In an interview with Joanna Brooks, Mormon feminist Judy Dushku reflects on her personal experience with Romney, who had been her bishop and stake president in the Belmont, MA, community. Her account offers insight into both Romney's earlier pro-choice views and how, even in the early 1990s, political calculation shaped his platform:
When I entered the office, there was a table to my right where I saw women from the ward working. I said, “Hi,” and he asked, “What brings you here?” I told him I was interested in politics, that I heard he was taking a pro-choice stance [in his Senate race], and that I was wondering if, as a Democrat and fellow Mormon, maybe I could work for him…. “Yes, I’m definitely for choice,” he said. And I said, “Great, we agree on that.” Then, he said, “In Salt Lake, they told me it was okay to take that position in a liberal state.” I said, “That doesn’t make me quite as happy. I’d rather know you really believe it….” And that’s why I continued to try to understand his point on the issue. I asked, “What about women who might be on public assistance?” He said, “I would never have the state provide for abortion.” I said, “For a lot of Massachusetts women that won’t work.” He got very restless and stood up and said, “I am pro-choice; is there something else?”
Dushku paints Romney as having "disinterest and a certain attitude toward frivolousness of women's issues" that exist on a personal, as well as policy, level:
I’ve told reporters [looking for "the dirt" on Romney] they were barking up the wrong tree. Mitt is a loyal husband, and he is conscientious. But he is incredibly entitled and feels like his story is the most important. If you were ever at a ward party and sat down with your plate of food and found yourself at a table with Mitt and five other men, you would just expect that you wouldn’t be in the conversation. No one was particularly unkind, but there was an in-group made of up those who were in the circle of male leaders—many Harvard Business School types—and their wives. I was spouseless, and I didn’t live in Belmont, but Watertown, which is economically less privileged. I tried and always came to church, but it was often awkward….. [Referring to interviews she gave about Romney's abortion stance during his Senate run,] it was not that I had specific horrible stories to tell, it was that I felt people should know that he was not a caring man, particularly when it came to women. He once said to me, “Judy, I don’t know why you keep coming to church. You are not my kind of Mormon.”
Previous coverage of Romney's appeal to women – or lack thereof – here and here.
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