Reuters Examines Role Of McCain's, Obama's Views On Abortion Rights In Presidential Campaign

Main Category: Abortion
Article Date: 29 May 2008 - 5:00 PDT

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Reuters on Wednesday examined the differing views on abortion rights held by Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Barack Obama (D-Ill.), as well as the role the candidates' positions on the issue will play in the presidential campaign. According to Reuters, few political issues "cut so clearly across partisan lines" in the U.S. as abortion rights. Opinion polls have found that most people in the U.S. broadly support abortion rights but are less comfortable with the procedure later in pregnancy. Although McCain and Obama "must be careful" on the issue, they might need to use their positions on abortion rights to "stir their party's bases," Reuters reports.

McCain, who opposes abortion rights, could be unable to win the presidency without the support of evangelical Christians, who might not be "wildly enthusiastic" about his candidacy but "point to his pro-life stance as reason" to support him, according to Matthew Wilson, a political scientist at Southern Methodist University. A Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life analysis of surveys on abortion views from 2001 to 2007 found that 70% of white evangelical Christians ages 18 to 29 are in favor of making abortions more difficult to obtain, compared with 55% of older white evangelicals and 39% of all young people in the U.S.

Allen Hertzke, director of religious studies at the University of Oklahoma, said Obama's support of abortion rights could help him secure support from white women who voted for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) in the Democratic presidential primaries. Hertzke said that if abortion rights become a major campaign issue, Obama's position "could hurt" him among "white working class women, especially Catholics who supported Clinton [and] are also pro-life." However, Hertzke added the state of the U.S. economy could cause Catholic women who oppose abortion rights and voted for Clinton to support Obama rather than McCain in the general election.

Analysts have said that both McCain and Obama could gain support from their parties' bases by focusing on the types of justices they would appoint to the U.S. Supreme Court. McCain has said he would appoint conservative justices, leading to a conservative majority on the bench. Some antiabortion advocates have said such a move could lead to the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Meanwhile, Obama could reiterate to his Democratic base that he would "rol[l] back" the "tide of conservative appointees on the bench" (Stoddard, Reuters, 5/28).

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