CSM on Obama v. Romney

I found an interesting article in the Christian Science Monitor about the sharpest differences between Obama and Romney. CSM is considered a fairly unbiased news source that focuses on reporting facts, so it's worth a look. Here are some of the highlights of differences between the candidates on women's issues:

Women's Issues

• Healthcare
• Obamacare guarantees insurance coverage for women's preventive care like mammograms, prenatal care, well-woman visits, domestic-violence screening, breast-feeding supplies, and contraception.
• Romney would repeal Obamacare and leave it to individual states to decide what to cover.
• Contraception
• Obamacare requires that health insurance plans cover contraception, although religious institutions are exempted.
• Romney would repeal Obamacare and eliminate federal funding to Planned Parenthood (the nation's largest provider of reproductive health services including cancer screening; contraception accounts for 35% of their services). He supports a constitutional amendment that life begins at conception, calling into question whether access to IUDs and morning-after pills would be restricted.
• Abortion
• Obama supports a woman's right to choose abortion.
• Romney oppposes except in cases of rape, incest or a threat to life of the mother. The Republican Party goes further and opposes abortion without exceptions.
• Equal Pay
• Obama opposes wage discrimination and signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act & he also supports the Paycheck Fairness Act.
• Romney has not taken a stand on this issue.
• Domestic Abuse
• Obama supports re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act of 1994 (VAWA) plus expanded coverage for native Americans, gays, and illegal immigrants.
• Romney supports the original VAWA, but not the expansion.