E-Mail This Article to a Friend REPRO RIGHTS Romney throws the Right a bone BY DEIRDRE FULTON

Governor Mitt Romney issued a one-two punch this week in his quest to show the country he’s a true conservative. In less than 24 hours, he vetoed a bill that would expand access to emergency contraception (EC) in Massachusetts, and then reaffirmed (or stated for the first time) his pro-life stance in a Boston Globe opinion piece.

"The bill does not involve only the prevention of conception: The drug it authorizes would also terminate life after conception," Romney stated in the July 26 op-ed, written to explain his action on the EC Bill (see "An Easier Morning After," This Just In, July 22), which would allow pharmacists to dispense EC without a prescription, and require all hospitals in the state to offer EC to survivors of sexual assault.

Romney argued that the highly concentrated contraceptive dose — which works within five days after unprotected sex to slow ovulation, or prevent fertilization or implantation of a fertilized egg in the uterus — can induce abortion. That claim has been refuted by doctors and activists, who insist that if a woman is pregnant, EC has no effect.

Some suggested his motivation was more national than local, designed to court conservatives in other parts of the country in preparation for a presidential run in 2008.

"I think the governor is more concerned with the Iowa caucus-goers than with the health of women in the Commonwealth," says Melissa Kogut, the executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts.

Romney also contended that the EC Bill "disregards ... the seriousness of abortion." In fact, the bill does just the opposite, women’s-rights advocates say: EC helps reduce abortions — a bipartisan goal — by preventing unintended pregnancies.

Noticeably absent in Romney’s opinion was any mention of how his veto might affect rape victims. "It’s a very serious disappointment," says Mary Lauby, executive director of Jane Doe Inc., the statewide coalition against sexual assault and domestic violence. With his veto, the governor tuned out "a serious call for help from survivors of rape."

Luckily for them and all Massachusetts women, both houses of the legislature have enough votes to override the gubernatorial veto.