Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney recently perplexed pro-lifers when he participated in a campaign event with a well-known contraception manufacturer.

On May 16, Romney attended a fundraiser at the Star Island, Florida residence of Bill Frost, the chairman of the board of Teva Pharmaceuticals. The company manufactures a number of abortifacient and birth control drugs, including the widely-known “Plan B One-Step.” Dinner was $50,000 a plate, and was part of Romney’s two-day stop in the state of Florida to raise funds for his candidacy.

While Romney has spoken against abortion on numerous occasions, some are calling out the candidate for what they believe to be duplicity and hypocrisy on his part in teaming up with Teva — even including Planned Parenthood.

“Romney can’t have it both ways,” stated Planned Parenthood Action Fund President Cecile Richards.

“It’s a huge disappointment,” lamented Brian Cameker, the president of Mass Resistance, a pro-life group in Romney’s home state of Massachusetts. “You wouldn’t see someone who was really pro-life doing a fundraiser with somebody who helped the abortion industry.”

In 2005, as governor, Romney vetoed a state bill that mandated hospitals to provide the “morning after pill” to patients and for the drug to be offered over-the-counter. When state legislature then overrode Romney’s veto and pushed it through anyway, he added a provision that would require Catholic and other faith-based organizations to also be mandated to offer the abortifacient.

However, in February of this year, Romney denounced a similar requirement in Obamacare, stating, “This same administration said that the churches and the institutions they run, such as schools and let’s say adoption agencies, hospitals, that they have to provide for their employees free of charge, contraceptives, morning after pills, in other words abortive pills, and the like at no cost. Think what that does to people in faiths that do not share those views. This is a violation of conscience.”

In 2010, Florida fundraiser Frost, who Romney joined last week, held over $850 million in shares of  Teva stock. Teva outlines on its website:

“Teva Women’s Health group produces a wide range of women’s healthcare products including oral contraceptives, intrauterine contraception, hormone therapy treatments for menopause/perimenopause and continues to invest in research and development to satisfy needs in Women’s Health.”

While some opine that Romney might not have been aware of Frost’s connections to Teva, others state that when he did receive notice, he should have canceled the event.

“I would be shocked if, after they are aware of the fact that this guy is the chairman of Teva Pharmaceuticals, that they go forward with this fundraiser,” one pro-life organization explained prior to the event taking place.

Brian Cameker thinks that in spite of the controversial fundraiser, pro-lifers will nonetheless continue to support Romney out of the reasoning that “nothing he does is as bad as Obama.”

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