Romney 'very proud' of Mass. health care law

Mitt Romney is embracing his Massachusetts health care law in response to President Barack Obama’s attacks that Republicans have declared a ‘war on women.’

“I’m the guy who was able to get all the health care for all the women and men for my state,” Romney said in an interview aired on 'Fox News Sunday.' “They were talking about it at the federal level. We actually did something and we did it without cutting Medicare and without raising taxes.”

Romney added that he was “very proud” of his signature on the 2006 law when he was governor of Massachusetts, while charging that Obama would cut more than $700 million from Medicare to pay for the Affordable Care Act.

The presumptive Republican presidential nominee invoked his work on health care in Massachusetts in response to a question about women's health issues -- a sore spot for Republicans after Missouri GOP Senate candidate Todd Akin’s “legitimate rape” remarks. President Barack Obama's campaign has been on offense on the Missouri lawmaker's statement for more than a week, but Romney noted that he's also urged Akin to drop out of the race against Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.).

“Oh, I think it was a terrible statement on his part,” he said. “I think it was uninformed. I think it was outrageous and offensive."

“I think I have distanced myself from the kind of thing he said as far as I possibly can," Romney added. "He was wrong. And it’s obviously being used by Democrats to try to cast a shadow on our entire party and it’s not. Leaders of our party have pretty much unanimously said, 'Mr. Akin get out of the race. You’ve said something which is highly offensive.' ”

Asked if the Obama campaign would be effective in attaching Akin's name to the Romney-Paul Ryan ticket, Romney replied, “It really is sad, isn’t it? With all the issues that America faces, for the Obama campaign to continue to stoop to such a low level. They understand and they are wise enough to understand that people like myself who have asked him to get out of the race because we vehemently disagree with what he said and believe it hurts out party and I think is damaging to women.”