Rudy Giuliani: [to SC Firefighters & Police] 'A Woman Has the Right to Choose Abortion'

Associated Press/Newsmax.com ^ | 2.22.07 | staff report

[meg88]

hursday, Feb. 22, 2007 8:13 a.m. EST

Rudy Giuliani: 'A Woman Has the Right to Choose' Abortion

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Republican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani met with firefighters and police officers in this early voting state Wednesday, using the forum to reference the Sept. 11 terror attacks, which earned him national attention.

"The first people that arrive on the scene of the bombing or the anthrax attack ... it's going to be one of your brothers or your sisters or you that gets to do it," the former New York mayor told a crowd of about 200 emergency workers. "Your ability to do it well will once again determine if we save lives - save America."

Giuliani compared firefighters and police to uniformed military personnel and said the federal Department of Homeland Security needs to ensure first responders "have the training and protection you need to defend your country."

Giuliani has a tough road ahead in South Carolina, which is to host the first Southern primaries in 2008. His moderate positions on gun control and support for abortion rights do not sit well with the state's Christian conservatives, who accounted for a third of the 2000 GOP primary vote. Those voters swung heavily to President Bush that year, giving him a 2-1 ratio margin over Arizona Sen. John McCain, who was viewed as soft on abortion.

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On Wednesday, Giuliani reiterated his own position.

"I'd advise my daughter or anyone else not to have an abortion," Giuliani said. "I'd like to see it ended, but ultimately I believe that a woman has the right to choose.

"I believe that you've got to run based on who you are, what you really are and then people actually get a right to disagree with you," he said. "And I find if you do it that way, even people who disagree with you sometimes respect you."

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"We're a tremendous amount of time away from an election," he said. "We haven't even gotten to a primary yet. The best thing we can do now is organize."

© 2007 Associated Press.

[George W. Bush]

But it's not uncertain what the judicial philosophies of Scalia, Roberts and Alito are, and Giuliani has promised to name judges like them.

Maybe he's just promising that two-thirds of his nominees will be Italian!

Given that he chose to make nice remarks about how brilliant and well-qualified Buzzi Ginsberg is at the same press conference, I don't believe a word he says.

And the use of 'constructionist' is vague. If he means it, let him say 'originalists'. That is why we like Scalia, Roberts, Alito, Thomas and Rehnquist. It's because they're textual originalists, not constructionists or even strict constructionists.

[George W. Bush]

I think you make some very good points on how middle America would deal with abortion if it was returned to the states.

But the liberal northeast and CA would go even further than they have currently.

[sitetest]

Dear George W. Bush,

I don't know whether his reference to repudiating the 1967 legislation by 1968 refers to private discussions with folks, or to public announcements. I was 8 in 1968, and living on the east coast, not the west.

If I find something one way or other, I'll let you know what I find.


sitetest

[sitetest]

"Now your" = "Now you're"

[jonathanmo]

My uncle died of prostate cancer within a year of diagnosis.

Jerk.

[sitetest]

Dear George W. Bush,

In that there are no real limits at all on abortion, I'm not sure that California, or the northeast states, could do anything to further liberalize abortion laws that wasn't almost entirely symbolic.

Even the federal partial birth abortion ban isn't currently in effect because it's being litigated.


sitetest

[epow]

What do you think of abortion in cases of rape?

You didn't ask me so my answer is free of charge.

The baby is always the one party in that situation who is totally free of guilt in any way, shape, or form. That's not to say that the raped mother bears even one iota of guilt regarding the crime. She may or may not have contributed in some way to the circumstances which resulted in the crime, but even if she is a totally innocent party regarding that awful crime she is not as innocent in her overall life as the unborn child. Which begs the question, why is the only totally innocent party the one who in so very many cases has to die for the crime committed by the rapist father?

In America where tens of thousands of eligible couples are eagerly waiting to adopt a newborn baby there is absolutely NO excuse to execute an unborn rape victim for the crime of his or her father. The abortionists are well paid for committing their crime, the mother usually suffers for years or a lifetime as a victim of the crime but still has a life, the father may or may not be punished for his crime, but he will in most instances continue to have a life to live and enjoy to some extent. But the totally innocent aborted child will never have the opportunity to experience the joys, pleasures, sorrows, and trials that make up life for most of us, the kind of life that his or her mother, father, and the abortionist will continue to experience long after his or her mangled little body has been dumped along side the mangled and scalded bodies of the abortionist's other victims.

I suppose that your attitude regarding abortion will determine whether or not you agree with my answer, but somehow I have to think that if you are a normal human being with normal respect for fairness and justice you knew the true answer in your own heart before reading mine.

[George W. Bush]

RU-486 is chemical abortion and can be done at any stage of pregnancy though there are higher risks later in the term. The morning-after pill functions almost identically to regular birth control pills, essentially making the womb resistant to a fertilized egg implanting itself. Since it takes up to 12 hours (as I recall) for an egg to implant itself, the morning-after pill is not necessarily a chemical abortion pill but it is questionable. Morally, it should be taken as soon as possible after the unprotected sex. I think you have something like 36 hours for it to be effective. Again, a woman should be able to 'choose' to recognize she was raped and at risk of pregnancy within 36 hours.

[linda_22003]

"RU-486 is chemical abortion and can be done at any stage of pregnancy"

No. It must be used by the eighth week to be effective. First you say a D&C can be used for ectopic pregnancy, now this. WHERE do you get your gynecological information?

[LtdGovt]

You said he hadn't called abortion a constitutional right.

I thought that you were talking about this article. Two things: I know Rudy thinks that abortion is a right. I don't know whether he believes that it is a constitutional right. Therefore, any comments about abortion being a constitutional right, might well be a factual statement.

Thus, for him, strict constructionism likely includes a constitutional right to abortion.

I doubt it.

As for praising Justices Scalia, et. al., that's nice. He also said that Mrs. Ginsburg was a good choice for the Court.

So did 96 Senators, many of them Republicans. Are you saying that all of them are disqualified because of that? Ginsburg might have been a good choice for CLINTON, but she wasn't a strict constructionist.

[LtdGovt]

Given that he chose to make nice remarks about how brilliant and well-qualified Buzzi Ginsberg is at the same press conference, I don't believe a word he says.

Wasn't she? I doubt she takes bribes or something. Many Democrats praised C.J. Roberts, that doesn't mean they're going to nomiante someone like him.

[LtdGovt]

If I was the product of rape, I would WANT to be aborted/morning-after-killed. I would not want to be a tramatous burden for my mother for 9 months, I would not want to remind my mother of the rapist every time, and I don't want a filthy rapist's genes. Period.

In America where tens of thousands of eligible couples are eagerly waiting to adopt a newborn baby there is absolutely NO excuse to execute an unborn rape victim for the crime of his or her father.

Neither is there a reason to punish the woman for being raped. That's what happens when you put a gun to her head to force her to carry the product of rape.

I suppose that your attitude regarding abortion will determine whether or not you agree with my answer, but somehow I have to think that if you are a normal human being with normal respect for fairness and justice you knew the true answer in your own heart before reading mine.

I did know the answer. The right answer is not to force the woman to carry a rapist's child. That would be cruel. The right thing is to leave the choice up to the mother.

[epow]

("Always vote for principle...and your vote is never lost."-John Quincy Adams)

I absolutely LOVE your tagline, applied to this thread it really says it all.

If you don't keep a close eye on it I may very well steal it. In fact, I am hereby giving fair warning, I intend to steal it whether you keep an eye on it or not.

[LtdGovt]

Well, I don't know. It's a pretty hard time getting raped. And the last thing you think of at that time is pregnancy, I think. I can't guarantee that all the victims will be able to get a morning-after-pill within 36 hours.

[sitetest]

Dear LtdGovt,

"'Thus, for him, strict constructionism likely includes a constitutional right to abortion.'

"I doubt it."

I doubt that he doesn't think this.

I've read his speeches "celebrating" the anniversaries of Roe. Here's one excerpt from the 25th anniversary "celebration."

---

"Twenty five years after the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision, its impact is as significant as ever," Mayor Giuliani said. "This decision has precluded government from interfering with a woman’s Constitutional rights. "

---

Here, he doesn't say that the Court established a right, but rather that Roe prevents government from interfering with the right. A constitutional right.

If Roe merely prevents from interference with the right, rather than creates the right, then the right pre-existed Roe.

Thus, Roe merely discovers the right, not creates the legal fiction of a right.

Mr. Giuliani believes that abortion IS a constitutional right, rather than believes that the current construction of the Constitution names something called a constitutional right to abortion.

Thus, for him, strict construction means a constitutional right to abortion.

One must argue against what he's actually said to say otherwise.

"So did 96 Senators, many of them Republicans. Are you saying that all of them are disqualified because of that? Ginsburg might have been a good choice for CLINTON, but she wasn't a strict constructionist."

I understand what you're saying, and I believe that out of context, that's a reasonable interpretation of the interview where he said kind things about Mrs. Ginsburg.

However, in light of the fact that what he thinks is good constitutional law (and by the way, George Will actually quotes him in 2000 as saying that Roe is good constitutional law), I think it's even more reasonable to say that he was endorsing Mrs. Ginsburg as someone who fell within the bounds of a good appointment to the Supreme Court.

That's not the same as acceding to the not totally unreasonable nomination of a sitting president.


sitetest

[subterfuge]

I won't vote for McCain or Rudy under ANY circumstance. PERIOD and end of story.

Same here. Now I'll read the posts below to see how the Rudy lovers flamed you.

[George W. Bush]

No. It must be used by the eighth week to be effective. First you say a D&C can be used for ectopic pregnancy, now this. WHERE do you get your gynecological information?

I think that because a friend of mine had a wife who had the bleeding and other problems of ectopic pregnancy. That's what the doctor told them. They wanted that child badly. But she had to go in to have a D&C. That's what they told him and her. Then they didn't do it right or didn't do it thoroughly and she had to go back and have it done again to stop the infection. My friend complained that in addition to losing their only child, he got charged twice for it.

[Trailerpark Badass]

so the question it comes down to is 'is the developing fetus a human being?'.

Of course it is. If there were any doubt, deliveries would be even more anxious than they already are.

[Politicalmom]

You had better have the whole quote.

"Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost." - John Quincy Adams

He was a very wise man. He has some wonderful quotes.

[epow]

If I was the product of rape, I would WANT to be aborted/morning-after-killed.

Many people would rather die than to live under their difficult circumstances, but that doesn't give them the right in God's eyes to kill themselves.

Our lawmakers recognized that fact centuries ago and enacted laws making suicide a serious crime. Of course that law is only symbolic since anyone who is intent on suicide will not be deterred by any law.