President Obama on Wednesday accused Republicans of wanting to take the nation “back to policies more suited to the 1950s than the 21st century” during a campaign stop aimed at securing support from women.
Stumping on a two-day, four-stop swing through Colorado — a state where Obama needs strong turnout from women in November — the president sought to hammer home the benefits his healthcare law includes for families, such as free mammograms and contraception and cancer screenings with no co-pay.
But the president also emphasized the differences between him and his opponent, Republican presumptive presidential nominee Mitt Romney, who he said would take the Affordable Care Act and “kill it dead” on his first day in office.
“The decisions that affect a woman’s health aren’t up to politicians or insurance companies, they’re up to you,” Obama said during a fiery speech in Denver before a crowd of nearly all women.
Targeting Romney specifically, Obama said, “He said he’d ‘get rid of’ Planned Parenthood,” as the crowd booed.
“He joined the far right to support a bill that would allow an employer to deny contraceptive coverage to their employees,” Obama added. “Let me tell you something, Denver — I don’t think your boss should control the care you get. I think there is one person who should make decisions on your healthcare, and that person is you,” the president said.
Obama was introduced to the Denver crowd by Sandra Fluke, the recent law school graduate who wound up at the center of controversy earlier this year after she was targeted by Rush Limbaugh for publicly supporting the administration's contraception coverage mandate.
