(CNN) — President Barack Obama on Friday chided recent state efforts to enact tougher abortion laws and became the first sitting president to address Planned Parenthood when he spoke at a gala for the group.
“When you read about some of these laws, you want to check the calendar. You want to make sure you’re still living in 2013,” he said at the event held in Washington.
He cited North Dakota’s anti-abortion measure signed into law last month, which bans most abortions after six weeks, when a fetal heartbeat can be first detected. Arkansas lawmakers also passed a bill this year that prohibits abortions after 12 weeks.
Alabama, Indiana, and Virginia have recently worked to push laws that raise requirements for abortion clinics, making abortions more difficult.
The president pointed to an initiative rejected by voters in Mississippi in November 2011 that would have defined life as starting at conception, and outlawed abortion and many forms of birth control if passed. Obama characterized the ballot proposal as “absurd” and “an assault on women’s rights.”
“And that’s why when the people of Mississippi were given a chance to vote on that initiative, they turned it down,” he said. “And Mississippi is a conservative state.”
Abortion was legalized in all 50 states in 1973 by the U.S. Supreme Court. Statutory time limits on when abortions can take place, however, vary from state to state.
Planned Parenthood advocacy groups played a key role in the president’s re-election campaign last year, spending about $15 million in an election year that saw an unexpected focus on social issues, including contraception and abortion.
His campaign released multiple ads attacking Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney for proposing to cut government funding to the group.
“When politicians try to turn Planned Parenthood into a punching bag…When they talk about cutting off funding, let’s be clear, they’re talking about telling many of those women, you’re on your own. They’re talking about shutting those women out at a time when they may need it most.”
“The fact is, after decades of progress, there’s still those who want to turn back the clock,” he added.
He used the address to promote the Affordable Care Act, urging the audience to educate women on some of the benefits included in the reform.
Notably absent from his remarks was mention of the high-profile murder trial underway of Kermit Barron Gosnell, a Philadelphia doctor accused of performing illegal late-term abortions. Gosnell faces four first-degree murder counts.
Authorities allege that some of the infants were born viable and alive during the sixth, seventh and eighth months of pregnancy, but were killed with scissors that were used to cut their spinal cords.
The anti-abortion group Susan B. Anthony List responded to the president’s remarks.
“President Obama blatantly ignored this inconvenient truth about the abortion industry’s horrific lack of oversight, and disparaged the pro-life advocates who wake up each morning with the goal of saving the lives of unborn children and women from the pain of abortion,” Marjorie Dannenfelser, the group’s president, said in a statement.
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said earlier this month that while Obama was “aware” of the case, “the president does not and cannot take a position on an ongoing trial.”
The gala was originally planned for Thursday evening but was rescheduled for Friday to allow the president and first lady more time in West, Texas, where they attended the memorial service for 12 slain fire fighters in last week’s fertilizer plant explosion.
The gala was originally planned for Thursday evening but was rescheduled for Friday to allow the president and first lady more time in West, Texas, where they attended the memorial service for 12 slain fire fighters in last week’s fertilizer plant explosion.
Friday’s event was held to honor Los Angeles Mayor Anthony Villaraigosa, HBO ‘Girls’ creator Lena Dunham and Dr. Ruth Westheimer. Dunham starred in a controversial web video for Obama’s campaign last year, in which she compared a person’s first time voting to losing one’s virginity.
Obama concluded his remarks vowing to keep fighting for the organization.
“No matter how great the challenge, no matter how fierce the opposition, if there’s one thing the past few years have shown, it’s that Planned Parenthood is not going anywhere,” he said.
