Romney on Abortion

A few weeks ago, Mitt Romney said he supports adding an anti-abortion amendment to the U.S. Constitution, as called for in the Republican Platform. Now he says he would allow individual states to determine for themselves what to do about abortion. Another flip-flop? That's how it looks to ABC News and to the Washington Post.

But the Romney camp insists it isn't. Spokesman Kevin Madden tells me:

"The governor's remarks are entirely consistent with his position of
believing that Roe vs. Wade should be overturned and the issue returned
to the states. He has said that he supports the party platform as it
relates to life, but that the country as a whole is not ready for a
human life amendment to the constitution. Overturning Roe vs. Wade and
supporting the platform are complementary goals."

Whether right-to-life activists will see it that way remains to be seen. But Romney's stance is not all that different from the one that George W. Bush took--and caught some flak for--in 1999. As it was reported then by the Conservative News Service:

Bush describes himself a "pro-life person" and has said he would back a constitutional amendment to ban most abortions. A statement released by Bush's exploratory committee said that his "consistent position on abortion is he is pro-life with the exception of rape, incest and the life of the mother." He has not put that as his main focus because the amendment lacks support. Instead, he believes the country should focus on ways to reduce the number of abortions.

The statement continued, the Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion "will not be overturned until hearts are changed. Until then, we should focus on ways to reduce abortion."