood and would support judicial nominees who favor overturning Roe v. Wade.
Obama's campaign did not say how much it would spend to air the spot.
– CNN's Kevin Liptak contributed to this report
From CNN Politics
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The photo of Romney at the top of this article is so creepy!
Romney ,what a loser who will never be president .
Mittens is now denying his position when he ran against Santorum and Newter in the primaries? Other than tax evasion, jobs outsourcing, money laundering, tax cuts for himself, and lying, what does Mittens stand for?
This just goes to show the ridiculous lengths that the Obama campaign will go to to bash Romney. Governor Romney has changed his stance on abortion at least 5 or 6 times since the 2008 campaign, so expecting Romney to remember what he campaigned on last election, and holding him accountable for his comments from that time, seems unfair.
Good Ban ALL ABORTIONS! A person kills another person, its called MURDER. A Mother or A Father kills their Child Its MURDER and hits the media like the hollocaust just occured again. Life begins at conception. A baby in a mothers womb is just as much as a valuable life as a child, teenager, adult or senior. Murder is Murder. If a woman gets pregnant from Rape then put the baby up for adoption. That baby shouldn't pay the consequences with his/hers life cause of the man's choices. ABORTION IS MURDER!
""But that's not where we are. That's not where America is today," "
Exactly. This shows that Mittens will work towards banning all abortions. THAT is what this means. He will work towards appointing SCOTUS justices who will overturn Roe v Wade. He will work towards getting Congress to that point. He wants that to be "where we are" and "where America is" and will therefore work towards making it happen. His attempts to fabricate caveats are MEANINGLESS.
Any way you look at it, women can't trust Romney. He once stated he was pro-choice, then proceeded to have a total of 5 variations, including banning all abortions, Team that with Roe vs. Wade and Planned Parenthood, and he is definitely whe wrong choice.
Gov. Romney doesn't want to ban all abortions. Just the ones that females would get.
It is a good ad. There is nothing more effective than an ad with the candidate saying the very thing he says he did not say.
What day is it ?
I don't know what I said , but I meant what I said !
Mitt Romney / Paul Ryan
Mind Changers 2012
I want to know how a candidate who was so passionate about being pro choice as Romney was when he was running for senate against Kennedy. Romney said a cousin of his was raped and that after that he was Pro choice. Amazing how you can just shut off your feelings and turn on a dime.
Romney's five(5) sons need to "Man Up" just like Prince Harry and William who both serve in the military and alongside our troops in Afghan instead of running around the country with their Vietnam draft dodging dad who wants to be the Commander in Chief as well as making threats on President Obama. Man Up you little spoiled disrespectful brats.
Well Gosh, Governor Romney is only trying to keep up with what's trending now...
The Democrats are he ones who love to take something out of context, and use it in an unintended manner to make it appear to be something entirely different from the realty.
The Democratic Party are totally dishonest, they are very crude, they are very subversive, and they are very dangerous to freedom in America.
Easy for you to say, Phil. You will never be raped and forced to carry the child and give up the child. You're not equipped to. So if I knit you a uterus, will you stay out of mine? Phil said:
Good Ban ALL ABORTIONS! A person kills another person, its called MURDER. A Mother or A Father kills their Child Its MURDER and hits the media like the hollocaust just occured again. Life begins at conception. A baby in a mothers womb is just as much as a valuable life as a child, teenager, adult or senior. Murder is Murder. If a woman gets pregnant from Rape then put the baby up for adoption. That baby shouldn't pay the consequences with his/hers life cause of the man's choices. ABORTION IS MURDER!
I have three words: MORNING AFTER PILL.
One Justice away from overturning Roe v. Wade just remember that. If elected Mitt well be appointing at least two new Justices, how long before that federal ban on all abortions come across his desk. He's already got that pen for the signing all picked out. Bet he's got wall space and a plaque to mount it already ordered.
That just one of many reasons not to vote for him.....
Obama 2012
Romney is flip-flopping again. Mitt is, at his core, a moderate on social issues but in order for him to win as a Repub he has to become extreme on those issues. He's better than all those other nutcases in the primaries but his policies are the same policies of Bush. No matter what people think Mitt actually believes you have to take him at his word, and his word is ever-changing.
I doubt I could bring myself to have an abortion for any reason, but I'm not going to judge those that have. I've never walked in their shoes. And neither have you. If you want to ban it, do it at a state level.
Romney also wants to ban a lot of forms of birth control.
He will force women to have unwanted babies and then condemn them when they are on welfare because they are having a baby a year. What a JERK.
Not everyone can afford more than one or two kids - cost from birth to end of High School is approximately $250,000. You try that on minimum wage.
Banning abortions kills women. Contraceptive availability reduces abortions. Think about this when you call yourself pro-life...
I noticed something during the debate question about Libya. As soon as Romney questioned the Presidents preposterous assertion that He labeled the attack as a "Terrorist attack" and Ms. Crowley came to his defense, the President said to Crowley "Say that louder Candy" and then said "Read the transcript." My question is– How in the world would He know that She had the Transcript of that Rose Garden speech? She did indeed have the transcript in front of Her. This smells to high heaven like a set up and Ms. Crowley was in on it.
No one on Fox or any other news outlet, that I have seen, has mentioned this amazing coincidence.
Romney will flip on anything to get a vote...defines him as the worst kind of person.
If even half the men out there would help prevent pregnancy and step up to the plate when it does happen that would help ALOT. So be a part of the solution and prevent the pregnancy.
The many faces of Mitt should really scare you.... there is absolutely No way of Knowing what his stance is for your future on any subject. Would you hire a blind man to teach you how to drive or a used car from a wrecking yard, Life insurance from a mortician. If not why how could you hire him to run this country
Obama 2012