Pro-choice is his record, but not his position

Mitt Romney acknowledges that he has not always opposed abortion.

When he ran for office in Massachusetts — unsuccessfully for U.S. Senate in 1994 and successfully for governor in 2002 — he often said he supported abortion rights. There are numerous examples to choose from, we’ll look at two of his more plain-spoken statements here:

“I believe that abortion should be safe and legal in this country,” Romney said in a 1994 debate with Democratic Sen. Ted Kennedy. “I believe that since Roe v. Wade has been the law for 20 years we should sustain and support it.”

In a 2002 debate, Romney said there was no difference between his views and that of his Democratic opponent, Shannon P. O’Brien. “I will preserve and protect a woman’s right to choose. I will not change any provisions of Massachusetts pro-choice laws,” he said.

In 2007, Romney says his views have changed. “And I get tired of people that are holier than thou because they’ve been pro-life longer than I have,” he said at a Republican debate on Aug. 5, 2007.

(

Politifact

looked at Romney’s abortion record previously; check out that story

here

.)

The sly TV ad from the Log Cabin Republicans merely states, “A pro-choice record,” leaving out a verb like “has” or “had.” The ad could do a better job at pointing out that Romney no longer stands by his pro-choice record, but it doesn’t want to. The whole point is to shine a light on where Romney once stood on abortion. His record on abortion is not entirely pro-choice, given his current position opposing abortion rights. That’s why we find this attack Mostly True.

By

Angie Drobnic Holan

Former Editor-in-Chief

October 17, 2007

Truth-o-meter Ruling

Mostly True

Statement

Mitt Romney has "a pro-choice record."

Speaker/Target

Speaker: Log Cabin Republicans

Statement Date

October 19, 2007