Thursday, August 23, 2007

Romney & Abortion   [Kathryn Jean Lopez]

The Washington Post has Romney’s supposed gaffe on its front page today, and I don’t really understand why.

Here’s what they've got this morning:

Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney said this week that as president he would allow individual states to keep abortion legal, two weeks after telling a national television audience that he supports a constitutional amendment to ban the procedure nationwide.

In an interview with a Nevada television station on Tuesday, Romney said Roe. v. Wade should be abolished and vowed to "let states make their own decision in this regard." On Aug. 6, he told ABC's George Stephanopoulos that he supports a human life amendment to the Constitution that would protect the unborn.

"I do support the Republican platform, and I do support that being part of the Republican platform, and I'm pro-life," Romney said in the ABC interview, broadcast days before his victory among conservative Iowa

The two very different statements reflect the challenge for Romney, who has reinvented himself as a champion of the antiabortion movement in recent years and is seeking to become the conservative alternative to former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani in the battle for the Republican presidential nomination.

I know it’s cool on all sides not to trust Romney, but this strikes me as no there there, despite the reporter’s contention otherwise. He supports a human life amendment but lives in the incremental real world. If Roe is overturned, states will take up the issue. If Roe is overturned, it would be helpful to have a president who supports a federal ban, and who will presumably support those trying to ban abortion in their states (something worth hearing him make clear he would).  Romney's position makes sense to me.

Sorry, no “waffle.”

A pro-life, pro-Romney friend on the Hill sends me this:

The piece this morning is a regurgitated hit piece.  The same “hit” took place on August 6 when Mitt appeared on GMA. Romney’s position is quite simple: Romney says, “I am pro-life, I support a ban on all-abortions, but since that doesn’t seem likely to pass, our immediate goal must be to overturn Roe V Wade and return the law to the states.”

Here it is again from Brownback's people on August 7.

Further, LIFENEWS reported on the same thing last week, siding with Mitt: “Mitt Romney Backs Human Life Amendment, Overturning Abortion Case First Step.” Doesn't this show.... consistency?

08/23 11:47 AMShare