A caller tonight said she liked the Mitt Romney/Paul Ryan ticket because -- wait for it -- both men were good looking. She wasn't joking. Then she said she voted for President Obama four years ago because "she got caught up with the black thing." Yet another reason why there should be a test before Americans can vote...

At the Republican National Convention this afternoon, party members approved a platform that would ban all abortions and gay marriages. The stance is in line with the views of candidates Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan, who both want to overturn Roe v. Wade and eliminate funding to Planned Parenthood.

Democrats call the GOP platform an attack on women. At a news conference in New York City today, several female elected officials unveiled a "top ten list" of ways the Romney/Ryan ticket is bad for American women. Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney said their views on abortion, fair pay, family planning and day care would "take women backwards." What do you say?

Do you support the Romney/Ryan stance on women's issues? Are they "bad for American women?" How big of a role does a woman's right to choose play in deciding who to vote for?

Send your thoughts using the link above.

Two things about Paul Ryan that I have heard few, if any, people talk about.

1. His "readiness" to take over for the President in a worst case scenario. Usually this is the main topic vis a vis vice presidential candidates, but I haven't heard anyone discuss it w/regard to Ryan.

2. Ryan's budget proposal would cut Medicaid money from Fed. government to states. I haven't heard anyone discuss how states might deal with this. For instance, in New York, with many many Medicaid recipients, would it result in higher state and local income taxes to make up the difference? Isn't this worth discussing, especially if reducing the deficit and taxes at the federal level is just increasing them at the state level?

Ellie - Turtle Bay

Unbelievable but completely believable these people do not want anyone except White upper middle class men get anywhere in this world we are on a path to destruction and Romney/Ryan are the devil that was fortold we have all been warned Women if you don't think it will happen try them Vote them in and we will see what happens

Good luck to everyone
Jim
UWS

Why must the Republican party be so cruel and harsh in their thinking? Enough already. How can anyone be so sure they are the only ones that are right? Republicans are firing voters through voter supression laws...guess firing comes easy to Romney.

Bobbie
Sheepshead Bay

It certainly is an attack on women and the LGBT community.They are going so backwards that it is almost laughable.

Rosalie from Canarsie, who is currently in New Orleans waiting out Hurricane Isaac.

As far as Roe v. Wade goes, speaking as a 50+ woman, I believe it's time has come, women today have more reliable means of pregnancy prevention then we had back then, planned parenthood/family planning on the other hand is quite a different matter especially for low income women with teenage girls who may run the risk of rape they need the resources these establishments provide. No day care? They don't believe women should be working moms? They believe in federal subsidizing? When did they become democrats? Fair pay stands for itself.

Terry, Queens

John,

I think a woman's right to choose is a personal issue but for these guys to say they have that right to make a law against it is down right nuts. So, I guess Romney/Ryan have babies, periods, menopause, etc. so they feel they control everything. That is really interesting. If I was an undecided voter, female, middle class, poor, had no children, had children I would not vote for a male regardless of what party affiliation with this kind of thinking.

Jeanne
Brooklyn, NY

NOT ONLY THE GAY MARRIAGE ISSUE AND THE ATTACK ON WOMEN AND THEIR RIGHTS, THERE IS TALK OF DISMANTLING PUBLIC TRANSIT THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY. WHICH MEANS IT WOULD BE ALMOST IM POSSIBLE TO GET TO WORK IN A METROPOLIS OF 1 MILLION PEOPLE OR MORE. PROGRESS? I THINK NOT.

JOE, BAY TERRACE

John,

Both Republican and Democratic parties are in one respect or another anti-woman. Women do not have equal rights, mainly nowadays in the area of sex. The Republicans want women's bodies and their sexual actions under control of the government. The Republican party violates the rights of women.

A fetuses have no rights because it is not separately existing from its mother. It gains rights upon the gillionth second of delivery and separation from the mother. Prior that instant, the fetus is nothing more than a piece of the mother. Put crudely, fetal has no more rights than fecal matter.

The Republicans are hung up on the status of women in the bible, basically still to this age, as servants of man. That, along with the bible, needs to be flushed down the nearest toilet.

Democrats want to force, by law, anyone and everyone who is involved in medical matters and insurance companies to provide and pay for abortions and any medicine associated with it. This is the Democratic party's form of
slavery: coercing you to take action against your moral principles. The Democrats violate the rights of women and men in this process.

Joe
Port Richmond, SI

Republicans love to brag about how they achieved so much on their own. Of course they did! They had civil rights, voting rights and all the privileges of the first come, first serve pioneering legacy. Most of the Rich, like Donald Trump, had his "Daddy" to get his start, when people of color couldn't get equal educational, financial and business opportunities. Almost all of the so-called generational benefactors of an unfair system, had ancestors who came to America not in chains, not enslaved, not with families torn apart and sold to the Rich and not had "Federal" and State laws holding them back, for over two-hundred years!

Tout

The Republican agenda: wire hanger abortions. Women under submission. Seniors eating cat food. No living wages for anybody. Really??? Obama 2012.

Jimmy from the Bronx

These issues have everything to do with who I vote for, as not just a woman myself but a fierce human rights advocate. It is alarming how high the stakes are against these so-called women's issues. The backlash on our rights has reached a crazed frenzy, and our options are becoming increasingly limited. This upcoming election is a call to action, we cannot take it for granted!

Rosalia, Inwood

The only good thing about that platform , in a skewed way, is that hopefully it will alienate the hopefully progressive republicans out there.. It is an outrageous platform that disregards the rights of women and men alike. The key word is choice, which they are attempting to take away. Welcome to the darker ages..

Christine
West Brighton, S.I.

The Republican representative who spoke on the show made it clear where women stand with the Republicans - nowhere. not even to be considered an important population, their health issues not a priority. focus on jobs and the economy, forget about women! perfect. let's listen to Ann Romney talk about her 5 kids and 18 grandchildren and the challenges of being a stay at home mom when your husband doesn't have to work because he's a billionaire. love it

meryl from manhattan

abortion is not inly a womens right. Its a family right.

Don

I Support a women's Right to choose but not over the living breathing body within her.
She is the host. of a human being entitled to the God given enalianable right to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness. To destroy the human body is no different than the nazis. or the WASP Who declare Black as property.

PEACE!
Deacon Ken

I believe in the sanctity of life from conception until natural death. Abortion rights advocates use euphemisms such as "women's health issue" and "choice" to sugar coat the ugly fact that abortion is homicide, plain and simple.

--Regina, Forest Hills

It's not fair that we feel that child rights apply to when I child will be circumcised but we don't feel a child in the womb of a woman has rights Anyone who see this as a woman's choice is wrong. And to be honest anyone heo claims to be Christian (like Obama) should be ashamed supporting this activity I don't think we are going backwards by saying a child in the womb is a child and alive. It's acknowledging life.

Acknowledge life.

Joy
Jamaica

Hey my name is Ashley from Brooklyn. I disagree with Romney decisions regarding women issues we should have a chose whether to have a abortion. Especially young women like me who make mistakes and other things that happen to women thats unfortunate. I still agree with president Obama plan.

This is simply just a war on women -- what happen to the economy? To run a platform for overturning Roe v. Wade just gives more credibility to Joe Biden's statement that the Republican party wants to go back "40 years" in time. I guess days of the coat hangers are really where the Repulican/Tea Party really want to go. My question for Mitt Romney & Paul Ryan is what is their stance on "legitimate rape"? How does a women's body stop this -- please explain? No they can not distance themselves from Todd Atkin's remarks because Mitt Romney's chosen Vice President, Paul Ryan is ultimately the Tea Party!

Lisa
UES

I think us as women fought before for our rights and now they are trying to take them again from us we have babies having babies we need these choices u want to talk about economy and population we eliminate abortion it's going to be worst how can you tell someone when and how to have a baby we have people who use protection and get pregnant we have people who can't afford to support a child better yet support them selves look at bathe numbers of kids we have in the system today look at the people who are killing their kids putting babies behind building in garbage cans now could u imagine how it would be look at today and think about the future why would you force a person to be a parent we have a bunch of dead beat mothers and fathers out here already don't force statistic

Fantasia, Harlem

If we take away a womans rights of deciding if an unwanted pregnancy for any reason we will start seeing more babies being abandoned during their first year of life and not necessarily at a firehouse.

Cathy M.

As I can see, as a relatively intelligent Staten Islander, I see 2 things:

1 - The current republicans are basically UNDOING almost everything the original Founding Fathers' CONSTITUTION and 1776 Revolution was based upon - Freedom from specfiic religious adherence and requirement. The 2 main writers of the Constitution MANDATED - No religion in Government!!

2 - I absolutely and honestly believe there is an attempt to ignite a Race war. No IFs and or BUTs about it. This country may become a parody if.......

Thanks,
Clove Lakes, SI, NY

Are they going to have a witch burning on the closing night too? This is their platform to help reform the economy and the problems that plague this country? Women's rights to choose and the right of Gay marriage might just be the tip of the iceberg, are they planning to revoke Black Americans rights to vote too? Like I have said to other people before about the comments made by Akin, while totally out of whack and irresponsible, they probably were a true representation of what Romney and Ryan are running their ticket on. All those people worried about Obama and Socialism need to really worry about the Corporate run dystopia the Republicans want the United States to become.

RL
The Bronx

Good Evening John,

I am a woman and I disagree with the Republican stance on women's rights (I am also afraid of caller Elaine and voters like her who are fixated on candidates' looks!). However, women's rights is not the sole, deciding issue that will inform my vote. No one should vote solely on women's rights issues. We must understand the candidates' positions on all important issues. What will inform the way I vote? Right now, I'm living check to check. My father has been out of work for three years. I dread having to fill up my gas tank, but I need a car to get to my second job which I need to pay my rent. I am a public school teacher and see the fallout of the crisis in public education. No party has all the solutions and all politicians are liars. However, I think the Obama/Biden ticket effectively understands and addresses the issues that are important to me.

Janelle
Washington Heights

What year is this? At this rate we are going back in time to back alley abortions and A time when homosexuality was considered a mental illness.

Lisa
Cobble Hill

Republicans actually have a better Economic plan, but their Social Agenda, which fatally links Church and State, when this country was founded on Religious freedom, and subverts the rights of Women, the majority voting block, is completely unacceptable. Rolling back women's rights is not just unjust, it is a losing position. Young people, men and women, will reject this. That being said Mr. Obama has not articulated a coherent Economic Plan and ObamaCare is not going to address the looming crisis that Medicare and Medicaid present for this country. These programs do need to be Reformed if we wish to avoid a TARP III. This election is a Report Card on the President and he needs to define his economic plans better.

K. G.

If Mr. Romny does not win the race for "The White House" ..he will certainly when the race for "The Presidency of "China!" ...They'll love him over there!

Arthur

All these pro lifers voted for the last republican president who ordered the killing of 100K Iraqis.

Clay
Brroklyn

How do they intend to identify who's been raped? The number of rape cases will go up for sure and rape accusations will fly. And why hate the gays? What have they done to the republicans? I'd give up the economy for our freedom.

Jeff in the Les

The people that will vote for the Reps should be ashamed of calling their selves Americans. This Country cannot became worst than the Middle East on human beings right's.

Leda
West Village

It's actually the Republicans who are pro-death and are proactively killing children in this country. Republicans fight for gun laws that get a child killed in this country every 3 hours -- that's 8 children killed every day because of Republicans. Republicans have no problem killing those children because guns are a big money making proposition for them. The only reason Republicans pretend to care about people who haven't been born yet is because it's a great opportunity to abuse women and destroy their futures so they don't compete for jobs against Republican men.

Rita

Did anyone ask the republicans about their stand on corporations who send jobs overseas?

Anonymous

Cardinal Dolan's complaint that government mandated contraceptive services violate his church's religious freedom under the Constitution's Free Exercise clause ignores the fact that allowing the church to restrict women's right of access to birth control would likely violate the Establishment Clause by giving religious doctrine the force of law.

Birth control, abortion, and sex between consenting adults regardless of gender have been declared Constitutional rights by the United States Supreme Court in a series of landmark decisions, yet the Republicans speak of these hard won freedoms as if they were bad ideas that have come and gone.

Yes, abortion is a bioethical issue more than a religious one, and the right to have gay sex does not presuppose a right to marry and form healthy nuclear families, but the opposition to contraception is almost entirely theological, based on the biblical mandate to be fruitful and multiply, a view that, in this overcrowded world, is widely regarded as socially irresponsible.

Most enlightened Americans believe that government should stay out of people's pants and bedrooms, and most laissez faire conservatives would probably agree. So the Republican Party's incessant pandering to the religious right on these issues is nothing short of a cheap effort to get votes, while obscuring discussion of the more important problems for which the Republicans have no real solutions.

BIG ANDY
Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn

The romney/Ryan ticket has proved that women have no rights. That Elaine woman who voted for Obama cause he was the first Black President thing, who does that? U elect a President with the potential to improve the country & now she is having buyer's remorse. By the way, President Obama is the right one to lead this country.

Jean

We shouldn't divide ourselves into democrats or republicans. It just creates red tape in getting things done. A normal totalitarian government should be formed and actively face all of our current issues.

-Mehmet
Rego park

I find it interesting that Republicans can stand on a platform and refute Obama care, claiming that the government shouldn't be a part of health care, yet they feel its necessary to limit a womans right to choose on matter relating to that issue. I definitely support a womans right to choose. Every persons situation is different, and a woman should be allowed to make the best decision based on their circumstance. The decision is a personal one, not one that the government to dictate.

Jennifer

Please tell Romney & Ryan to butt out of a women's right to choose! Plan Parenthood was formed for a reason!!! "I know someone whose mother gave her an abortion with a hanger which left her without being able to have children"! Please do not let them have say over a women's right to choose! Have Mercy on their souls! I Love Life and NY1 & Staff members

Good Nite
Carolyn

I'm completely pro choice, but keep in mind that there are many fanatics who feel that abortion should be available at any time before birth. That includes if a woman is 6 months pregnant when the fetus could survive outside of the womb. There is backlash against pro choice partly at the hand of these people. There must be moderation and some rational cutoff time. I anticipate a huge underground for RU486 there will always be a way to terminate an unwanted pregnancy. It is terrible to make this decision even more difficult with government getting involved where it doesn't belong.

Simone - Manhattan

Hi: It's Lakiel from the upper west side.

No body wants to be responsible. The parents don't want to be parents so we get in return a nation of wild undiciplined kids making and killing babies after babies, and exspect the goverment to rais and support them. What's there first stop young and older? Wellfare! As far as education they still lack in that either way teach them as parents to focus on an education wrather than who has the best sex and maybe there lives will be better and they wont be such a strain to society. If you ask th people to stand and fight in a war for this country they will refuse unless ther threatend with jail. But they want this country to support there children with more than adiquet education. Since they disaprove increase the taxes on the things they utilize from this goverment. Then they will wake up.This country has spoiled the people and they don't deserve it.