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Several newspapers lately published editorials and opinion pieces about abortion-rights statements by former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R), both candidates for the Republican presidential nomination. Giuliani during the first Republican debate earlier this month said he would not be upset if the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that barred state abortion bans, but later he endorsed abortion rights. “It could be OK to repeal” Roe, Giuliani said, adding, “Or it would be OK also if a strict constructionist judge viewed it as a precedent, and I think a judge has to make that decision.” Giuliani also said that he supports public financing of abortion for poor women in New York state but added that “people can come to a different decision.”
Romney during the debate discussed his shift from supporting abortion rights during his run for governor of Massachusetts to becoming an abortion-rights opponent. “I’ve always been personally pro-life, but for me there was a great question about whether or not government should intrude in that decision,” Romney said. He added that it was the debate more than cloning in his state that influenced him to adjust his stance on abortion rights. “I was wrong and changed my mind,” Romney stated, adding, “I’m proud of that, and I won’t apologize to anybody for becoming pro-life” (Kaiser Everyday Women’s Health Policy Report, 5/4). Summaries with the editorials and opinion pieces appear below.
Editorials
Los Angeles Times: Giuliani “may or may not have helped his presidential campaign by unambiguously identifying himself” as an abortion-rights supporter, but he has “done a service to Republican voters by clarifying his views instead of fudging them for primary season,” a Times editorial says. Giuliani “has drawn a line,” albeit a “blurry” line in some places, and “positioned himself clearly on 1 side of it,” based on the editorial. Abortion-rights opponents might “not be persuaded by that pitch, but no less than Giuliani — quite unlike” Romney and presidential candidate Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) — “isn’t vaulting rightward on social issues to pander to the GOP base” (Los Angeles Times, 5/16).
New York Every day News: Giuliani’s stance on abortion rights is really a “daring thing for a Republican presidential candidate to say out loud, given the conventional wisdom that this is 1 of the last things a core [Republican] voter wants to hear,” a Daily News editorial says. Giuliani’s “pro-choice heresy has not much alienated blocs beyond the most extreme with the pro-lifers,” in accordance with the editorial. Giuliani currently is “standing close to where Americans at large stand: deeply troubled by abortion but favoring both a woman’s right to choose and reasonable restrictions on the procedure,” the editorial says, concluding that Giuliani is “doing the Republicans a big favor — if only they are wise enough to see it” (New York Daily News, 5/5).
Opinion Pieces
Dan Gilgoff, Boston Globe: With Giuliani and McCain “staking their independence from Christian conservatives” on some issues and also the “true Christian Right” presidential candidates at 1% in the polls, Romney “sees his opening,” Gilgoff, senior editor at U.S. News & World Report, writes in a Globe opinion piece. Romney is “attempting to persuade the Christian Right that he has seen the light on abortion and gay rights,” Gilgoff writes, concluding that “if it is another candidate who winds up winning the Republican nomination, he will need to prove that, when it comes towards the Christian Right’s role in presidential politics, the math has changed” (Gilgoff, Boston Globe, 5/8).
Cal Thomas, Miami Herald: If Giuliani wants to “split the difference” on the abortion issue — “maintaining choice even though reducing the number of abortions” — he could favor legislation that would require ultrasounds be given to ladies seeking abortions, syndicated columnist Thomas writes in a Herald opinion piece. If Giuliani proposes a plan to “substantially reduce the number of abortions,” it “might cut him some slack with pro-life voters,” according to Thomas (Thomas, Miami Herald, 5/15).
Robin Toner, New York Times: With Giuliani as 1 of the leading candidates for the Republican presidential nomination, “the question inevitably arises: … Can a supporter of abortion rights, even one with caveats and qualifications, make it towards the top with the Republican Party in 2008?” Times reporter Toner writes in a Times opinion piece. Antiabortion advocates are “confident” that they’ll “exert [their] power in 2008,” Toner writes, concluding that if Giuliani “endures … he will be bucking an awful lot of history” (Toner, New York Times, 5/11).
E.J. Dionne, Washington Post: If Giuliani “sticks with his decision” to support abortion rights, he will “end the cost-free ride his party has enjoyed on an issue that is supposed to be about morality but has more often been used cynically to harvest votes,” Post columnist Dionne writes in an opinion piece. Giuliani also will “test the seriousness of those who claim that abortion could be the decisive issue within the political choices they make,” Dionne writes, concluding that if “leaders with the antiabortion movement do not oppose Giuliani during the primaries with the same passion they summoned against” 2004 Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry (Mass.), it will likely be “clear that abortion is more an excuse to vote Republican than the foundational issue they claim it to be” (Dionne, Washington Post, 5/15).
Charles Krauthammer, Washington Post: The “brouhaha” over Giuliani’s response to a question about Roe in the first Republican presidential debate is an illustration of how “tangled the issue” has become, Post columnist Krauthammer writes in an opinion piece. Abortion is “already so contaminated with legalisms, why not turn the issue into one of simple democracy?” Krauthammer writes. “Let the men and women decide,” he adds, concluding, “Let them perform it out the way everything else in this country is worked out — by political argument and legislative accommodation” (Krauthammer, Washington Post, 5/11).
“Reprinted with permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You are able to view the whole Kaiser Every day Wellness Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for e-mail delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Everyday Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service with the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . ? 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.
