Washington Post columnist George Will covered up the fact that millions of American women would instantly lose their reproductive freedom if Roe v. Wade is overturned in order to present a more moderate version of Mitt Romney.

Romney has said he would appoint Supreme Court justices committed to overturning Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision recognizing a woman's right to have an abortion, but the right-wing media have repeatedly tried to downplay the harm that a Romney presidency would do to women's rights.

In the latest example of the right-wing media's attempts to soften Romney's abortion stance, Will attacked Vice President Joe Biden for saying during his debate against Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) that “overturning Roe v. Wade would 'outlaw' abortion.” Will asserted: “Actually, this would just restore abortion as a subject for states to regulate as they choose.”

But Will severely understates the effect that overturning Roe would have. According to the Guttmacher Institute, if Roe was overturned, “20 states have laws that could be used to restrict the legal status of abortion.” Of those 20 states, four states -- Louisiana, Mississippi, North Dakota, and South Dakota -- have laws that would automatically criminalize abortion if Roe were to be overturned. The other states either still have pre-Roe abortion bans on the books or have expressed an interest in restricting abortion to the “maximum extent permitted by the U.S. Supreme Court” if Roe were overturned.

Furthermore, Romney himself said in 2007 that if he became president and the Supreme Court overturned Roe, he would be “delighted to sign” a federal ban on all abortions. Romney has also voiced support for the long-time Republican goal of a constitutional amendment that would ban abortions whether or not the Court revisited Roe.

For all of Will's spinning, the fact is that if Roe were overturned, many women would lose their reproductive rights and, if Romney had his way, the federal government would put in place a nationwide ban on abortion.