Social conservatives say Romney should have hit harder on abortion

Mitt Romney should have spent more time debating President Obama on abortion, a leading abortion-rights opponent said Wednesday.

Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List, said Romney took a weak position on abortion that set the tone for Senate candidates. She said Romney was "wobbly" on social issues and called on conservatives to redouble their focus on abortion.

Most of the focus on abortion this year stemmed from Republican candidates' statements about abortion in cases of rape. It started when Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.) said women cannot become pregnant from "legitimate rape," and Indiana Senate candidate Richard Murdock followed with comments that pregnancy resulting from rape is "God's will."

Romney should have launched a more aggressive attack to avoid fighting on those terms, Dannenfelser said Wednesday at a press conference organized by several conservative organizations.

"Abortion meant rape in the minds of many voters because the debate was not fully engaged," she said.

Dannenfelser said Republicans seemed to have called "a de facto truce on social issues" while Democrats "launched a war." She insisted that Obama wold have been more vulnerable if Romney had attacked him more aggressively over federal funding for Planned Parenthood and accused Obama of supporting sex-selective abortion.

"You cannot win a war which is not engaged," she said.

Dannenfelser said SBA List will reevaluate how it decides to support candidates, and how it works with campaigns' messaging operations.

"This cannot happen again," she said.

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