"The Real Romney": Did Mitt pressure a single mom to give up her baby?

A new book digs into the Republican frontrunner's controversial history, including his time as a Mormon lay leader in the 1980s

Mitt Romney's Mormon faith, long considered a potential issue in his presidential campaign, came under scrutiny this week when Vanity Fair published excerpts from an upcoming book that delves into Mitt's history as a lay leader in the church. The Real Romney, authored by Boston Globe reporters Michael Kranish and Scott Helman, suggests that Mitt once threatened a single mother with excommunication if she didn't give her soon-to-be-born baby up for adoption — an account the Republican frontrunner denies. Here, a brief guide to this unsettling story:

What does the book claim? In the early 1980s, Romney was serving as bishop of a Mormon congregation near Boston. Peggie Hayes, a 23-year-old divorced single mother, became pregnant with her second child. Knowing she needed help, Romney arranged for Hayes to get odd jobs from other church members. But as bishop, Romney also bore the responsibility of briefing Hayes on church doctrine. As quoted in the book, she claims he showed up at her apartment and encouraged her to give her baby to the church's adoption agency. According to Hayes, Romney said: "This is what the church wants you to do, and if you don't, then you could be excommunicated."