Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Rudy Giuliani has tried every trick in the book in order to persuade pro-life voters to consider him for the Republican nomination for president. Now a congressman with a long record of opposing abortion has labeled the former mayor pro-life and said he would have voted mostly pro-life if he had been a congressman as well.Rep. Pete Sessions, a Texas Republican, says that if Giuliani were a member of Congress today, he'd be considered pro-life.
"In a hypothetical comparison of congressional votes, Mayor Giuliani's voting record would mirror the voting record of Fred Thompson," Sessions told CBN News on Monday.
The congressman, who has endorsed Giuliani for president, says those votes supposedly pro-life votes would include ones "on partial birth abortion, taxpayer funding on abortions, and parental notification laws."
"Mayor Giuliani respects the values of social conservatism, and his position on these issues would categorize him as a predominately pro-life Member of Congress," Sessions claims.
However, Giuliani, as mayor of New York City, was on record as opposing the ban on partial-birth abortions and supporting the use of taxpayer funds to finance abortions for poor women.
David Brody, the CBS News correspondent who discussed the subject with Sessions, says the congressman is talking not about Giuliani's past pro-abortion positions, but his stance today.
"He’s not talking about Giuliani in the 1990’s; he’s talking about Rudy now," Brody said.
Brody points to comments Giuliani made in April saying he backed the Supreme Court's decision to uphold the national ban on partial-birth abortions, his more recent comments appearing to support the Hyde amendment prohibiting most tax-funded abortions, and comments on his web site backing parental involvement laws.
"But throw in Giuliani’s talk about nominating strict constructionist judges to the Supreme Court and the pro-life Sessions comes to the conclusion that Giuliani is his guy," Brody explained.
Yet, he points out that Sessions made no reference to how Giuliani would vote on the issue of forcing taxpayers to finance embryonic stem cell research. Giuliani backs the destructive research while pro-life advocates oppose it.