US election 2012: Mitt Romney ‘forced Mormon church member to risk death by giving birth’

As Boston “stake president”, Mr Romney led a church region
comparable to a Roman Catholic diocese. The book claims that in 1990, he
told a congregant with five children that she must not abort her sixth
pregnancy even though doctors warned a pelvic blood clot meant giving birth
might kill her and the infant.

“As your bishop, my concern is with the child,” Mr Romney reportedly
told the woman, who said she was left “helpless, hurt and frightened”.
Church policy allowed for abortions under serious health risks.

“At a time when I would have appreciated nurturing and support from
spiritual leaders and friends, I got judgment, criticism, prejudicial
advice, and rejection,” the unnamed woman said. Mr Romney – ironically
later criticised for not being sufficiently anti-abortion as a governor –
claimed “no memory” of the incident.

As a ward bishop in 1983, Mr Romney allegedly also told Peggie Hayes, a
pregnant 23-year-old single mother, to give up her second child for adoption
because “a successful marriage is unlikely.” He reportedly told
her: “You could be excommunicated for failing to follow the leadership
of the church”.

Mr Romney denies threatening excommunication. Miss Hayes claims that he also
shunned her when the son she gave birth to developed a life-threatening bone
condition. “I needed him,” she told the authors. “It was very
significant that he didn’t come.” She left the church soon after.

Some voters in South Carolina admitted Mr Romney’s unusual faith meant they
could not support him. “Some say it shouldn’t matter, but for me it
just does,” Sandi Cash, 66, told The Daily Telegraph in Myrtle Beach. “I
just cannot believe they have the same views on heaven and Christ as me”.

The book also examines shortcomings in Mr Romney’s 2008 campaign. It discloses
that a senior adviser warned that his public perception was “phoney”,
“slick” and “not human”. A friend and colleague compared
him to ‘The Tin Man’ and he was told that voters saw him having “no
story behind cold business” experience.

That work, leading Bain Capital, a private equity firm, remained in the
spotlight yesterday thanks to the leaked dossier compiled by advisers to Mr
McCain, who beat Mr Romney in 2008 and has endorsed him this year. It
contains potentially damaging nuggets useful to his current rivals.

“I thought becoming rich and famous would make me happy. Boy was I right,”
Mr Romney is said to have been recorded saying. “I’m basically in the
investors’ hall of fame,” he said at another point.

Mr Romney’s work buying and selling companies has led to accusations from
rivals that he was a “vulture capitalist” who helped destroy
families and communities. He is also under pressure to release his tax
returns after admitting that he pays just 15 per cent on his income thanks
to a controversial “millionaires’ loophole”, which he opposes
closing.

The dossier compiled for Mr McCain, who is now Mr Romney’s highest-profile
backer, also said that the former Massachusetts governor had “credibility
problems” due to his “extremely thin” foreign policy record,
and accused him of repeatedly “flip-flopping” on the issue of
abortion.

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