Giuliani Supports Abortion Rights but Will Conservatives Support Him?

May 10, 2007— -- Over the past 20 years, a prerequisite for winning the Republican presidential nomination has been for a candidate to proudly highlight that he is against abortion rights. The candidacy of Rudy Giuliani will test that rule.

During the course of the past two weeks, the debate over abortion and how Giuliani confronts the controversial social issue has been of great debate within political circles and the national media.

The discourse began to garner national attention when during the Republican debate at the Reagan Presidential Library in California, the former New York City mayor gave a nonchalant response to a question about overturning the landmark Supreme Court ruling Roe v. Wade.

Debate moderator Chris Matthews asked all 10 contenders present, "Will the day that Roe v. Wade is repealed be a good day for America?"

All the candidates on stage responded overwhelmingly in the affirmative, while Giuliani responded, "It'd be OK."

"It would be OK to repeal it," he quickly added. "It would be OK also if a strict constructionist judge viewed it as precedent, and I think a judge has to make that decision…. The court has to make that decision, and then the country can deal with it."

This was not the customary answer from a Republican front-runner.

Another revelation on this subject emerged this week when an opposing campaign, which asked not to be identified, released documents to the media showing that in the late '90s and in the year 2000, Giuliani and then-wife Donna Hanover donated $900 to Planned Parenthood.

A nonprofit organization, Planned Parenthood is a sexual and reproductive health care advocate and provider.

Part of its mission is to ensure that women have the right to choose when or whether to have a child, and if they decide to have a child that they know all their options, including abortion and adoption.