In the course of the Republican primary campaign, Mitt Romney took pains to convince socially conservative activists that he believes in them, understands their passions and would be an advocate for their causes in the Oval Office.
Now, the Planned Parenthood Action Fund is unveiling one of its biggest-ever political advertising campaigns aimed at using Mr. Romney’s own words to undermine his support among women — a critical voter group among whom he already trails President Obama.
In a new ad that will run in three battleground states, the political arm of the women’s health care organization accuses Mr. Romney of wanting to deny women access to birth control, abortions and equal pay for the work they do.
“When Mitt Romney says, ‘Planned Parenthood, we’re going to get rid of that,’” the ad says, “Romney is saying he’ll deny women the birth control and cancer screenings they depend on.”
That statement can be misleading. Mr. Romney was answering a question about what federal funding he would target for elimination or reductions if he is elected. His campaign has said he wants to end federal funding of Planned Parenthood, not the organization itself.
But officials at the Planned Parenthood Action Fund said women understand the context of his remarks. They said the group is spending $1.4 million to run the ad in West Palm Beach, Fla., Des Moines, Iowa, and the suburbs of northern Virginia, as well as in Washington. That represents a threefold increase over the group’s total spending during the 2008 campaign.
“This is just the beginning,” said Dawn Laguens, the group’s executive vice president. “This is a very small down payment on what we intend to do to make sure people are very clear where the candidates stand.”
The campaign comes in the wake of Planned Parenthood’s successful pressure campaign to win reversal of a cut in funding by the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation earlier this year. And it comes as Planned Parenthood and other liberal organizations see an opportunity in the statements Mr. Romney made during the primary.
Mr. Romney opposed the president’s efforts to compel religious institutions to provide insurance coverage for contraception. He supported a “parenthood” measure in Mississippi that critics contend would ban birth control. And he has said he believes Roe v. Wade should be overturned.
Mr. Obama’s campaign has seized on Mr. Romney’s statements to try and drive a wedge between the Republican and women, many of whom live in battleground states that will decide the election this November.
Buoyed by polls that show Mr. Obama already has a significant edge over Mr. Romney among women, the Democratic campaign and its allies are hoping to maintain or even extend that lead. The Planned Parenthood ad fits into that strategy. The group will officially endorse Mr. Obama on Wednesday.
“Mitt Romney has been much clearer and more direct even than John McCain in his interest in dismantling women’s health care,” Ms. Laguens said. “The threats have intensified. The Republican primary laid bare and made clear what their agenda is.”
Mr. Romney’s campaign has responded by focusing its efforts on the economic plight that confronts many women. Mr. Romney has argued that 92 percent of the people who lost jobs under the president’s watch were women.
That statistic ignores the fact that the economic downturn affected men more severely in the months before Mr. Obama took office. But Mr. Romney’s advisers believe he can appeal to women by appealing to their sense of dismay about their financial futures.
“They go for security. They are looking for security more so than men,” Bay Buchanan, an adviser to Mr. Romney, said of women in a conference call with reporters in March. “I think that Mitt Romney is going to be able to make a very strong case that we need these jobs. Women will understand that more than anybody.”
Officials at Planned Parenthood dismiss those arguments. The organization conducted several focus groups with women during the past several months to fine-tune their political message. Geoff Garin, the group’s pollster, said showing the ad had “jaw-dropping” effects on the women.
“They thought he was far more extreme and ideological than they suspected that he might be,” Mr. Garin said. “In an election that is very likely to be won or lost with the votes of women, this ad and this whole campaign is very powerful.”
In the focus groups of 500 swing women voters in battleground states, Mr. Garin said many voters did not know much about Mr. Romney’s positions on issues of particular interest to women. After viewing the Planned Parenthood ad, the women were twice as likely to say Mr. Romney was “out of step” with women’s issues, Mr. Garin said.
“There’s a feeling that the election hangs in the balance based on the women’s vote, beyond what was true even in 2008,” he said. “The stakes are much higher.”
The stakes are high for both presidential campaigns as well. Efforts by groups like Planned Parenthood will be especially important for Mr. Obama if they help him maintain his lead among women by warning that Mr. Romney represents a threat to their issues.
But Mr. Romney’s campaign will be just as aggressive in the days ahead, pushing its own narrative about how women have fared during Mr. Obama’s presidency. And “super PACs” backing Mr. Romney will no doubt join the fight.
The women ad wars are just beginning.
