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 specific named anti-abortion legislation that he would advocate for and sup

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 republican party is fighting about now is not whether the government should be able to force women to bear children against their will. they totally agree that that is

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 aio

of mitt romney's abortion position. >> seeing this from mitt romney, then take a look at this. >> if roe v. wade was overturned congress passed a federal ban on all abortions and it came to your desk would you sign it? >> let me say it, i'd be delighted to sign that bill. >> banning all abortions? >> i'd be delighted to sign that bill. >> trying to mislead us, that's wrong. ban all abortions? only if you vote for him. >> this is the seventh ad that the obama campaign put out on this subject. what you saw at the beginning of the ad, what they're referencing there when they say see this, right? what they're references there, for the first time, though the obama campaign has been hammering them on this issue all year long, for the first time, the romney campaign, the other side, has finally put out one of its own ads defending mr. romney on this issue. sort of defending him. >> you know, those ads saying mitt romney would ban all abortions and contraceptions seemed a bit extreme. so i looked into it. turns out, romney doesn't oppose contraception at all. in fact, he thinks abortion should b

would be his national policy as clearly as we know the policy of the entire ticket would be to overturn roe vs 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

paul ryan broke new ground on saying how and 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 what i told the people i'd spend it on. which is you've heard the agenda. social security and -- >>