"It was a subject I'd never given much thought to and one upon which I didn't really have an opinion." Reagan went onto say, he did extensive research on abortion and "soul searching" and concluded that abortion was the taking of a human life. Roe v Wade change everything. To conclude that Reagan supported abortion on demand is revisionism of the first order. A total fabrication.
Read my post at #556. Then read the entire article by Fred Barnes: How a Cause Was Born: Ronald Reagan, father of the pro-life movement.
For the lazy people who won't read the article, or my post:
"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."
From the San Francisco Chronicle:
"The California Legislature sent Reagan a measure in 1967 that legalized abortion in cases of rape and incest and when a doctor found that a pregnancy would endanger the life or health of the woman. Reagan agonized over the measure, fearing that doctors would exploit a mental heath loophole to approve many abortions. But in the end he signed it."
You are muddling and confusing the issue, i dont question or doubt Reagan's anti-abortion/ pro-life credentials and I think he does not approve of Roe/wade decision. However he did sign a law which was pro-choice and you agree that Reagan felt that it was a mistake on his behalf to sign that legislation.
The question is if Reagan is allowed to acknowledge his mistake, why cant Romney . Why cannot Romney change his position on this issue, there are many who have changed from pro-choice( when they were indifferent to the issue) to pro-life, so romney change of heart is not suprising.