'War on women' victory, or just a skirmish won?

NEW YORK - Democrats and liberal advocacy groups have declared victory in what they called a Republican "war on women" and are celebrating the pivotal defeats of some GOP candidates who took rigid stands against abortion.

However, the issues in dispute - notably access to contraception and abortion - are far from settled, and social conservatives are already girding for new confrontations.

"We're going back to the drawing board," antiabortion leader Marjorie Dannenfelser told fellow conservatives at a postelection gathering.

She said her organization, the Susan B. Anthony List, would seek to back candidates who could argue against abortion "with compassion and love." In an interview, she said Republican nominee Mitt Romney was too defensive on abortion-related issues, and she mentioned Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Indiana Gov.-elect Mike Pence as potential presidential candidates who intrigued her.

For activists supporting family-planning programs and access to abortion, the election produced a series of triumphs, starting with the re-election of President Obama. Groups such as Planned Parenthood and the National Organization for Women campaigned vigorously for him, and he won about 55 percent of women's votes.

"This is a resounding victory for women," said Planned Parenthood's president, Cecile Richards. "This election sends a powerful and unmistakable message ... that the American people do not want politicians to meddle in our personal medical decisions and that politicians demean and dismiss women at their own peril."

The differences between Obama and Romney on some "war on women" issues were stark. Obama vowed to require insurance companies to cover birth control, preserve federal funding for Planned Parenthood, and protect access to abortion. Romney said he'd like to outlaw abortion, except in cases of rape, incest, and threat to the mother's life.

According to exit polls conducted for the AP and TV networks, 59 percent of voters said abortion should be legal either in all or most cases, while 36 percent said it should be illegal all or most of the time.

Planned Parenthood and its allies celebrated the outcomes of a host of specific races, including the defeats of two tea party-backed GOP Senate candidates whose chances plummeted after widely criticized remarks about rape and abortion - Todd Akin in Missouri and Richard Mourdock in Indiana.

Akin's rival, Claire McCaskill, will be one of a record 20 women in the next Senate, 17 of them Democrats. Among them will be the first openly gay senator, Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, and the first Asian American woman, Hawaii's Mazie Hirono.

In New Hampshire, wins by two Democrats in House races gives the state, which has two female senators, the first all-women delegation to Congress. It also has a newly elected woman as governor, Maggie Hassan.

Some supporters of women's rights expressed regret that issues had become so entangled in political partisanship.

"It was not long ago that issues like fair pay, abortion rights, health reform, and family and medical leave had bipartisan support," said Debra Ness, president of the National Partnership for Women and Families. "We hope they will all have bipartisan support again very soon."