Women have a huge stake in this election. With President Obama and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney taking such different stances on issues such as funding for women's healthcare, equalizing women's wages and abortion, an influential female demographic will be instrumental in the election's outcome.
In every presidential election since 1964, the number of female voters has exceeded the number of male voters, according to the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University. Moreover, the proportion of eligible female voters that hit the polls has surpassed that of male voters in each election since 1980. With this in mind, women will be paying close attention to the issues that affect them most directly.
These issues most recently entered the election's discourse during the Oct. 11 vice presidential debate, when Vice President Joe Biden and vice presidential candidate Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) faced off on the subject of abortion.
Ryan immediately made the Romney campaign's position very clear: "The policy of a Romney administration is to oppose abortions with exceptions for rape, incest and life of the mother."
This is slightly different than Ryan's personal views - a fact Biden did not neglect to mention.
"In the past, he has argued that there was - there's rape and forcible rape," Biden said. "He's argued that in the case of rape or incest ... it would be a crime to engage in having an abortion. I just fundamentally disagree with my friend."
Associate Professor of Political Science Deborah Schildkraut commented on this disconnect.
"Ryan found himself having to say 'in this administration,' rather than 'this is what I would do,'" Schildkraut said. "He, by being chosen as [the vice president] has to advocate for the policies that would be enacted by the president, rather than necessarily what he would do if he got the chance. So that puts the Republicans in a slightly more divided and awkward position than the Democrats."
Despite this rift, the differences between the two parties are clear: Obama supports the right for women to have an abortion, while Romney thinks this option should be available only in specific circumstances.
This is clearly outlined on both candidates' official websites, with Romney's stating that "he believes the right next step is for the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade" - a historical Supreme Court case that removed many state and federal regulations on abortion - and "as president, he will end federal funding for abortion advocates like Planned Parenthood."
Although Obama's website does not directly mention the issue of abortion, it comprehensively states: "President Obama believes a woman's health care choices are personal decisions, best made with her doctor - without interference from politicians."
Sophomore Ruby Vail, head of Tufts Voices for Choices (VOX), maintains that a woman's right to choose is a fundamental viewpoint taken both by her personally and by VOX, which is an affiliate group of the Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts.
"I think that everyone is entitled to the right to choose - that you should be able to decide when you're going to have a child and become a parent," Vail said.
According to junior Aliza Gordon, the Planned Parenthood liaison for Tufts VOX, the group does not receive direct financial support. Vail does not think that a cut in federal funding to Planned Parenthood would be disastrous for the existence of the group on campus.
"If Planned Parenthood were to be shut down, the group would still be on campus because there's more than enough interest. But it would obviously be a different group," she said.
Director of the Women's Center StephGauchel described the possible implications of reduced funding for Planned Parenthood, not just in terms of abortion but other services as well.
"It seems important to think about the broad spectrum of resources and healthcare that Planned Parenthood can provide," she said. "It's not just going to nip abortion in the bud, but it's going to remove access for women in terms of healthcare needs."
According to figures compiled by Planned Parenthood in 2009, abortions only comprise three percent of all services provided. Beyond abortion, 70 percent of the services are for contraception and sexually transmitted infection (STI) testing and treatment and 16 percent are allocated to cancer prevention.
Dean of Academic Affairs for Arts and Sciences Nancy Bauer expressed concern for the often-misinterpreted role of Planned Parenthood.
"Planned Parenthood is associated with being an abortion factory, but it's anything but. Many women rely on it for most of their gynecological healthcare," Bauer said. "A lot of young women rely very heavily on Planned Parenthood to help them through the confusing years of coming to understand their sexuality, especially if they are heterosexual."
About a third of Planned Parenthood's funding comes from federal, state and local governments, and it is against federal law for any government funding to be spent on abortion services.
Navigating the abortion issue becomes difficult when considering unique opinions and situations.
"It's so hard because abortion is such a tricky issue. I'm not personally religious so I don't have that influence, but I definitely respect it," she said.
In fact, statistical evidence suggests that many Americans support Mitt Romney's stance concerning abortion, with 52 percent of American adult respondents in a 2012 poll conducted by Gallup supporting the notion that abortion be "legal only under certain circumstances." In a different question, 50 percent of American adults distinguished themselves as "pro-life," whereas a record-low 41 percent reported to be "pro-choice."
For those looking for a president taking a pro-choice stance, many feel that it was unlikely that Romney would truly take a strong stand against abortion upon taking office due his changing outlook over time.
"As governor, Romney was pro-choice, but he has changed his views for the sake of the national election as he's had to appeal to conservatives," Interim Program Director for Women's Studies Sonia Hofkosh said.
Bauer felt that this changing stance indicated a lack of conviction concerning these issues.
"I would be astonished if Mitt Romney, when he was elected, actually went after abortion laws," she said. "It's conceivable he would, but his heart wouldn't be in it ... there are a lot of other things to be worried about in this country right now."
Schildkraut echoed this sentiment.
"Some of this might be his genuine viewpoints now, I mean what [is] one person's flip-flop might be ... genuine evolution over time," Schildkraut said. "Maybe he really did start out as pro-choice and is genuinely pro-life now. Even if that's true, I just don't get the sense that it's the social issue that drives him to run for president."
Although abortion is one of the more contentious issues within this election, it is one of many that would have a significant impact on women.
The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act is a piece of legislation that helps women receive equal pay rights within the work place. This was the first piece of legislation that Obama signed as president, while Ryan voted against the act.
"The Lilly Ledbetter Act ... was a very divided partisan vote, so at [the very] least the parties are split on this issue," Schildkraut said. "I think this stakes out a claim of one party in that issue being more of an advocate for women's rights in terms of pay."
Romney has not definitively stated whether or not he would have signed the bill, but Romney's aides have now made a clear statement that if Romney were elected, the act would not be repealed.
"Then there are these partisan debates about access to contraception ... which also stake out a pretty clear difference between the parties," Schildkraut said.
These debates on contraception are highly related to Obama's Affordable Care Act (ACA), and the differing parties' positions concerning this new legislation.
According to Obama's campaign website, the ACA ensures that women cannot be charged more for the same health insurance coverage and states that numerous insurance plans are starting to completely cover birth control - without co-pays or deductibles - as part of women's preventive care. Romney, however, states that he will appeal and overturn the Affordable Care Act upon being elected.
Bauer noted that preventative care in the ACA is an important underlying component.
"The ACA is involved in preventative healthcare, and preventative healthcare is a way of controlling the cost of healthcare and preventing things happening down the line," Bauer said.
Preventative healthcare often concerns the provision of subsidized birth control, which emerged as an important topic during the vice presidential debate, as Ryan suggested that the ACA threatened religious freedoms.
"Look at what they're doing through Obamacare with respect to assaulting the religious liberties of this country," Ryan said. "They're infringing upon our first freedom, the freedom of religion, by infringing on Catholic charities, Catholic churches, Catholic hospitals."
This refers to the request of the Catholic Church to be exempt from providing birth control coverage to Catholic institutions - such as colleges and charities - a requirement that came into effect under the ACA. This exemption was officially denied, but the debate continues concerning religious rights.
Schildkraut discussed the potential implications for women if this act were to be repealed.
"There are provisions in [the ACA] that relate to women's health, that relate to mammograms, that relate to prenatal care and co-pays," Schildkraut said. "These provisions could be repealed. Issues like pre-existing conditions, where being pregnant is considered a pre-existing condition ... could then allow people on the healthcare market to be denied coverage. These are things that uniquely affect women."
If these healthcare changes are repealed, young voters especially face a range of possible implications.
"In terms of Tufts students in particular, they are affected by having to pay for co-pays concerning various preventative health measures with their OB/GYN, their access to contraception and having their contraception covered," Schildkraut said.
Gauchel also drew attention to the fact that the current dialogue ignores concerns beyond those that are immediately obvious.
"It's interesting thinking about the conversations about birth control," Gauchel said. "There's been not enough conversation in the media about the reality of the use of birth control that's used [beyond its primary purpose] ... it's used as a hormone to regulate women's bodies."
Overall, Hofkosh emphasized that Tufts students, especially women, think carefully about their vote in this election.
"I think that this current generation of youth, and young people need to be very careful about preserving rights which have been fought for, and not just for women - for women and families for decades," Hofkosh said.
Accordingly, Gordon wants to see even more discussion of these issues within this presidential race.
"Women are 51 percent of the population, and we vote," Gordon said. "The whole presidential debate [was] on domestic issues. There was not one mention of women the entire time. I do think that with all the bills coming out, with all the discourse ... you can't avoid talking about this kind of stuff."
