FWIW, this is the same position taken last election by Fred Thompson.
Depending on how one looks at it, it is a forward step or a lateral step. It isn’t a step backward.
Where Perry is wrong is in his description of Life as an “issue.” Life is not an “issue.” It is a right....a personal right. More than that, it is an unalienable right granted by the Creator and subject to the whim of no man or group of men. It is the pre-eminent unalienable right, since without this one, no other right or issue makes a difference.
Would the nation be better off, if abortion were illegal in Texas and the other red states. You bet. That many fewer babies would be killed.
That is the line Perry, Thompson, and politicians of the states’ right ilk are trying to walk.
In the same way as I would support a bill outlawing abortion from the 8th week on, so I’d support states being able to outlaw abortion for their own state. That does not mean that I support abortion prior to the 8th week or in the states that would perform them.
I support any advance that can be had.
Nearly all abortions are already being performed in states that have no intention of outlawing them, and nearly all women are within a days drive of one of these states.
America has already tried the experiment of letting each state define who is and isn't a person and that experiment nearly destroyed our Republic.