Planned Parenthood endorses Obama, releases anti-Romney ad (VIDEO)

The Planned Parenthood Action Fund, the advocacy and political arm of the Planned Parenthood Foundation, endorsed President Barack Obama for re-election today, the Los Angeles Times reported.

“There is no greater champion for women’s health than President Obama and Planned Parenthood Action Fund couldn’t be prouder to endorse his re-election as president today,” Cecile Richards, president of the fund, said, according to the LA Times. “The contrast with Mitt Romney couldn’t be starker. Planned Parenthood Action Fund is committed to ensuring that voters know how wrong Mitt Romney is for women – in his own words.”

It’s not a surprise move, the LA Times noted, given that GOP candidate Mitt Romney has pledged to eliminate government funding for Planned Parenthood clinics if he is elected president.

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However the national women’s healthcare organization is adding oomph to its endorsement by spending $1.4 million to run an anti-Romney ad in West Palm Beach, Fla., Des Moines, Iowa, Washington, DC, and the northern Virginia suburbs, the New York Times reported.

According to the New York Times:

That represents a threefold increase over the group’s total spending during the 2008 campaign.

“This is just the beginning,” Dawn Laguens, the group’s executive vice president, told the New York Times. “This is a very small down payment on what we intend to do to make sure people are very clear where the candidates stand.”

While a CBS News poll from earlier in May showed that Romney had caught up to Obama among women voters, a recent NBC/ Marist poll shows Obama is leading among women voters in the battleground states of Florida, Ohio and Virginia, CBS News reported.

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