[irishgrl]

Originally Posted by strandinthewind

Good - because I think he, a Mormon and a former quasi pro choice person - cannot get elected with the majority of the R support, which comes from the far right, which loaths both of those charateristics.

oh Jason, Romney is not pro-choice apparently:

Romney delineates his abortion stance

By GLEN JOHNSON, Associated Press Writer Tue Aug 14, 9:32 PM ET

BOSTON - Asked about abortion rights last week, Mitt Romney grew exasperated and said: "I'm pro-life; it would be great if we could just leave it at that."



But as his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination progresses, Romney is revealing more complex thoughts on the subject for which he has already been labeled a flip-flopper. It shows even his current position defies easy labels or rote town-hall meeting answers.

Before audiences in early voting Iowa and New Hampshire, where Romney leads in the polls, the former Massachusetts governor insisted he wants the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade and allow the states to determine their own abortion policies. He said it's preferable to the "one-size-fits-all" federal approach embedded in the court's 1973 landmark decision that established a constitutional right to abortion.

Yet in recent weeks, he has acknowledged he also supports a plank in the 2004 Republican Party platform calling for a federal "Human Life Amendment" to the Constitution. It would repeal Roe v. Wade with an eye toward banning abortion nationwide.

In addition, Romney has said he supports the platform's call for federal legislation expanding protections in the 14th Amendment — which added due process and equal protection clauses — to unborn children. That could also block abortions nationally.

While both moves would supersede court or state action, Romney insists those positions are not a further evolution in his abortion views. He has already conceded moving from the "effectively pro-choice" position he held until July 2005 to the staunch opposition he emphasizes today on the campaign trail.

"The right course, in my view, and the course that has the greatest prospects of success, is to see a president elected who will appoint strict-constructionist judges who will be inclined to return to the people and their elected representatives and the states the ability to fashion their own laws related to abortion," he told reporters last week during a visit to the Mississippi River city of Bettendorf, Iowa.

When the subject was first broached, he replied, "I'm pro-life; it would be great if we could just leave it at that."

Romney went on to minimize the Human Life Amendment, even though he supports it and it was written by James Bopp Jr., a conservative lawyer and general counsel to the National Right to Life Committee who serves as Romney's "special adviser on life issues."

Romney said Bopp had recently told him "there are a wide range of possible human life amendments," varying from one that would include an abortion ban to one that would leave the matter in state hands. Romney said Bopp also told him getting three quarters of the states to approve one — as is required for a constitutional amendment — "is just not realistic."

That, Romney added, is why he emphasizes electing a president committed to creating a high court majority opposed to Roe v. Wade. He has said conservative justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and John Roberts are the type of justices he would appoint.

And that, Romney says, would allow an intermediate recalibration of abortion rights.

The nuances of Romney's abortion views don't impress critics, who say he's shifted his position to suit his need to curry favor with the GOP's social conservatives.

"What we tell everybody is that no matter where they stand on the issue of choice, he or she should question where Mitt Romney stands," said Kelly O'Bryan, a spokeswoman for NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts.

O'Bryan recalled Romney telling her abortion rights group during an interview amid his 2002 gubernatorial campaign, "I will not allow any chipping away at Roe v. Wade." She said notes of the Sept. 26, 2002, meeting also reflect Romney saying, "You need someone in Washington like me." At the time, Romney said that while he personally opposed abortion, he would not only support Roe, but block any state action to undercut abortion rights.

Angus McQuilken, spokesman for the Massachusetts chapter of the Planned Parenthood Advocacy Fund, cited similar statements to his group both during the gubernatorial race and Romney's 1994 U.S. Senate campaign.

"The issue with Romney has always been his credibility," said McQuilken. "His current platform on abortion rights is just the latest in a long line of contradictions. What voters need to know about Mitt Romney is this: Where he stands on any issue is always a moving target."

Romney said he changed his mind on abortion after reflecting on a November 2004 meeting with a Harvard stem cell researcher. He said the conversation evoked images of "Brave New World" embryo cloning and convinced him he could no longer say he was personally opposed to abortion but publicly supportive of abortion rights.

Nine months later, Romney proclaimed in a newspaper opinion piece: "I am pro-life."

Today, the 60-year-old Romney says his view reflects a lifetime of experience and is similar to the abortion conversions undergone by former presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.

He said in Iowa he supports the GOP platform because "it's a very broad, encompassing view, and it suggests, as I believe, that our party should stand for life, and that there should be an effort to communicate that to the American people."