Romney surrogate Norm Coleman claims Romney won’t overturn Roe v. Wade

Norm Coleman, my former Senator and current Romney surrogate, says not to worry our pretty little heads about Roe v. Wade being overturned if Romney wins, because it’s just not gonna happen.

“The reality is choice is an issue for a lot of people, an important issue. President Bush was president eight years, Roe v. Wade wasn’t reversed. He had two Supreme Court picks, Roe v. Wade wasn’t reversed. It’s not going to be reversed.”

As Irin Carmon writes, this is “blatantly and intentionally misleading.” There is, in fact, video of Romney saying that he wants to appoint Supreme Court justices who will reverse Roe. And the reason Bush wasn’t able to do so during his presidency primarily comes down to the math. Furthermore, even without the five conservative judges needed, the court under Bush did significantly roll back the right to choose.

In fact, the makeup of the Supreme Court is an incredibly important–perhaps the most important issue–in this election. Don’t listen to Norm. Listen to the anti-choicers who are eager for a Romney presidency which “could dramatically alter the course of our nation.

St. Paul, MN

Maya Dusenbery is executive director in charge of editorial at Feministing. She is the author of the forthcoming book Doing Harm: The Truth About How Bad Medicine and Lazy Science Leave Women Dismissed, Misdiagnosed, and Sick (HarperOne, March 2018). She has been a fellow at Mother Jones magazine and a columnist at Pacific Standard magazine. Her work has appeared in publications like Cosmopolitan.com, TheAtlantic.com, Bitch Magazine, as well as the anthology The Feminist Utopia Project. Before become a full-time journalist, she worked at the National Institute for Reproductive Health. A Minnesota native, she received her B.A. from Carleton College in 2008. After living in Brooklyn, Oakland, and Atlanta, she is currently based in the Twin Cities.

Maya Dusenbery is an executive director of Feministing and author of the forthcoming book Doing Harm on sexism in medicine.

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