NOW fundraises off ‘dangerous’ Republican presidential ticket

The National Organization for Women (NOW) is calling Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan the “most dangerous men in America” and passing the hat for efforts to defeat them in November.

In a fundraising email, NOW says the presumptive GOP presidential ticket “spells danger” for women, a crucial voting bloc for any candidate seeking the White House.

{mosads}”Women are the targets or the disproportionate casualties in virtually every policy Romney and Ryan propose,” writes NOW President Terry O’Neill.

Issues significant to women, particularly in healthcare, have been at the forefront of the 2012 campaign as debates rage over Planned Parenthood, House abortion bills, and the Obama administration’s mandate on birth control coverage.

The selection of Rep. Ryan (Wis.) as Romney’s running mate is not likely to end those fights. Ryan, the House Budget Committee chairman, is staunchly anti-abortion, and his selection has already prompted attacks by groups such as EMILY’s List and Planned Parenthood Action Fund.

The Obama campaign signaled Saturday that it too is prepared to target Ryan on women’s issues, tweeting that he once co-sponsored a bill that would outlaw common forms of birth control.

Opposition to Ryan’s proposed changes to Medicare and Medicaid is also being used to bid for women’s votes. In NOW’s fundraising email, O’Neill writes that Ryan’s selection highlights “the very essence” of Romney’s campaign for president: “slashing” entitlements.

“With your help,” she says, “[we] will be dogging Romney-Ryan on the campaign trail, mobilizing to expose the disproportionate impact on women of their positions on Medicare, Medicaid [and] Social Security.” 

Romney’s campaign, focusing on the administration’s economic record, argues that Obama’s first four years “haven’t been kind to women.”

“Hundreds of thousands of women have lost their jobs, poverty among women is highest in nearly two decades and half of recent graduates can’t find a good job. Middle-class families have struggled in the Obama economy, and Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan have a plan to strengthen the middle class and get our country back on the right track,” campaign spokeswoman Amanda Henneberg told The Hill on Tuesday.