I'm concerned that it took him 40 years, almost half a century to start to say that he's prolife. I'm still hoping for a conservative like Hunter or Thomas.
Mitt Romney's conversion to a public pro-life stance is not as dramatic a switch as many of his critics would have us believe. There is a trail of evidence to follow with Romney on this issue.
Romney had solid conservative positions in campaign issues in 1994 with the exception of his pledge to maintain the status quo in Massachusetts regarding a woman's right to choose. A pro-choice position in Massachusetts in 1994 was a socially moderate stance accommodating the large majority opinion of voters in the state. In hindsight it was wrong, but it's understandable how a conservative, first-time candidate in the liberal state of MA in 1994 running a crusade for fiscal conservatism with solid conservative positions on issues of crime, welfare, foreign policy, healthcare, and congressional reform might accept the status quo on a social issue respecting the liberal constituency he would represent.
More importantly, there is evidence that Romney held pro-life views in his private life in 1994 and before. In his role in private life as a Mormon lay leader (Ward Bishop and Stake President), Romney counseled women not to have abortions.
(A Primary Factor, NRO, December 14, 2006)
Mitt Romney received the endorsement of an anti-abortion group, Massachusetts Citizens For Life, in his Republican primary race for the 1994 Senate election.
(Anti-abortion group endorses Romney bid, Boston Herald, September 8, 1994)
In an ironic twist from Romney's conservative critics today, in 1994 it was an abortion rights group, Mass Choice, who accused Romney of exaggerating his pro-choice views.
(Abortion-rights group rips Romney, Boston Herald, September 10, 1994)
The influence of family members and events in Mitt Romney's life on matters of abortion are worth considering. They emphasize obstacles he surmounted to adopt pro-life beliefs in his private life. Mitt Romney’s mother, Lenore Romney, advocated a pro-choice position in her unsuccessful 1970 run for the U.S. Senate in Michigan, writing in her campaign platform, "I support and recognize the need for more liberal abortion rights while reaffirming the legal and medical measures needed to protect the unborn and pregnant woman [sic]." Mitt Romney revealed in 1994 that his brother-in-law's sister, a close family friend, died after a botched illegal abortion in the 1960s when Mitt would have been in his teens and early 20s.
(Romney releases mother's statement on abortion issue, Boston Globe, June 28, 2005.)
Romney freely admits now that he was wrong to accommodate a public pro-choice, status quo stance and has changed his position on this issue to a public pro-life stance reflecting his long-held personal beliefs. The issue of human embryonic stem cell research and the ghoulish specter of human embryo farming was the last straw to unplug him from an uneasy commitment to the liberal voters of Massachusetts.