The Interim

The race to become the Republican presidential nominee highlights the issue of what it means to be a pro-life politician. Five men – Texas Governor George W. Bush, Arizona Senator John McCain, publisher Steve Forbes, former head of the Family Research Council Gary Bauer, and former ambassador Alan Keyes – are vying for the GOP nod. They know that without at least some pro-life support they have no chance of winning. But some pro-lifers are unsure whom to support.

The Republican National Committee for Life (RNC/Life) is undecided on Bush. They insinuate Bush supports taxpayer funding of abortion even though he has endorsed the federal Hyde amendment which prohibits such funding. They are also unhappy that he has fudged his answer on whether he would appoint pro-life judges. Nor has Bush ruled out appointing pro-abortion Republican governors such as New Jersey’s Christine Todd Whitman, New York’s George Pataki or Pennsylvania’s Tom Ridge as his running mate.

Last March, Bush said there should be a “pro-life tenor” in the GOP without indicating what that means. He says he considers the child in the womb to be a person and said abortions should be constitutionally banned except in cases of rape, incest and to protect the life or health of the mother but adds that America isn’t ready for that yet. Instead, he said “what [America] ought to do is promote policies that reduce abortions.”

Such exceptions turn off supporters of American Life League, an educational organization that does not endorse specific candidates. Steve Sanborn, ALL director of public relations, told The Interim that a politician “must believe life begins at fertilization, that life is sacred from that moment, and that every abortion is murder without exception or compromise” to be considered pro-life. Sanborn said Bush falls into the category of “not pro-life enough.”

Bush supports an “incremental” approach, such as requiring parental notification or consent for a teenager’s abortion, banning partial-birth abortions and ensuring taxpayers don’t have pay for abortions.

That’s good enough for the National Right to Life Committee. “Governor Bush has a pro-life record and has taken a pro-life position,” NRTLC executive director David O’Steen said last March. And it’s good enough for Christian Coalition founder and 700 Club host Pat Robertson, who ran for the GOP nomination himself in 1988 and has promised to pump money and manpower to help Bush win South Carolina, the next big primary, if he stumbles in New Hampshire.

When it comes to tactics, the movement seems more divided than it really is. ALL has no difficulty with the incremental approach if it is principled, and by that they mean that any restrictions on abortion must not make exceptions, leaving children in certain classes unprotected. But Sanborn adds that the best political position a candidate can take is to support the Human Life Amendment (HLA), which defines personhood and protects unborn babies.

Bush has said that the country is not ready for a constitutional ban on abortion, although he would like to see one. Conservative activist and Moral Majority co-founder Paul Weyrich said Bush is probably correct that America is not ready for strong pro-life measures but that he should use the pulpit of the presidency to sway public opinion. As candidate Bauer says, “As leaders our role must be to help shape public opinion, not simply react to it.”

That lack of leadership and Bush’s inability to use clear language to express pro-life policies leads Colleen Parro, director of the RNC/Life to say, “There is no way his stance can be described as pro-life.”

Yet the Republicans for Life Political Action Committee issued a statement calling Parro’s assertion wrong. “The pro-life movement has historically supported candidates who take rape and incest exceptions because those candidates agree that abortion kills unborn children and that it’s horribly wrong. Such candidates vote pro-life, support pro-life legislation, and have worked alongside the pro-life movement.”

“Bush’s position would eliminate about 98 per cent of all abortions currently being performed, and we would certainly regard that as a pro-life position,” said Carol Long Tobias, head of NRTLC’s political action committee. She applauded Bush’s support of parental notification, defunding abortion, and bans on partial-birth abortion, calling them “entirely appropriate and consistent with the immediate goals of the pro-life movement.” The NRTLC endorses incrementalism as the best way to finally end abortion.

Tobias told The Interim that NRTLC opposes McCain because he has traded in a fairly solid pro-life Senate voting record to appeal to pro-abortion west-coast voters. He was quoted Aug. 19, 1999 in the San Francisco Chronicle as saying he does not favour overturning Roe vs. Wade any time soon. He has also indicated that pro-abortion former senator Warren Rudman would be his attorney-general. Furthermore, McCain supports limits on political advertising that would hinder pro-life groups from getting their message to the public.

The NRTLC says that any Republican other than McCain will be endorsed over the “dangerously pro-abortion” Democrats, Vice-President Al Gore and former New Jersey Senator Bill Bradley.

While this seems to be a two-way race between Bush and McCain, there are three other strongly pro-life candidates.

A July 14, 1999 Forbes 2000 press release said Forbes vowed to defend the sanctity of human life and appoint pro-life federal judges. He told an Iowa audience, “I am pro-life. As president, my beliefs won’t change and my desire to protect innocent human life will not be diminished.” Forbes, who ignored moral issues in his 1996 bid for the GOP nomination, now says, “The right to life is not a State-endowed right. It is the gift of God. The role of government is to defend that right, not dismiss and devalue it.” On Oct. 5, the Republican National Coalition for Life declared Forbes a “strongly pro-life candidate” after months of attacking him. ALL’s Sanborn told The Interim that Forbes seems to be the most pro-life Republican candidate in the race now that Patrick Buchanan jumped ship to run for the Reform nomination.

Bauer and Keyes are solidly pro-life, supporting the HLA, the reversal of Roe vs. Wade, and recent Congressional measures such as the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act. Bauer, Forbes and Keyes are the only candidates to commit themselves to naming a pro-life running mate.

Bush will likely be the candidate and he is at the very least moderately pro-life. That the party still makes many pro-lifers uneasy is something they are going to have to address.