The narrative forming around Paul “Ayn Rand” Ryan, so far, has centered on his wonkiness, his “intellectualism” and his fiscal “swoon inducing” prowess. (Can’t wait until Republicans start gushing over his government experience – which will be good for Ryan since working for the government is 99% of his resume). But there’s more to Ryan than a budget that doesn’t add up.
Less attention has been paid, though, to Ryan’s hard-right positions on social issues. Indeed, on abortion and women’s health care, there isn’t much daylight between Ryan and, say, Michele Bachmann. Any Republican vice-presidential candidate is going to be broadly anti-abortion, but Ryan goes much further. He believes ending a pregnancy should be illegal even when it results from rape or incest, or endangers a woman’s health. He was a cosponsor of the Sanctity of Human Life Act, a federal bill defining fertilized eggs as human beings, which, if passed, would criminalize some forms of birth control and in vitro fertilization. The National Right to Life Committee has scored his voting record 100 percent every year since he entered the House in 1999. “I’m as pro-life as a person gets,” he told The Weekly Standard’s John McCormack in 2010. “You’re not going to have a truce.”
No surrender! And in his 1998 run for Congress Ryan had this to say:
Both candidates backed a ban on so-called partial-birth abortion, but Spottswood believed there should be exceptions in cases where a woman’s life or health is endangered. “Ryan said he opposes abortion, period,” reported the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “He said any exceptions to a ‘partial-birth’ abortion ban would make that ban meaningless.”
During that campaign, Ryan also expressed his willingness to let states criminally prosecute women who have abortions. According to another Journal Sentinel article, he “would let states decide what criminal penalties would be attached to abortions. Ryan said he has never specifically advocated jailing women who have abortions or doctors who perform them, but added, ‘If it’s illegal, it’s illegal.’
Hey, if it’s illegal, it’s illegal. Lock ’em up! … or let ’em die.
That’s really the choice when you don’t allow exceptions. Of course, this stance doesn’t surprise me. After all, Paul Ryan belongs to a party that cheered the idea of letting a guy without health insurance die.
And women are paying attention:
The latest Wall Street Journal-NBC News poll showed that President Barack Obama leads Mr. Romney 54% to 39% among women. The gap gets truly staggering when it comes to college-educated women. Here, Mr. Obama leads 63%-32%.
Romney has a woman problem, and Ryan just made it worse.