Posted on 02/09/2007 12:05:09 PM PST by GulfBreeze
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Most of the potential GOP candidates for president fall somewhere along the scale ranging from reliably pro-life to opposing abortion but supporting embryonic stem cell research. Rudy Giuliani falls squarely in the pro-abortion camp but he's now trying to reassure pro-life voters he's not that bad. Giuliani has always been in favor of legalized abortion -- even supporting the grisly partial-birth abortion procedure that kills an unborn child halfway through the birthing process.
On the Fox news program Hannity & Colmes on Monday night he used some pretty strong language against abortion, though he admitted he still is pro-abortion when it comes to whether it should be legal.
"Where I stand on abortion is, I oppose it. I don't like it. I hate it. I think abortion is something that, as a personal matter, I would advise somebody against," he said.
"However, I believe in a woman's right to choose," Giuliani admitted. "I think ultimately you have to leave that to a disagreement of conscience and you have to respect the choice that somebody makes."
The former mayor tried to reassure pro-life advocates by saying he would appoint judges in the mold of the ones President Bush nominated and pro-life advocates supported.
"I think the appointment of judges that I would make would be very similar to, if not exactly the same as, the last two judges that were appointed," Giuliani said.
"If I had been president over the last four years, I can't think of any, you know, that I'd do anything different with that," he said, referring to Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito.
"I would appoint judges that interpreted the Constitution rather than invented it, understood the difference between being a judge and being a legislator," he said. "I do think you have sort of a general philosophical approach that you want from a justice, and I think a strict constructionist would be probably the way I'd describe it."
On the program, Giuliani was asked about partial-birth abortions. He previously told CNN's Inside Politics in a 1999 interview, that he does not support even a modest ban on the gruesome partial-birth abortion procedure saying, "No, I have not supported that, and I don't see my position on that changing."
Yet, on Monday, Giuliani said that he supports a ban on partial-birth abortion as long as there is a provision to protect the life of the mother.
"If it has provision for the life of the mother, then I would support it," he told the Fox News program.
Giuliani also said he supported parental notification laws as long as their is a judicial bypass for cases when a teenager is abused by her parents.
"I think you have to have a judicial bypass. If you do, you can have parental notification," he said.
Will these concessions and apparent flip-flop on partial-birth abortion be enough to gain the support of pro-life advocates?
Connie Mackey, senior vice president of the legislative arm of the Family Research Council says no.
There are some who say, ‘Well, all we need from Giuliani, for instance, is a promise that he’ll put in a judge that will be a good constitutionalist,’" she told Congressional Quarterly on Friday. "And we would disagree with that.”
Tony Perkins, the president of the Family Research Council, was more blunt.
He says he thinks Giuliani is too pro-abortion to deserve support form the overwhelming majority of Republican voters who are pro-life. Perkins also says he doesn't think he will be able to capture the party's nod.
Should Giuliani get the party's nod for president, Perkins said it would likely hand the White House over to the Democratic candidate because pro-life voters would have no one to support.
The last several elections have been between pro-life Republican and pro-abortion Democratic candidates and a Giuliani nomination would change that dynamic.
"If by some chance Giuliani were to gain the Republican nomination it would set up a very similar scenario that we had last November," Perkins told CBN. "An unenthusiastic Republican base which will suppress turnout and set up a Democratic victory."
Republican voters have previously turned away pro-abortion candidates from capturing the primary nod, including former California Gov. Pete Wilson and Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter. Republicans haven't had a pro-abortion nominee since Gerald Ford in 1976.
Arizona Sen. John McCain and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney are the top two candidates in the polls apart from Giuliani.
Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee are also running and drawing significant support from the pro-life community.
Other potential Republican candidates include pro-life former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, pro-life Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, pro-life Reps. Duncan Hunter of California and Tom Tancredo of Colorado, Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, and former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson.
If Rudy is the nominee and Hillary wins, so be it.
I for one won't lower my standards to vote for someone who thinks abortion is an o.k. form of birth control.
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It's one or the other, THERE IS NO MIDDLE GROUND.
---"I for one won't lower my standards to vote for someone who thinks abortion is an o.k. form of birth control."---
It's not just that - he believes it's a fundamental human right, and that the government should pick up the tab as requested.
You simply cannot go any further to the left on the issue than Rudy Giuliani without installing the Chinese "One Child" policy.
Thank you. :D
There is no difference between the two when it comes to abortion. Killing babies is killing babies. You either support it or you don't.
Oh look. It's THAT argument again.
Isn't this the same basic thing we hear from just about every Democrat?
Them and others around here. I'm back to this: if I can't trust them to care about Life which seems to me the foundation of Freedom, I'm not sure I can trust them to understand the VALUE of life in fighting the War on Terror against those who hold life as something to be assimilated or destroyed.
Very well said, as always.
"the candidate the Democrats fear most is Giuliani"
I find that hard to believe. If the GOP would put up a True Conservative they would destroy the Dems. Just look at history, Ronald Reagon-a true Conservative. The election of 1994 the GOP ran as Conservatives and won. In 2006 it was the rinos that brought the party down.
That's quotable.
Amen. Very, very well said.
I agree with your post in detail, including its passion.
2008 is beginning to look like 1976 all over again. The GOP passing up Reagan to support the liberal Ford and losing. Rudy will be the Gerald Ford of 2008 if changes aren't made.
It's amazing how many can't see that.
He'll never get MY vote.
Mine either.
Why do you hate abortion Rudy? Why do you oppose it? Why is abortion something you would advise against?
Presumably Rudy would logically answer: 'Because abortion kills human life.'
"However, I believe in a woman's right to choose," Giuliani admitted. "I think ultimately you have to leave that to a disagreement of conscience and you have to respect the choice that somebody makes."
Ok Rudy fine. You say you are a constructionist. What language in the US Constitution gives women a right to kill human life?
One more question Rudy. You say that Roe is settled law. You also say that women should have a choice when it comes to killing unborn babies. You've told NARAL that and much more. You've supported late term abortions and also supported taking tax payers money to pay for what some of them see as murder. Why would I ever believe that you would put the 5th vote on the court to relegate Roe and Doe to the ashheap of history?
Every time I hear Giuliani open his mouth on abortion, I think of those quotes from Clinton.
Scary, scary picture.
Nor mine, my wifes or my brothers. We discussed it, we just can't do it. For us Catholics to vote for a pro choice Catholic for POTUS is a bridge too far.
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