Abortion

GREENVILLE, S.C. — Each of the Republican candidates touted his record fighting legislation protecting abortion rights.

Rick Santorum's sudden rise, fueled largely by evangelical Republicans, hasn't knocked abortion-rights groups off of their attacks against Mitt Romney.

Santorum has a staunchly conservative record on social issues, and his close second-place finish in Iowa on Tuesday was fueled largely by evangelicals. He won 57 percent of the caucus-goers who said abortion was their top issue, according to a Washington Post poll.

But abortion-rights advocates were quick to attack Romney after the Iowa results were announced.

"He might have scored points with a very narrow segment of voters in one state, but, if Romney becomes the nominee, he will have to start explaining those views to voters in battleground states during the general election," NARAL Pro-Choice America said in a statement. "We will make sure that Romney’s extreme views — and his flip-flops on this issue — are a liability.”

NARAL communications director Ted Miller said the group focused on Romney in part because he was the actual winner. But the group is also concerned that Santorum's popularity with social conservatives could leave the impression that Romney is more moderate on abortion.

Rick Perry's objection to abortions in cases of rape and incest is the starkest but not the only position shift.

The group’s annual report, released Friday, is sure to rekindle Republican lawmakers’ efforts to defund the organization in 2012.

A Hispanic women's group wants the Obama administration to lift barriers to emergency contraceptives in the wake of a medical study showing pharmacists in low-income neighborhoods often restrict their sale.

The National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health has asked for a meeting with Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to urge her to reconsider last month's decision not to make the emergency contraceptive Plan B available to girls under the age of 17. The request comes after a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that more than 1 in 5 pharmacists in low-income neighborhoods refused to sell Plan B to women aged 17 and over, even though they don't legally require a prescription.

"A disproportionate number of teen pregnancies occur among adolescents from disadvantaged neighborhoods," the study concludes. In those same neighborhoods, "misinformation regarding access was common."

The ad is part of a campaign designed not to win elections but to highlight abortion.

Planned Parenthood Federation of America is denouncing new restrictions on abortion providers that Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) signed Thursday.

"Make no mistake," Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards said in a statement, "Governor McDonnell's excessive regulations are based on his political agenda, not on medical necessity. This is an attempt to shut down all abortion providers in the state in a backdoor attempt to ban abortion."

Virginia's conservative legislature passed legislation last winter that requires abortion clinics to be regulated like ambulatory surgery centers instead of doctor's offices. The legislation requires temporary "emergency" regulations to be in place by year's end before final regulations are approved.

Planned Parenthood says the regulations are too onerous and would force most abortion providers to shut their doors, causing women to lose access to breast and cervical cancer screening, STD prevention and treatments and birth control services that are often offered at the clinics.

"These regulations are a product of an amendment that passed both the House and Senate with bipartisan support," McDonnell's office said in a statement. "The governor believes these common-sense regulations will help ensure that this procedure takes place in facilities that are modern, safe and well-regulated, in order to help ensure the safety and well-being of all patients."

The abortion-rights group EMILY’s List vowed Wednesday to take Rick Perry to task for his sharp tack to the right on abortion issues.

The Texas governor is ranked the best — relatively — of the Republican presidential candidates on women’s issues in an EMILY’s List scorecard released Wednesday. The rankings, however, were calculated before Perry announced Tuesday while campaigning in Iowa that he no longer supports abortion even in cases of rape, incest or if the mother’s life is in danger.

“His shift in policy will be reflected in the next iteration of the scorecard,” said Emma Shapiro, a spokeswoman for EMILY’s List. “We intend the scorecard to be a living document.”

Texas Gov. Rick Perry has shifted to the right on abortion, telling an audience in Osceola, Iowa, on Tuesday that he has undergone a “transformation” and now opposes abortion even in cases of rape, incest or if the mother’s life is in jeopardy.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry gets the best ranking from the group, which supports abortion rights.