« Hillary Clinton - Invisible | Main | Rudy Giuliani To Raise Money In… London? »
Mitt Romney and Ron Paul on Abortion
By Bill | August 15, 2007 | Email This Post
When asked about his stance on the hot-button issue of abortion, Mitt Romney has said that “I’m pro-life; it would be great if we could just leave it at that” and also that he supports electing a President who would seek to install Supreme Court justices that would oppose Roe v. Wade.
The issues section of his web site is frustratingly obtuse on the matter, refusing to simply say what Romney thinks, but rather offering a small selection of about five quotes from the 2005-2006 time frame. Among them is one in which Romney says that while he wishes America’s laws were pro-life, since they can’t be he believes each state should write their own abortion laws (a contradiction there, it seems, implying Romney would be all for a federal law restricting abortion as long as it was one with which he agreed, but since that’s not possible he’s a firm believer in states’ rights.) The same page, for what its worth, contains a video clip of Romney addressing a National Right to Live convention.
Ron Paul brings his credentials as an OB/GYN doctor to the table and espouses a similar position. However, unlike Romney, Paul’s web site is refreshingly direct about it:
“The right of an innocent, unborn child to life is at the heart of the American ideals of liberty…. I am also the prime sponsor of HR 300, which would negate the effect of Roe v Wade by removing the ability of federal courts to interfere with state legislation to protect life. This is a practical, direct approach to ending federal court tyranny which threatens our constitutional republic and has caused the deaths of 45 million of the unborn.”
And there we have it. I believe a key difference underlies these two statements. Both candidates seem personally opposed to abortion. Romney, however, seems to favor turning control of the issue over to the state as sort of an end-around the Roe v. Wade issue, knowing that a federal fight over abortion would likely consume the entire energy of his administration at best and at worst send him down in flames. Paul’s position, however, couched in language like “ending federal court tyranny” appear to me to be a natural outgrowth of the nearly libertarian philosophy which he applies to issues across the board.
The end result may be the same - and not at all agreeable to some voters - but the impetus for getting to it makes all the difference.
Topics: Mitt Romney, Republicans, Ron Paul |