Sen. Scott Brown's (R-Mass.) campaign released a new ad on Friday that touts the candidate's "pro-choice" values and support for equal pay, despite the fact that Brown has voted in favor of anti-birth control legislation and against the Paycheck Fairness Act.
In the ad, a Massachusetts woman discusses her support for Brown. "Scott Brown is pro choice, and he supports a woman's right to choose," she says. "I like that Scott Brown is independent, he really thinks for himself. His record shows that he supports women, he supports families. When my daughters grow up, I want to make sure that they have good jobs with equal pay, and I know Scott Brown will fight for that."
The ad is somewhat misleading. Scott Brown voted with his GOP colleagues to block the Paycheck Fairness Act in June. He supported the controversial Blunt amendment, which would allow any employer to deny contraception coverage its to workers, and he was recently endorsed by Massachusetts Citizens for Life.
"We consider him a senator who votes pro-life," said Anne Fox, president of the Massachusetts Citizens for Life, in August. "We have to take his word for it when he says he is pro-choice. But what we’re looking for is someone who votes pro-life, and he does."
But Brown has been trying to distance himself from the Republican Party platform, and even wrote a letter to Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus in August lamenting the fact that the personhood amendment in the GOP platform alienates members like himself. "You can be pro-choice and still be a good Republican," he complained.
The progressive women's advocacy group EMILY's List, who has endorsed Brown's Democratic opponent, Elizabeth Warren, accused Brown on Friday of "straight-up lying" to voters about his record on women's issues and demanded that he apologize.
“Brown apparently has so little respect for Massachusetts women that he thinks his stunning dishonesty will earn him their votes,” said Stephanie Schriock, President of EMILY’s List. “Unfortunately for Scott Brown, women are a lot smarter than that. This ad is appalling and voters know it. Brown should take it down and apologize."
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