Gloria Steinem: Women have to retake the GOP

Feminist Gloria Steinem said Wednesday that women hadn't left the Republican Party, the Republican Party had left women.

"What really happened is that old right-wing Republicans, starting with the 1964 Civil Rights Act, found the Democratic Party too inclusive, and like Jesse Helms, all those folks, they began to go over and take over the Republican Party," she said on Current TV.

"And I think it is very important that we understand that, because this Republican Party with its current platform could not possible nominate the first Bush, who supported Planned Parenthood, not Nixon, who supported the Equal Rights Amendment, not even Reagan."

Republicans in state legislatures across the country have pushed for tighter restrictions on abortions, such as requiring ultrasounds before a woman can terminate her pregnancy or mandating a 24-hour waiting period. Republicans have also opposed the so-called birth control mandate, which requires health insurance plans to cover contraception for women.

Steinem said it was "dangerous" for the Republican Party to be controlled by "ultra-right wingers."

"So we have to take it back."

Watch video, courtesy of Current TV, below: