Abortion and the G.O.P.

New York Times Online
May 9, 2007

The G.O.P., Abortion and 2008
By ROBIN TONER

It is one of the enduring features of the modern Republican Party: Since the rise of Ronald Reagan and the empowerment of the social conservatives, the party has formally stood in firm opposition to the constitutional right to abortion and the Supreme Court decision that established it.

Yes, there have always been Republicans who broke with party orthodoxy on the issue, from New England moderates like Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine to pragmatists like Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California. But the party’s platform, if anything, grew less pliant on abortion over the years. And the party invariably nominated presidential candidates who embraced – rather than challenged -- the full “pro-life” position. (Just as the Democrats did, on the “pro-choice” side.)

Now, with Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former mayor of New York, one of the frontrunners for the Republican nomination, the question inevitably arises: Is the party moving on this issue, ready for more flexibility? Can a supporter of abortion rights, even one with caveats and qualifications, make it to the top of the Republican Party in 2008?

Mr. Giuliani’s position on abortion stood out in stark relief at last week’s debate, when he alone, among the ten candidates on the stage, offered an ambivalent response to the prospect of overturning Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision considered anathema by the anti-abortion movement.

”It would be O.K. to repeal,” Mr. Giuliani said. ”Or it would be O.K. also if a strict constructionist judge viewed it as a precedent, and I think a judge has to make that decision.” On his campaign web site, Mr. Giuliani seeks a middle path, saying he supports “reasonable restrictions on abortion” but adding, “ultimately, he believes that it is a decision between a woman, her doctor, her family and her God.”

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