What the Romney-Ryan Ticket Means for Women

Mitt Romney's newly selected running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), has never been shy about his extreme anti-choice beliefs.

"I'm as pro-life as a person gets. You're not going to have a truce. Judges are going to come up. Issues come up, they're unavoidable, and I'm never going to not vote pro-life."

During his time in the U.S. House of Representatives, Ryan cast 59 votes on abortion and other reproductive-rights issues. He voted anti-choice each and every time.

Our president, Nancy Keenan, had some choice words about the Romney-Ryan terrible twosome:

"Rep. Paul Ryan's extreme anti-choice record shows just how serious a threat Mitt Romney's presidency would be for women. Rep. Ryan has also repeatedly voted to defund family-planning programs and supported the 'Let Women Die Bill,' which would allow hospitals to refuse to provide a woman emergency, lifesaving abortion care, even if she could die without it. It comes as no surprise that Romney would choose a like-minded running mate who is just as out of touch with our nation's values and priorities as he is. The Romney-Ryan ticket is dangerous to women's health."

How bad is Rep. Ryan?

• Cosponsored several "personhood" measures that, if passed and enacted into law, would end legal abortion, ban several of the most common forms of birth control, restrict fertility treatments, and put an end to stem-cell research.
• Cosponsored a measure requiring a woman to undergo a forced ultrasound even if not medically necessary before receiving abortion services, and even if against the woman's will.
• He has repeatedly voted to defund Planned Parenthood.

The outcome of the 2012 presidential election very well could determine whether abortion remains legal and accessible for the next generation of American women. Under a Romney-Ryan administration, we could lose the protection of Roe v. Wade, women's health and lives will be at risk, and anti-choice zealots could wipe out decades' worth of reproductive rights we've fought so hard to win.

We won't take that chance in November.

Paid for by NARAL Pro-Choice America, www.ProChoiceAmerica.org, and not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.