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Good points. Abortion is a tough issue for Republicans. Politically, there are advantages to being against Roe v. Wade (pro-life) and there are advantages to wanting to uphold Roe v. Wade (pro-choice.) The electoral map for a Rudy victory could be quite different from the map for a Thompson or a Romney victory. Rudy might be able to win Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and New Hampshire while losing one state that Bush one. Romney or Thompson could win all the states Bush won with a pro-life position.

The key point a lot of staunch pro-lifers miss is that overturning Roe v. Wade would probably lead to a group of states where abortion is legal and a group of states where abortion is illegal in all cases. That would probably not reduce the total number of abortions significantly, but only change the location in which abortions occur. At the same time, illegal abortion activity would inevitably start up in the states where abortion is illegal, which would tend to harm the scared teenagers and poor women. So people need to keep in mind that we cannot roll the country back to where America was before the fateful Roe v. Wade decision. We have to deal with the consequences of overturning Roe as the country is today.

It's a very tough, complex issue and extremists on both sides oversimplify it constantly. There are good arguments both for and against overturning Roe v. Wade. Fortunately, it's not my decision to make.