Posted on 03/13/2007 6:20:04 PM PDT by Unmarked Package
Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney has drawn suspicion from the right for his flip-flopping on abortion, but he’s not the first candidate to change his view on the issue before seeking the White House.
Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Dick Gephardt and Al Gore also shifted on abortion as they set their sights on the presidency. When Romney was running for the Senate from Massachusetts against Ted Kennedy in 1994, he took a pro-abortion stance in the decidedly blue state.
"I believe that abortion should be safe and legal in this country," he said during a debate. "I believe that since Roe v. Wade has been the law for 20 years, we should sustain and support it."
Romney also was a supporter of abortion rights when he ran successfully for Massachusetts governor in 2002.
But he said he had a change of heart in 2004 during the debate over stem cell research, when the governor met with experts from Harvard at his State House office.
In an interview with NewsMax Magazine for the April issue, Romney said:
"It was during that discussion, which related to something called embryo farming, which is taking donor sperm and donor eggs, creating embryos, experimenting on them and then destroying them in 14 days, that it came home very forcefully to me that the Roe v. Wade mentality had cheapened the respect for human life in this country."
"And for that reason, I made it very clear that I am pro-life." In 2005, he declared: "I am pro-life. I believe that abortion is the wrong choice except in cases of incest, rape, and to save the life of the mother."
Ronald Reagan had a similar shift in views on the abortion issue, according to a Los Angeles Times article headlined "Romney isn’t the first to flip on abortion."
In 1967, then-California Gov. Reagan signed a liberal abortion law legalizing the procedure in cases where a woman’s mental as well as physical health was at risk.
The number of abortions in California soared after the bill was passed, and Reagan came to regret singing it, the Times reported. By the time he ran for president in 1980, Reagan had declared his support for a constitutional amendment prohibiting all abortions except to save the life of a woman.
During the 1980 campaign, Reagan’s GOP primary opponent, George H.W. Bush, opposed a constitutional amendment restricting abortion. But by the time he ran for president in 1988, then-Vice President Bush said he opposed all abortions unless the mother’s life was endangered.
Dick Gephardt, elected to the House from a heavily Catholic district, said in 1977: "By ruling … that a woman may legally have an abortion during the first three months of pregnancy, the Supreme Court has sanctioned the denial of the unborn’s rights.”
But in 1986, two years before running for president, Gephardt said he opposed a constitutional amendment, the Times noted, and in 2003 he declared: "The sanctity of a woman’s right to control her own destiny is a moral force of its own."
Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis, opposing Gephardt for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1988, criticized Gephardt’s shift on abortion and other issues, and went on to win the nomination.
Similarly, Al Gore’s stance on abortion shifted to the left as he eyed the White House. In 1987, he stated: "During my 11 years in Congress, I have consistently opposed federal funding of abortions," which he called "arguably the taking of a human life."
By 2000, when Gore was running for president, he declared: "My position has changed. I strongly support a woman’s right to choose."
It’s too early to tell what impact Romney’s shift on the issue will have on his presidential candidacy. Some have questioned his sincerity on the issue. But pro-life State Sen. Jim DeMint, a Republican from South Carolina who supports Romney, said: "He feels passionately that the value of human life begins at conception."
"The idea that he might have changed his mind is very appealing to me, because we’re not going to win that debate unless people change their minds and think it through."
Romney isn't the first to flip on abortion
Janet Hook, Times Staff Writer, March 11, 2007
People have change of hearts I just wonder if his came because he knew he would run fro Prez one day? This is what happened to Gore.
Clinton also had expressed some pro life sentiments when he was governor. Imagine, he tried to have it both ways! How shocking. Ha ha. In any case, he and Gore both knew the pro abortion crowd that has veto power over any Demo nominee would only accept candidates who were 100% pro abortion.
IBEV?
In Hugh Hewitt's book "Mormon in the White House" he describes Romney as a self made Billionaire that bought failing companies then fixed them up and sold them. What if he brought his trimming the fat company/business skills to the White House?
In Hugh Hewitt's book "Mormon in the White House" he describes Romney as a self made Billionaire that bought failing companies then fixed them up and sold them. What if he brought his trimming the fat company/business skills to the White House? Check it out http://hughhewitt.townhall.com/
Reagan signed a bill he regretted in 1967. That is totally different from being a defender of Abortion during the intense Abortion wars of the later 70s, 80s, and 90s, Romney then had a conversion around two or three years ago.
It was one thing to not have been passionate enough about Hitler in the early thirties, but to compare that to some one that saw the light in 1944 just doesn't work.
I accept Romney's sincerity on his conversion, but it really annoys me when people drag Reagan in on it, when the comparison doesn't even makes sense.
Romney came from a prominent and powerful, national, political family, why didn't he see the light in 1967, or 1977, or 1987, or 1997, he just barely made 2007, anything less would have condemned the religious candidate for the 2008 election.
Romney is a loser and to compare him to Reagan is a pitiful ploy. He has no chance of becoming POTUS.
Thanks for posting this . Some on here think that it's a bad thing for someone to come to the pro-life side . Reagan actually signed pro-abort legislation , did Romney ? Reagan turned out to be one, if not our best presidents ever.
Romney doesn't cower in his explanation for his change of heart in this matter , it's a good change that should be embraced . Let the detractors smear Romney ,and let them consider the alternatives . All of the viable alternatives are very strong and vocal in their support of abortion .
Gov. Romney had lots to say about federal budget spending restraint in his CPAC 2007 speech that was very well received by the crowd. For example, he would cap non-defense, discretionary spending at inflation minus 1%, saving $300 billion over 10 years. It's very refreshing to hear a Republican put fiscal conservatism at the top of his priorities. View a portion of the speech online for more: On Spending Restraint.
Examine Romney's record in Massachusetts concerning spending. He is a serious fiscal conservative.
People do change their minds and hearts when confronted with either a change in themselves or more facts. I'm a little bothered by the fact that his change of heart came because he saw that Roe V Wade led to a cheapening of life rather than because he thinks abortion is killing a human and that it's wrong. That may be a small point, but it seems important to me.
susie
No RINOs. Give us Fred Thompson.
Mitt Romney, like Ronald Reagan, wears blue suits.
An excellent book, by the way. Here is a great quote from the book with a warning from Hugh Hewitt:
"There is a steep and very slippery slope in front of the passionate anti-Mormon who takes that passion and funnels it into anti-Romney activism because of the theological concerns. Such activists are building a weapon of political war that will be used against them, and those who they might approve for office based on theological soundness in this and future cycles... If the various and disparate camps within what the Left lazily and condescendingly calls the 'religious right' join with the secular agenda journalists of Left... in mocking Romney's sincere religous belief, they can expect the same arguments to be turned against them in even greater force than they have already encountered."
I love youtube --- Check these out about Romney:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b88Ug3GrvZk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjC4lQ90Sas
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKQFciAB_qg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mx-QPa98qQ8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYXV9SbyKLo
Why is there such an effort to bring Reagan into all things Romney - there is no comparison - at all!
He's not a true conservative, he has no vision for the future, he has no vision or message of hope!
BAH! On these candidates who just say what they think people want to hear!
Romney is a loser and to compare him to Reagan is a pitiful ploy. He has no chance of becoming POTUS.
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At least they know what a conservative used to look like.
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