Kerry Washington Blasts GOP for Attacks on Women

"Scandal" star told Melissa Harris-Perry she’s disappointed in Mitt Romney and others.

Actress Kerry Washington didn’t hesitate to criticize the GOP for attacking reproductive rights when she visited the “Melissa Harris-Perry” show Saturday.

During an appearance to promote her new ABC show “Scandal”— in which she plays a “fixer” who runs a crisis management firm that often helps politicians in trouble — Washington took aim at the Republican frontrunner for president.

“I’m disappointed to hear Mitt Romney say that he would like to put an end to Planned Parenthood, an organization that provides vital healthcare to women and families, cervical cancer screenings, breast cancer screenings,” she said. “My mother’s a breast cancer survivor. I know how important early detection is.”

She also criticized Romney for supporting failed legislation sponsored by Missouri Congressman Roy Blunt and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio that would have allowed employers not to cover contraception if they morally objected to doing so.

“We’re supposed to be moving to a place of equality, not a place of stripping away our rights as women,” Washington said.

[ALSO READ: Black Women on Birth Control Debate]

The “Scandal” star isn’t just another celebrity causally adding her two cents to the political debate. She sits on the board of feminist Eve Ensler’s V-Day organization, which works to end violence against women. Washington also serves as a surrogate for President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign, meaning she hits the campaign trail on his behalf to discuss his policies and achievements with the public. She predicted a tight race on Election Day and said that it’s not going to be easy for President Obama to win reelection.

She told voters:

“There’s just too much at stake, too much at stake in terms of jobs, too much at stake in terms of women’s rights, just too much at stake right now to not show up, to not volunteer to not make this another kind of historic grassroots election. The president’s going to be going city to city, state to state. We have to be going door-to-door, neighborhood to neighborhood, doing whatever we can to support this.”