SBA List says Romney underplayed social issues

A leading anti-abortion-rights group lamented Mitt Romney's single-minded focus on the economy throughout his unsuccessful campaign for president.

In a statement early Wednesday, the Susan B. Anthony (SBA) List said Romney missed opportunities to hammer President Obama on abortion, his birth-control coverage mandate and his support for Planned Parenthood.

"Voters overwhelmingly disagree with the extreme positions on abortion taken by President Obama and the Democrats," said SBA List President Marjorie Dannenfelser as Romney conceded the election. 

"Mitt Romney, the Republican Party, and their Super PAC allies never highlighted this vulnerability, despite the fact that our polling of likely swing voters revealed it to be a persuasive line of argument. What was presented as discipline by the Romney campaign by staying on one message — the economy — was a strategic error that resulted in a winning margin of pro-life votes being left on the table."

In a memo, the SBA List said it spent a total of $11.2 million in the 2012 election to ensure Romney "made specific pro-life commitments," to battle the "war on women" narrative pushed by the left, and to paint Obama and the Democrats as extreme on abortion.

The Democratic platform would permit abortion in all cases, while the Republican platform would ban it in all cases.

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