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Women criticize Senator Brown’s record

Democrats blast GOP ‘agenda’ on gender issues

Senator Scott BrownAP/File

A group of 22 female Massachusetts legislators and one Boston city councilor are writing Monday to Senator Scott Brown, saying the Republican has voted against women and they plan to make state voters aware of it.

“We know where you have voted against women on the issues that matter to us most, and we know that you and your Republican party will move to restrict our economic and reproductive rights if you take control of the US Senate and the White House,” they said.

They echo statements made last week by Elizabeth Warren, Brown’s Democratic opponent, in the aftermath of Missouri Republican Todd Akin’s “legitimate rape” comment.

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“Your record is clear,” said the women, including City Councilor Ayanna Pressley and state Senator Katherine Clark of Melrose. “We also know that you have endorsed Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan and are working to help them win the White House to enact their agenda, which would be devastating for women.”

Republican Kerry Healey, who was Romney’s lieutenant governor and is now an adviser on his presidential campaign, said in a statement that Warren and other Democrats are acting out of “desperation” following poll numbers released last week showing Brown was leading the race by five points.

“My message to you today is simple: Please stop trying to scare female voters,” Healey wrote. “They deserve better than this mudslinging and distortion from you and your allies.”

Brown, she said, “is prochoice, and believes that a woman should be able to make this difficult decision in consultation with her doctor.”

Healey said Brown has urged Republicans “to be more inclusive and accepting of the prochoice point of view,” and that he “was the first Republican national leader to call on Akin to get out of the race.”


Glen Johnson can be reached at johnson@globe.com.

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