Ronald Reagan was never “adamantly pro-choice.” Slick Willard lied.So, you're saying that Ronald Reagan as Governor of California signing into law pro-abortion legislation years before Roe v. Wade is not adamantly pro-choice. Okay, got it.
I can only imagine what you would be saying about Mitt Romney if he had done the same in 1968. Actually, I don't have to imagine, I see it daily on nearly every Romney thread.
Read his writings from the time: he was conflicted, was pushed into it by his advisors and regretted it almost immediately. That is not "adamantly pro-choice."
Adamanly pro-choice is "Hell yeah I signed it, and I'd do it again!"
Slick Willard is certainly smart enough to know he LIED, and there has been no apology or retraction either.
Being adamantly pro-choice means you support abortion on demand and most likely you also support Roe v Wade. Reagan never supported Roe v Wade and its judicially legislated provision granting legality to abortion on demand.
The 1967 Therapeutic Abortion Act that Reagan signed into law did not grant abortions on demand. It was specific to the exceptions of substantial risk that would gravely impair the physical or mental health of the woman, along with rape and incest. It was advertised as a compassionate law that would be used to deal with the difficult abortion cases. Reagan was firmly in the prolife camp and adamantly opposed to most abortions in 1967. Reagan was pro-life until his death and publicly spoke out against Roe v Wade, calling it infanticide.
Reagan had been apprehensive about signing the law. He was afraid it would be abused. Within a year of passage abortions were being performed for most any reason.
Reagan said, "The reform law was based upon policing by the medical profession itself. Committees — medical and psychiatric — were to determine whether the individual wanting the abortion met the requirement of endangered health, life, mental health and so forth. I think it is very apparent that people are literally getting abortions on demand."