Giuliani Plans To Offer Affirmation Of His Support For Abortion Rights Despite Consequences Among Conservative Voters, Aides Say

Main Category: Abortion
Article Date: 15 May 2007 - 3:00 PDT

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Former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani (R), who is running for the Republican presidential nomination, plans to offer an affirmation of his support for abortion rights in television appearances, public forums and interviews in the coming days, Giuliani's aides said on Wednesday, the New York Times reports.

Giuliani's advisers said Republican primary voters would forgive their concerns about him on abortion and other social issues if they concluded that his positions would appeal to Democratic voters and thus make him a stronger candidate. According to his aides, polling has found that a relatively small number of voters would base their vote solely on the issue of abortion. A New York Times/CBS News poll conducted in March found that 41% of Republicans thought abortions should be prohibited, compared with 23% of U.S. residents in general. The poll also found that 53% of Republicans said they wanted a Republican presidential nominee who would make attaining abortions more difficult.

According to the Times, Giuliani's campaign also is considering a strategy that would focus on primaries where his abortion-rights position is more likely to be accepted among voters, including a potential late January Florida primary and the Feb. 5 primaries in California, New York and New Jersey. Giuliani's advisers said that they will not abandon efforts in the early primary states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina but added that recent events have shown that states with later primaries are better suited for a moderate Republican, the Times reports.

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"Conventional wisdom says he can't" win the Republican nomination, Mike DuHaime, Giuliani's campaign manager, said, adding, "But we believe that based on his record in New York City, based on his leadership when America was tested on Sept. 11, that he can." Rich Lowry, editor of National Review, said, "You can't win [the Republican nomination] as a pro-choicer who is going to deliberately set on challenging the party's orthodoxy on the issue." He added that Giuliani's stance "doesn't have to take him down, but if he continues to mishandle it, it's going to be a real problem for him" (Nagourney/Santora, New York Times, 5/10).

John Weaver, strategist for Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who also is running for the Republican presidential nomination, said in a telephone interview that Giuliani is "well outside the mainstream of rank-and-file Republicans on [abortion], not only as someone who is pro-abortion, but someone who has supported one of the most radical pro-abortion groups in the country" (Finnegan, Los Angeles Times, 5/9).

Giuliani in Huntsville, Ala., on Wednesday said, "Ultimately, there has to be a right to choose," adding that he is "at peace" with the knowledge that some Republican voters will not vote for him based on his abortion-rights position (New York Times, 5/10).

Romney Receives Award From Antiabortion Group; Discusses Wife's Planned Parenthood Donation
In other news, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R), who also is seeking the Republican nomination, on Thursday after receiving an award from Massachusetts Citizens for Life, which opposes abortion rights, declared himself among the "converts" of the movement to outlaw abortion, the Boston Globe reports. "I am evidence that your work, that your relentless campaign to promote the sanctity of human life, bears fruit," Romney said at the ceremony, adding, "I do follow ... a long line of converts." Kevin Jourdain -- council member of Holyoke City, Mass., and chair of the Pioneer Valley chapter of Massachusetts Citizens for Life -- said antiabortion groups should rally around Romney. "The whole purpose of the pro-life movement is education and conversion," Jourdain said, adding that Romney is "part of the conversion. We should applaud him. We should celebrate him" (Mishra, Boston Globe, 5/11).

A coalition of conservative advocates -- including the leaders of the Pro-life Federation of Michigan, the Michigan Conservative Union and Massachusetts Resistance -- in a statement released on Thursday criticized Romney's previous position on abortion rights, his wife's 1994 donation Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts and a universal health care bill he signed into law that provides taxpayer-funded abortions in Massachusetts. The group in a statement said, "His commitment to the pro-life cause has been called into question because of his frequently changing position on the issue of abortion and his signing into law a bill that provides taxpayer-funded abortion in Massachusetts" (Johnson, AP/Foster's Daily Democrat, 5/11).

Romney on Wednesday said reports that his wife donated $150 to PPLM in 1994 are true and not surprising given his position on abortion at the time, the AP/Northwest Florida Daily News reports. "I was effectively pro-choice at that time," Romney said, adding that he had changed his view on abortion during the debate over human embryonic stem cell research and human cloning (Glover, AP/Northwest Florida Daily News, 5/10).

Spokesperson for PPLM Angus McQuilken declined to comment on the donation (Helman, Boston Globe, 5/10). Lisa Dacey, spokesperson for the Planned Parenthood Advocacy Fund, said, "There's no shortage of irony here," adding that Romney "is somebody who will say anything and change his mind a great deal to get elected. He did that here in Massachusetts, and we have no doubt he will do that in the presidential race as well." Romney spokesperson Kevin Madden said the former governor's "position has changed in the right direction" on the issue (Johnson, AP/Boston Herald, 5/9).

NPR's "All Things Considered" on Thursday reported on Giuliani's position on abortion rights. The segment includes comments from Giuliani; Republican strategist Whit Ayers; and radio host Laura Ingraham (Liasson, "All Things Considered," NPR, 5/10). Audio of the segment is available online.

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