Rachel Maddow: Republicans pushing erosion of abortion rights despite the fact it's hurting them

Polls show that the ongoing Republican 'war on women' is threatening Mitt Romney's chances of winning the state of Virginia --and, therefore, the Presidency-- in the upcoming November election. But, as MSNBC host Rachel Maddow pointed out on Friday night, that hasn't stopped conservative lawmakers from finding creative new ways to obstruct women's access to abortion:

The anti-abortion crusade that has been undertaken this year by Republican-led state government in Virginia is not popular in Virginia. And now Virginia women are ready to take it out on the presidency ...They're planning on voting against [Romney] by 18 points. And that was the context for a really important move by Virginia's Republican Attorney General this week --a move that could for the presidential race in Virginia. Ken Cuccinelli, this week, certified a new set of regulations that are targeted only at abortion clinics in the state ...red tape specifically designed to make it economically impossible to operate an abortion clinic in Virginia.

As Maddow continued the segment, she ticked off a number of anti-choice actions taken by legislatures across the country this year. Later in the broadcast, she was joined by Leslie Reagan, author of When Abortion Was a Crime. The two discussed what life was like for women seeking abortions before the historic Supreme Court decision Roe v Wade.

Watch the full segment below, uploaded in two parts by MSNBC on September 28, 2012:

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