preventing states from banning abortion outright right now is roe versus wade. what does he think of roe versus wade? >> do i believe the supreme court should overturn roe v. wade? yes, i do. >> clear, right? how about the largest abortion provider in the united states, which also happens to be the largest provider of women's health care in the united states, that's planned parenthood. what does mitt romney want to do there? >> planned parenthood, we're going to get rid of that. >> and on that one, the romney campaign sometimes tries to complain about that sound bite. going to get rid of planned parenthood, whenever anybody uses it. but on his campaign website, it says right there in black and white, he's going to get rid of planned parenthood. it has a priority of his. he told "the des moines register" that he has no specific legislation in mind at all that he would use to go after women's health rights or access to abortion. no specific legislation in mind at all. well, here's the pledge that he signed and put forth as an op-ed on the "national review" online last year. detailing speci

because of a 1973 supreme court ruling called roe versus wade. right now the ideological balance of the court is such that if an outright challenge to roe versus wade were heard in this court, the vote, we think, would likely be a 5-4 decision to keep roe versus wade, to protect a woman's right to have an abortion. if the makeup of the court changes by one justice, though, it would be about five seconds before conservatives got a case challenging roe into the court, once they were sure that the ruling would be 4-5 instead of 5-4. with four supreme court justices over the age of 70, whoever becomes president is likely to be able to appoint at least one new supreme court justice. and if it is a republican president, he will appoint nominees who will definitely vote to overturn roe versus wade. and abortion will then, immediately become a criminal act at the state level and every state that's willing to do that. and we know republicans will immediately try to ban it federally as well. they have been trying that for a very along time, including multiple times in this congress. what the repu

policy as clearly as we know the policy of the entire ticket would be to overturn roe v. wade and make abortion illegal. >> if the ticket is elected should those who believe that abortion should remain legal be worried? >> we don't think that unelected judges should make this decision, that people, through their elected representatives in reaching a consensus in society for the democratic process should make this determination. >> the court, the next president will get one or two supreme court nominees. that's how close roe v. wade is. just ask yourself with robert bork being the chief adviser on the court for mr. romney, who do you think he's likely to appoint? someone like scalia or someone else on the court far right that would outlaw abortion?

, particularly to women's reproductive choice, than they have been since roe v. wade was decided. the gender gap is also now an animating feature, of course, of the presidential campaign. as we saw in the nbc marist poll that came out yesterday for iowa and wisconsin, the gender gap in both of those states where president obama is leading the gender gap in both those states is 18 points. the republican side knows it desperately needs to close the gender gap if they're going to win this race. the democrats know they are actually really dependent on that gender gap. depend on that gender gap persisting. that as much as anything else in the race is driving what the candidates and campaigns are doing now 18 days out from the presidential election. today, here's how you could tell. >> mr. severely conservative wants you to think he was severely kidding about everything he said over the last year. i mean, he's changing up so much and backtracking and sidestepping. we've got to -- we've got to name this condition that he's going through. i think -- i think it's called romnesia. >> now, do yo

, or what mitt romney, himself, says? >> do i believe supreme court should overturn roe v. wade? yes. and it would be my preference that they reverse roe v. wade. hopefully reverse roe v. wade. overturn roe v. wade. planned parenthood, we're going to get rid of that. i'll cut off funding to planned parenthood. >> no matter what mitt romney's ads say, we know what he'll do. >> in an interview with "rolling stone" magazine president obama was asked if he believes mitt romney will try and undo roe v. wade. "i don't think there's any doubt," the president said. "we know the current supreme court has four members who would overturn roe v. wade. all it takes is one more for that to happen." the longer mitt romney stays silent on this issue the worse he looks. this is an issue of leadership and character which i think he lacks. at least richard mourdock, as much as i disagree with him, has the guts to stand up and say what he believes and then stand by it. the same can never be said for mitt romney. get your cell phones out. i want to know what you think. tonight's question. who do you trus

why he and mitt romney would overturn roe v. wade and make abortion criminal. his issue on rape in particular has people going nuts today for obvious reasons. we'll be covering that in future shows. joe biden also dipped paul ryan in tar and rolled him in feathers on the issue of the stimulus. and mr. ryan's supposed principles on that issue. we talked about that moments ago with chris hayes. but there are two things that i think are hugely important to the presidential campaign that happened last night. two things that i, frankly, never thought we would get to. and that we got to and, boy, howdy, is this new territory. first was this. >> you asked, do i feel free? let me put it to you this way. i earned capital in the campaign, political capital and now i intend to spend it. it is my style. that's what happened in, after the 2000 election. i earned some capital. i've earned capital in this election, and i'm going to spend it for, for, for what i told the people i'd spend it on. which is you've heard the agenda. social security. >> social security, first on the list. when george w.

national policy as clearly as we know the policy of the entire ticket would be to overturn roe v. wade and make abortion illegal. >> if the ticket is elected should those who believe that abortion should remain legal be worried? >> we don't think that unelected judges should make this decision, that people, through their elected representatives in reaching a consensus in society for the democratic process

an op-ed called "my pro-life pledge," romney called roe versus wade bad law and bad medicine and a misguided ruling. romney told mike huckabee he wants the ruling overturned and wants the constitution changed. >> would you have supported the constitutional amendment that would have established the definition of life at conception? >> absolutely. >> take the republican party at its word. they say they will legislate their morality and their faith on the american people, if they have the chance. i think you ought to believe them. compare this with the position articulated by the vice president of the united states, joe biden, during his recent debate with paul ryan. >> my religion defines who i am. and i've been a practicing catholic my whole life. and it has particularly informed my social doctrine. i accept my church's position on abortion is as what we call defeat doctrine. life begins at conception. that's the church's judgment. i accept it in my personal life. but i refuse to impose it on equally devout christians and muslims and jews, and i just refuse to impose that on others.

comes to his desk that overturns roe versus wade, that he will be fully supportive of that. >> romney's own vice presidential candidate has introduced legislation to restrict abortion. reporters asked paul ryan if he's on the same page with romney. >> our position's unified. our position's consistent and that hasn't changed. >> what is your position? >> you'll find -- i'm sure you'll find out in these debates. >> were you upset that he said that to -- >> no, no position change. our position's very consistent. >> romney could only dodge the question so much. the campaign went into full spin mode. romney's spokeswoman, andrea saul, had to mop it up again. she gave a statement to the conservative "national review"." governor romney would of course support legislation aimed at providing greater protections for life." tony perkins got on the phone to say, don't worry, romney made a gaffe, this is not a change of position at all. perkins confirmed the campaign called and assured him romney wasn't changing his support for pro-life issues. romney himself tried to dig himself out of a hole. >> i

worried. ryan wants to legislate roe v. wade on a state level and severely limit access to abortion services. yet, just days ago, mitt romney told "the des moines register" newspaper that he would not push for any anti-choice measures. >> there's no legislation with regards to abortion that i'm familiar with that would become part of my agenda. >> and, of course, the romney campaign quickly walked that back and allowed ryan to articulate its knew investigation for women's rights. >> the policy of a romney administration will be to oppose abortion with the exceptions for rape, incest, and life of the mother. >> but if creating policy was solely up to paul ryan, there would be no exceptions. the legislation he co-sponsored proves it. vice president biden called him out on it. >> my friend says that he -- well, i guess he accepts governor romney's position now because in the past he has argued that there was rape, enforceable rape. he's argued in the case of rape or incest it would be a crime to engage in having an abortion. i just fundamentally disagree with my friend. >> joe biden is

to tell you the dangers to roe v. wade under our opponent's policies. >> welcome back to "the ed show." bruce springsteen, the boss, speaking out for women in ohio today. meanwhile the romney campaign sent their top surrogate to speak on women's issues on "the view." ann romney appeared mittless earlier. her husband canceled on the show earlier this week citing scheduling conflicts. so it was up to mrs. romney to deliver the campaign's message to women. >> women are going to have a choice. i mean, it's clear. if you really want to make a choice, and if those choices are about reproductive rights, that's your choice. if they're about economic issues and making a better future for your children and making sure that we have this, and that's the beauty of what we have in this country is being able to have those choices. >> well, it seems to me they want to eliminate choice. yet, romney still won't clarify where he stands on a major economic issue. and that is equal pay for equal work. on tuesday night romney ignored a question about fair pay. he talked about binders full of women ins