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Giuliani Reaffirms Abortion Rights Position

May 13, 2007 11:35 AM

ABC News' Jan Simmonds reports: On FOX News Sunday, Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani, N.Y., reaffirmed his commitment to abortion rights.   

"I'm very, very passionate about abortion and the whole issue of abortion. But it leads me to a conclusion that may be different than some, the same as others, which is I oppose it," Giuliani told moderator Chris Wallace. "That's a principle I've held forever, and I'll hold it forever. That's not going to change."

Giuliani added that he would place no abortion litmus test on prospective Supreme Court nominees if he was elected president. "My view is that there shouldn't be a litmus test on Roe against Wade, it seems to me the best position to take is I don't want a litmus test for judges," said the former mayor.  "We didn't want Justice Roberts or Justice Alito to answer that question. They both answered that question they would consider it, they would look at it. I'm going to select strict constructionist judges."

Giuliani added that if he agreed with a prospective court nominee on 20 issues, but disagreed with the nominee over abortion, that alone would not stop him from nominating that person.

On other subjects, Giuliani expressed no willingness to disarm Americans but said he believes in "reasonable restrictions." 

"The Second Amendment to the Constitution is about as clear as it can be. It gives people the individual right to bear arms," said Giuliani. "That means that any restrictions have to be reasonable. And those restrictions largely have to do with criminal background, background of mental illness, and they should basically be done on the state-by-state level. And that's the guidelines that I would use in dealing with it as president."

On immigration reform, Giuliani said a "tamper-proof I.D. card" must be created, a technological fence should be put in place on our borders with a border patrol, and that a process needs to be established that will allow the government to know who's in the United States from a foreign country while separating the ones who are dangerous from the ones who aren't.

And finally, Giuliani was asked to respond to the comments of Richard Land, who represents the Southern Baptist Convention, who said he could not vote for Rudy Giuliani because of infractions in his personal life. "I would not vote for Rudy Giuliani… If a man will lie to his wife, and if a man will be dishonest to his wife, he'll be dishonest with anybody,: said Land.

Answering Land and those who agreed with him, Giuliani said that "people have a right to vote however they're going to vote."  Acknowledging he has made mistakes in his life, he added that prospective voters should "take a look at the teaching from the Gospel about he without sin not cast the first stone. And the reality is that we're all imperfect.  We're all striving as best we can to improve ourselves and to be better." Giuliani asks that voters look at his whole public record and not to focus on any single issue.

May 13, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (0)

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