Actresses call out Romney on abortion in new ad
(CNN) – Hollywood actresses Scarlett Johansson, Eva Longoria and Kerry Washington are featured condemning Republicans for their stance on abortion in a new political ad from the liberal group MoveOn.org.
The spot, released Monday and directed by noted filmmaker Rob Reiner, will air nationally and in the battleground states of Colorado and Virginia, the group said, adding it would air during shows primarily viewed by women.
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"I want to talk to you about women," Johansson says at the beginning of the spot, followed by Washington saying, "And about Mitt Romney."
"Mitt Romney is for ending funding to Planned Parenthood," Longoria says, with Johansson chiming in, "Including cancer screenings."
The ad continues:
Washington: "He said he'd overturn Roe v. Wade."
Johansson: "We have Republicans trying to redefine rape."
Longoria: "Trying to force women to undergo invasive ultrasounds."
Johansson: "If you think that this election won't affect you and your life, think again."
Washington: "Vote."
Longoria: "Vote."
Johansson: "Vote for Barack Obama."
In a statement, Reiner said Romney, and his running mate Paul Ryan, would "eviscerate women's rights" if they're elected in November.
"We'd be talking about getting rid of abortion, birth control, access to health care screenings. As a husband, son and father, I can't stand by and let this happen," Reiner continued.
"Misleading political attacks will not change President Obama's failed record," Romney campaign spokeswoman Amanda Henneberg wrote in response to the MoveOn.org ad. "His policies have made it harder for women across the country to start businesses, get good jobs, or see their children able to go to college and get started with their lives. Mitt Romney will lead us to a real recovery so that women – and all Americans – can succeed and live the American Dream."
Last week, Democrats pounced on Romney after he said in an interview with the Des Moines Register that he was not aware of any abortion legislation he would promote as part of his agenda as president.
Democrats claimed that was a reversal for the candidate, who maintained during the GOP primary season that he would support efforts to remove funding for Planned Parenthood, a women's health group that provides abortion services. Several House Republicans have introduced legislation that would strip funding from the group.
Romney reiterated that pledge later in the week, and on Sunday a top adviser to Romney's campaign said the GOP nominee was a "pro-life candidate" and would serve as a "pro-life president."
Ed Gillespie, speaking to CNN chief political correspondent Candy Crowley on "State of the Union," said that was a long-standing position for the Republican candidate.
"What the governor has consistently said is that he thinks Roe v. Wade was wrongly decided and this is something that should be left to elected representatives, to the people through their elected representatives," Gillespie said, referring to the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision affirming a woman's right to have an abortion.
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there is much more than meets they eye with regards to the abortion issue only being about so called religious freedom. there have been many bills passed from the repub congress on abortion in the last two years and yet few (if any??) jobs bills. If we really want to have a discussion about personal reponsibility, then lets talk about my tax dollars going to a elementary and high school district which I will NEVER use (I have no children), lets talk about the wealthy who make all their income off of investments yet pay only a small percentage tax rate compared to the common working person, lets talk about the corporations who continue to reap high profits, yet continue to get tax break after tax break. I could go on. Most republican lawmakers do not care about personality responsibility any more than any other lawmaker.
For those of you using your "God" to make a point. Remember that's exactly what the Taliban uses to make theirs.
This is not about women's rights. Women have every right in the world to take control of their own actions – but this "war in women" is simply an excuse to not take any responsibility for your actions whatsoever. As a woman, I find it insulting. Let's be proactive and stop harping on the "problematic unborn child" after he/she is conceived. How about talking about other options? Like a woman's right not to jump into bed just because she thinks a guy will like her more as a result? No one is advocating the eradication of birth control – simply that those people and organizations who don't believe in it are not required to pay for someone else's.
@searayshea@gmail.com: "Who cares about these Liberal Celebs, really? The election is not about abortion, it is about the economy. They will do anything they can to distract the distractible. Get a LIfe, go run around with Sean Penn and Hugo Chavez, they are truly the beacons of your ambitions."
But Reagan the movie actor is your hero, right? This election IS about abortion, contraception and health services for women, as well as the economy – which is impacted by women being able to plan their pregnancies to have healthier babies and be more productive contributors to the work force.
BTW, Sean Penn has donated countless months of his time helping rebuild Haiti after the devastating earthquake there; what have Ted Nugent, Kid Rock or any of the other has-been Repub celebrity tools done lately for someone other than themselves?
I wonder what it would look like if you interviewed every woman who had an abortion five years later and asked them if they regretted it? I know a few women who had one and they wish they hadn't done it. What I heard from Mitt Romney is that he is going to eliminate federal funding from abortion, not outlaw it. I don't think we should fund many things in this country that we are like Obamaphones, welfare in perpetuity, non-profits organizations who have board members who make way more than they should. I don't have a problem with cutting abortion funding, but I would think it best not to get rid of abortion. We cannot make a person chose anything but we should educate. If more women would elect to carry a child and put it up for adoption, I think things would be better as there are many families who want to adopt who cannot find a child to adopt. I personally find it repugnant that these Hollywood types inject themselves in the middle of this when many of them have no idea what normal people go through and probably do not educate themselves before speaking out. They know their opinion and are using their fame to influence people in their views. How many drug addicts, alcoholics, and criminals are in Hollywood? Why would anyone be foolish enough to listen to them.
Roe v. Wade was not when women started getting abortions, it's when they stopped dying from them. Romney/Ryan will move women's rights backwards a hundred years. Romney is all ove the map on abortion, depending who he's tlaking to. Ryan though is out to legislate every uterus he can get his hands on.
@Cheryl: "I am a woman, a mother, someone that had two miscarriages and had to consider abortion when I finally did get pregnant when test results came out poorly. I'm glad I didn't. I have a beautiful son. Abortion is not a solution. Abstinence and birth control are. I'm sorry, my friends and I cannot afford to make a commercial."
Congratulations on your beautiful son. And exactly what gives YOU the right to decide what another woman should do? In particular, if her pregnancy is the result of rape or incest – or if she were to continue her pregnancy, she would die, orphaning her other children?
What the solution is affordable, easy access to birth control – and letting a woman decide what to do with her own body.
@Cheryl: I am also a woman who also had two miscarriages and am the mother of three sons – and I believe in the radical feminist idea that woman are people, too – and should make their own decisions about their own bodies.
@Borderless who said these women don't deserve attention because they are Hollywood elite. Do you feel the same about Clint Eastwood and his empty endorsement of Romney?
It doesn't matter that these women are actresses, what matters is they are nationally known and doing their part to spread the message about the R&R team's beliefs on women's choice and healthcare. Ryan made it perfectly clear in the debate that, given the chance, they will get Roe vs Wade overturned and will make abortion illegal once again and then women will be using coat hangers to perform their own abortions. It is absolutely shameful that this is even still being discussed in the 21st century and 40 years after Roe v Wade. We women refuse to be sent back to the dark ages. It is no one's business but our own what we do with our bodies and our lives.
Who are these actresses and why does anyone actually care what these spoiled people think?
these actresses...i wonder if they have ever talked to women or young girls who have had an abortion – have they ever worked them? Attended an abortion retreat...talked to women who suffer from the decision they made when they were young.
My guess is not...
"For those of you using your "God" to make a point. Remember that's exactly what the Taliban uses to make theirs."
You don't understand. The only response you will elicit from the GOP/Teatrolls and religio-fascist army they have cultivated is the following: "But our god is the one true god...aand besides, our god is right and theirs is wrong."
I find this ad interesting. The only reason why I can see MoveOn spending the money on this is because they feel that the Dems do not have the size of support from women in 2012 as they did in 2008. Why else waste money on something that is already well known?
typical...vote for Obama only because he is black...only because he wants abortion for all...only becaaue he lets gays in the military....only because you're illegal.... what...you need a job?....are you black, illegal, aborted, and gay? vote for Obama because if you vote for Obama then you'll geta job when the next President is elected, but until then you'll sell movies and make millions!
"Since when are ultrasounds invasive?"
There are different kinds. The ones that the GOP/TEatrolls in the Virginia legislature tried to mandate were the kind that require going in thru a woman's hoohoo. Did I put that in simple enough terms for you?
@Lauren: "Like a woman's right not to jump into bed just because she thinks a guy will like her more as a result? No one is advocating the eradication of birth control – simply that those people and organizations who don't believe in it are not required to pay for someone else's."
I've known several women on birth control who got pregnant in spite of it (the pill is about 98% effective), including a friend who had fraternal twin girls.
Regarding your last statement, have you checked your health insurance policy? Because I'm sure you'll immediately drop it if there is coverage in there you don't agree with ...
Reagan was God !
I remember the movie !
Average_Casey
I wonder what it would look like if you interviewed every woman who had an abortion five years later and asked them if they regretted it? I know a few women who had one and they wish they hadn't done it.
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I'm female and have been for all of the nearly five decades that I've been on this big blue planet, and I don't know a single woman who has had an abortion, or if they did they don't talk about it. Funny how you know so many women who feel so free to discuss it with you. Makes me question both the validity of your story. That, or the caliber of women you run with.
My body, my business, my choice. Whatever you want to do to your body is your business, too. I promise I won't judge you for it either.
I was at a friend's house in the 60s (prior to Roe v. Wade) late one night where a 19 year old girl was visiting so she could get an illegal abortion. The person performing the abortion was a drugged-out freak who had ostensibly attended medical school for some period of time in Mexico. After the "physician" drove away with the girl's money she bled out and died. I can still remember the tremendous amount of blood on the bed where she died.
These "coat hanger" abortions were quite common before Roe v. Wade and if the law was repealed, will return to our society in an instant.
Sniffit
"For those of you using your "God" to make a point. Remember that's exactly what the Taliban uses to make theirs."
You don't understand. The only response you will elicit from the GOP/Teatrolls and religio-fascist army they have cultivated is the following: "But our god is the one true god...aand besides, our god is right and theirs is wrong."
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Would be why we need to bring back feeding them to the lions..... we can make it a new reality show. A "representative" from a religion gets into the pit with hungry lions IF they survive by praying to their "true" God that's the one!! 🙂
@ Think Again.....Get the facts straight regarding Romney/Ryan on abortion with regards to rape, incest and life or death of the mother.....You propagama moron!
Gil
Since when are ultrasounds invasive?
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Ever since some genius came up with the idea to shove a probe into someone's lady parts. There are two types – the kind where a hand-held sonar that travels externally across the abdomen and the type where they rape a woman with a probe. That option is extremely painful and unless there is a medical reason for doing that type of ultrasound it should be off-limits. It also begs the question – what if a woman is forced to be raped by an ultrasound and changes her mind, deciding to keep her baby then miscarries as a result of being raped by a rigid plastic wand? Can someone be charged with a crime?
What I don't get is where did anyone get the idea that this is an issue for public debate at all? It's a private, personal matter. I don't think any government has any standing to regulate private personal matters, It's that what freedom is all about in the USA?
So when someone uses a gun to murder a bunch of people we can't take away gun rights because most people use them safely and legally ... BUT if a woman uses abortion (per pro lifers murder that's their argument) for birth control we need to take the right to a safe, legal one away from the rest of women? Can you say Hypocrisy with a capital H?
p.s. remember we have a "right" to privacy if you're gonna argue 2nd Amendment