Barack Obama isn’t going the traditional route in trying to woo female voters in this year’s race for the White House.

Instead of focusing on abortion and Roe v. Wade (which he supports) in his courtship of women, the Democratic presidential hopeful is honing in on Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., a pay discrimination lawsuit filed by Lilly Ledbetter against Goodyear.

The case was thrown out last year by the Supreme Court in a 5 - 4 decision delivered by conservative Justice Samuel Alito. 

Although the issue of equal pay is an important one to women, Obama’s increased focus puts the Illinois senator at a safer distance from the extremely controversial and more politically polarizing issue of abortion. Politico notes that the move toward a broader discussion of feminism and women’s rights has some activists viewing it as soft-pedaling – or even backpedaling – on abortion.

In the Ledbetter case, the Alliance for Justice notes that the court, led by Supreme Justice John Roberts, held that victims of discrimination who do not immediately challenge pay disparities have no recourse, even if they were in no position to file a complaint and even though the pay disparity continues into the present. As of April, the case had already been cited 221 times in decisions by lower federal courts.

Legislation co-sponsored by Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton, the Fair Pay Restoration Act, would have essentially undone Ledbetter by giving women more leeway to file discrimination suits. But the bill failed to pass the Senate; the House passed its version.

But Obama says he isn’t letting this issue go, and he’s continually raising it on the campaign trail.

In a joint appearance with Clinton before donors in New York last Thursday, he said: "This isn’t just an economic issue for millions of Americans and their families. It’s a question of who we are as a country – of whether we’re going to live up to our values as a nation."

"Usually, when we talk about the Court, it’s in the context of reproductive rights and Roe v. Wade," he continued, affirming – albeit in passing – his support for the 1973 abortion decision. "But the Supreme Court also affects women’s lives in so many other ways – from decisions on equal pay, to workplace discrimination, to Title IX, to domestic violence, to civil rights and workers’ rights."

Sen. John McCain said he is in favor of pay equity for women, but didn’t think the Fair Pay Restoration Act was the right remedy. "This kind of legislation, as is typical of what’s being proposed by my friends on the other side of the aisle, opens us up to lawsuits for all kinds of problems," he said.

After McCain held a female-focused town hall meeting in Wisconsin last week, the liberal watchdog group, Progressive Accountability, sent out a response highlighting McCain’s opposition to various equal pay bills throughout his Senate career.

No doubt the equal pay issue will continue to get more attention this year.

Obama last week unveiled his plan to increase women’s economic security, which includes a tax credit of up to $1,000 for families, an increase in the minimum wage and tax cuts to help working women pay for child care, among other provisions.

"It’s appalling that a gender pay gap persists in 2008, 45 years after we passed the Equal Pay Act. Women still make just 77 cents for every dollar a man earns for doing the same work," Rep. Carole Maloney, D-NY, said in April on Equal Pay Day. "The disparity is even greater for African American and Hispanic women. And, as women grow older, the wage gap widens even more: Women nearing retirement earn only 71 percent of what men do."