Abortion

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.

The two candidates made the comments during a debate sponsored by Personhood USA, an anti-abortion-rights group.

A Christian university in Colorado is suing the Obama administration for requiring private employers’ healthcare plans to cover birth control.

The judge found the petition language “not clear”; ruling marks the second defeat this week for Nevada anti-abortion-rights groups.

Their letter comes after Obama signed an executive order making women's rights a key element of U.S. foreign policy.

A Nevada judge ruled Monday the anti-abortion-rights law would limit access to basic healthcare services.

Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich said Wednesday that he would begin restricting access to abortion during his first day in the White House.

Gingrich said he would immediately sign an executive order saying U.S. foreign aid cannot fund abortion services, as well as a second order reinstating a Bush-era policy under which healthcare providers could refuse to provide services they believed were immoral.

And within the first week, Gingrich said, he would send legislation to Congress that would cut off all federal funding for Planned Parenthood and redirect the money to adoption services.

Democrats want the Obama administration to explain the scientific rationale for not allowing teenagers to buy the Plan B contraceptive.