Democratic candidate for governor John Gregg (WIBC.com photo: Eric Berman)

Democrats have begun what they promise will be a broad-based attack on Republican gubernatorial nominee Mike Pence by spotlighting his opposition to Planned Parenthood.

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Gubernatorial nominee John Gregg joined Planned Parenthood of Indiana's president outside the group's Indianapolis headquarters to slam Pence for spearheading the attempt to cut off federal funding for the group because it performs abortions.

Gregg says he'd have vetoed last year's bill coauthored by 54 House members, including Pence's running mate Sue Ellspermann, which eliminated state funding for Planned Parenthood until a federal judge blocked the law. The former House speaker is anti-abortion, but says the defunding measures endanger women's access to mammograms and other preventive health care. He notes he learned firsthand about the importance of early cancer detection when he was successfully treated for prostate cancer.

There's already a ban on federal funding of abortions, but Pence and other defunding advocates argue Planned Parenthood's funding enables the group to shift other resources to cover its abortion services.

The blast at Pence is the first in what Gregg promises will be a week of attacks drawn in part from a 148-page policy agenda published 20 years ago by the Indiana Policy Review, the conservative think tank Pence co-founded.