Obama says Romney, GOP ‘out of touch' on women's health issues

The Associated Press: Obama Makes Health Care Appeal To Female Voters
Casting his re-election along gender lines, President Barack Obama told hundreds of female supporters Friday that Republicans seem determined to meddle in women's health decisions in ways that are "appalling, offensive and out of touch." A recent fight over contraception access, Obama said, was like "being in a time machine." "These are folks who claim to believe in freedom from government interference and meddling -; it doesn't seem to bother them when it comes to a woman's health," Obama said during early evening remarks at a women's issues conference (Kuhnhenn, 4/27).

The Hill: Obama Bashes Romney, GOP As 'Being In A Time Machine' On Women's Issues
President Barack Obama said Friday that Republican positions on women's health issues were "appalling" and "offensive" and equated an effort to block his regulation to mandate free contraception to like "being in a time machine" during a blistering speech at the Women's Leadership Forum in Washington on Friday. The president's re-election team has made a push for female voters a key priority in his campaign strategy, and Obama sought to portray his legislative successes on health care as a boon for American women (Sink, 4/27).

USA Today: Obama Criticizes Romney, GOP On Women's Issues
President Obama continued his press for women voters on Friday, arguing that GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney and GOP lawmakers want to turn back the clock on key issues important to women (Madhani, 4/27).

Los Angeles Times: Obama: GOP On Women's Health Like 'Being In A Time Machine'
Obama also pointed to the efforts in state legislatures to place new restrictions on abortion, singling out Virginia's attempt, ultimately unsuccessful, to require an invasive ultrasound before a woman could have the procedure. He paraphrased the Republican governor of Pennsylvania, who said a woman who didn't like the procedure could "close your eyes." "It's appalling. It's offensive. It's out of touch," he said. "Women across America aren't closing their eyes. As long as I'm president, I won't either. The days of male politicians controlling the healthcare decisions of our wives and our mothers and our daughters and our sisters -- that needs to come to an end" (Memoli, 4/27).

Politico: Obama: Mitt Romney 'Backward' On Women
Romney's campaign said that Obama used his speech "to offer the same empty rhetoric and broken promises" to women that he laid out in 2008. "After more than three years of the President's failed economic policies and nearly a million more unemployed women workers, women voters – like all Americans – realize we can't afford four more years of President Obama," campaign spokeswoman Amanda Henneberg said in a statement (Epstein, 4/27).

Meanwhile, Romney lashed out at the president earlier.

Bloomberg: Romney Focuses On Economy Vying With Obama For Youth Vote
Romney told his ... audience (at Otterbein University in Westerville, a suburb of Columbus) that Obama's concentration on passing the overhaul of the health-care system when he first took office and the escalation of U.S. deficits have put the country "on track to becoming Greece," with its debt crisis (Niquette, 4/27).

The Washington Post: Romney Aide: Obama's Campaign Like 'Gyrating, Intermittent Lawn Sprinklers'
Romney's campaign manager, Matt Rhoades, in the memo compared President Obama's campaign to "one of those gyrating, intermittent lawn sprinklers, spewing out attacks in seemingly random directions, hoping to get somebody wet somewhere but hoping even more to talk about anything but the unemployment rate, federal debt, gas prices, or rising health insurance premiums" (Sonmez, 4/27).