NRL News
Page 8
May 2007
Volume 34
Issue 5

The Presidential Candidates’ Positions on Partial-Birth Abortion

Present and potential Republican presidential candidates who voted for one or more versions of the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act in Congress include: Sen. Sam Brownback, former Rep. Newt Gingrich, Sen. Chuck Hagel, Rep. Duncan Hunter, Sen. John McCain, Rep. Ron Paul, Rep. Tom Tancredo, and former Sen. Fred Thompson. The bill was signed into law by President Bush in 2003.

Additionally, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee signed a partial-birth abortion ban into law in Arkansas in 1997. Former Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson signed that state’s partial-birth abortion ban in 1997. Former Virginia Governor James Gilmore signed a partial-birth abortion ban into law in 1998.

Neither former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani nor former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney acted or took any executive action on a partial-birth abortion ban in their respective states. Both issued statements in support of the Court’s decision uphold the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act.

However, according to the Los Angeles Times, Giuliani took an opposite position when he was running for reelection in 1997. “On an abortion rights group’s questionnaire, he circled ‘yes’ next to the question of whether he would oppose ‘legislation that would make criminals of doctors who perform intact D&X abortions’—the technical term for what critics call ‘partial-birth’ abortions.”

The three current leading Democratic contenders, Sen. Hillary Clinton, Sen. Barack Obama, and former Senator John Edwards, either voted against the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act and/or issued statements strongly criticizing the U.S. Supreme Court’s April 18, 2007, decision in Gonzales v. Carhart that upheld the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act.

Sen. Hillary Clinton voted against the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act in 2003.

Sen. Barack Obama was not in Congress in 2003, and has not voted on the federal Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act. However, while an Illinois state senator, he twice voted “present” on a state bill to ban partial-birth abortion.

In response to Gonzales v. Carhart, Obama said, “I strongly disagree with today’s Supreme Court decision.”

Former Sen. John Edwards voted against the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act in 1999, which was vetoed by former President Bill Clinton. Subsequently, Edwards did not cast a vote when the bill came before the Senate in 2003. In response to Gonzales v. Carhart, Edwards said, “I could not disagree more strongly with today’s Supreme Court decision.” 

New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, voted against the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act in 1995 and 1996. In 1996 he voted to sustain President Clinton’s veto.