Ronald Reagan, Father Of the Pro-Life Movement (How A Cause Was Born)

The Wall Street Journal Asia ^ | Thursday, November 6, 2003 | FRED BARNES

[presidio9]

When President Bush signed a ban on partial-birth abortion yesterday, it marked the first congressional rollback of Roe v. Wade since the landmark Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion was handed down in 1973. And it marked the success of an idea as well. The idea, of course, is that abortion is inhuman and should be limited as sharply as possible and ultimately outlawed altogether.

[BillyBoy]

>> 1967, then-Gov. Ronald Reagan signed a bill. At the time, Mr. Reagan was troubled by the passionate lobbying against the bill by Cardinal Francis McIntyre. But on the advice of two of his most conservatives advisers, Ed Meese and Lyn Nofziger, Mr. Reagan signed anyway. He persuaded himself that the measure would have little impact. Instead, it prompted a surge in abortions. Messrs. Reagan and Hyde were among the first Republicans to have strong misgivings. Within a year after signing the abortion bill, Mr. Reagan told political writer Lou Cannon that he'd never have done so if he'd been more experienced in office. It was "the only time as governor or president that Reagan acknowledged a mistake on major legislation," Mr. Cannon writes in his new book, "Governor Reagan: His Rise to Power." By 1980, Mr. Reagan was campaigning for president in favor of banning abortion in all but rare cases. <<

But...but...the Arnold apologists in California (now Riordan Country) insisted the Gipper was just as pro-abortion as Arnold when he first ran, openly campaigning as a "pro-choice" candidate (nevermind this phrase didn't exist in 1966) and beliviving that abortion should be made a national consistutional "right" (just like Arnie does)

You mean what they said about the gipper was FALSE?? Hmm...what a shock. The Riordan wing of the party tried to make Reagan out to be one of them again. That's okay, they now state Reagan's "ONE TIME ONLY amnesty deal" that was pressured into signing back in 1986 was REALLY a go-ahead for all future Presidents to give blanket amnesty to all future illegal aliens, along with driver's licenses, health care, free education, and bi-lingual everything.

You don't suppose the Rockefeller wing of the party might be distorting this stuff on purpose?

[Revenge of Sith]

"then-Gov. Ronald Reagan signed a bill."

The 1967 law was supposed to legalize abortion in the cases of rape, incest and if the mother's "health" was in danger. Nobody knew at the time that the "health" exception would be interpreted so liberally in the future.

[California74]

Reminds me - I remember reading about Reagan's stand on abortion long ago. (ok, i am only 29 years old so it wasn't THAT long ago). If I recall correctly, he was doing some radio spots or something and it was before he was president. Anyway, talking about abortion and the debate to whether the embryo/fetus inside the mothers womb was a life or not. Some say it is life, some say it's not. He said something like (I am paraphrasing) If you see a bag in the street, and you don't know whether what's inside the bag is alive or not, do you kick the bag?

I wish I could find the book I read that from. I think it was one on his speeches.