Romney Wins Iowa Straw Poll; Huckabee, Brownback Finish Second, Third

Main Category: Abortion
Also Included In: Women's Health / Gynecology
Article Date: 15 Aug 2007 - 3:00 PDT


Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who is running for the Republican presidential nomination, on Saturday won the nonbinding Ames, Iowa, straw poll, receiving 32% of the vote, the Washington Post reports (Balz/Shear, Washington Post, 8/12). Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and Sen. Sam Brownback (Kan.), who have criticized Romney for changing his position on abortion rights, finished second and third, respectively. Huckabee received 18% of the vote and Brownback received 15% (Wiessler, Reuters, 8/12).

Since Romney first ran for the U.S. Senate in 1994, he has acknowledged that his position on abortion has changed from supporting abortion rights to saying that he would prefer to have Roe v. Wade -- the 1973 Supreme Court case that effectively barred state abortion bans -- overturned. Romney in 1994 said, "I believe that abortion should be safe and legal in this country," adding, "I believe that since Roe v. Wade has been the law for 20 years, we should sustain and support it."

When he ran for Massachusetts governor in 2002, Romney promised to "preserve the status quo" on abortion rights in the state and oppose any changes to state laws that restricted or increased access to abortion. Romney in 2004 while studying human embryonic stem cell research said he experienced an awakening that led him to believe "the sanctity of life had been cheapened" by the Roe decision (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 7/6).

"If there's some people who can't get over the fact that I've become pro-life, that's fine," Romney said during an interview on "Fox News Sunday," adding, "But I'm not going to apologize for the fact that I am pro-life, and that I was wrong before, in my view, and that I've taken the right course" (Finnegan, Los Angeles Times, 8/13).

According to Reuters, Huckabee and Brownback have been the two "most vocal antiabortion candidates in the field" (Reuters, 8/12). Republican candidates Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Sen. Fred Thompson (Tenn.) were on the ballot but did not participate in the Ames poll, in which 14,302 votes were cast (Pearson/McCormick, Chicago Tribune, 8/12).

A transcript of Romney's interview on "Fox News Sunday" is available online (Wallace, "Fox News Sunday, 8/12).

"Reprinted with permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . © 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

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