Romney's Commitment to Religious Freedom

On October 3, 2012 Romney said the federal government’s role was to support the Constitution – he believes in maintaining our commitment to religious tolerance and freedom. On September 11 Romney said in Nevada “I will not take God out of my heart, I will not take God out of the public square and I will not take it out of my platform of my Party”. This statement doesn’t show a tolerance for religions other than Christianity. Back on October 25, 1994 in a debate for the US Senate Romney said “I believe abortion should be safe and legal in this country” and Ted Kennedy said: “I have supported the Roe v. Wade, I am pro choice; my opponent is multiple choice.” Kennedy made this remark because Romney supported abortion rights when he first became Massachusetts governor, but he changed his position while in office and he was again changing his position.

In a June 2011 opinion piece headlined "My Pro-Life Pledge" published in the National Review Online Romney writes "I will advocate for and support a Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act to protect unborn children who are capable of feeling pain from abortion". In that piece Romney also expressed his support for overturning Roe v. Wade, disavowing federal funds from being spent on abortions and said he would nominate judges in line with his views. He held with this stance in the January 7 debate Romney saying “Do I believe that the Supreme Court should overturn Roe v Wade – Yes” and in March in an interview with St. Louis KDSK in which he said “Planned Parenthood – we’re gonna get rid of that”. Now, on October 9 in an interview with the Des Moines, Iowa Register Romney said “There is no legislation with regards to abortion that I am familiar with that would become part of my agenda. One thing I would change, however, which would be done by executive order, not by legislation, is that I'd reinstate the Mexico City policy which is that foreign aid dollars from the US would not be used to carry out abortion in other countries."

But Romney’s lack of religious freedom goes further. Back in August 2011 Romney signed the National Organization for Marriage pledge which means he’s committed to backing a US constitutional amendment against same-sex marriage, defending the Defense of Marriage Act in court, and appointing judges and a US Attorney General who will support the definition of marriage as between a man and a woman. On January 7 Romney said “Domestic partnership or contractual relationships can be addressed state by state” for Gays. Romney also said the 1965 Supreme Court ruling in Griswold v Connecticut–the Court decided that states cannot prohibit the use of contraceptives as it violated a person’s right to privacy which is protected by the Constitution - that’s the law of the land and if we don’t like it we have the amendment process; we should have an amendment defining marriage as between a man and a woman and he believed the Griswold v Connecticut along with Roe v Wade (1973) were decided incorrectly. There will be no birth control if ObamaCare is repealed even though an October study found birth control reduced teen births and abortions.