Romney and Santorum: Roe v. Wade Should be Overturned

Politics   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Jan 9, 2012   |   12:14PM   |   Washington, DC

In a Saturday night debate, ABC News host George Stephanopoulos, a former Democratic strategist for former pro-abortion President Bill Clinton, devoted considerable time to questioning the candidates on the issue of contraception.

Although Stephanopoulos was panned heavily by conservative bloggers and reported for devoting so much time to such a non-controversial topic at a time when the American voting public is focused on the economy, the discussion did provide an opportunity for the Republican candidates to present their pro-life views.

During the discussion, Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, outlined his opposition to Roe and his support for better judges.

“I don’t believe they decided that correctly. In my view, Roe v. Wade was improperly decided. It was based upon that same principle. And in my view, if we had justices like Roberts, Alito, Thomas, and Scalia, and more justices like that, they might well decide to return this issue to states as opposed to saying it’s in the federal Constitution,” Romney said. “Do I believe the Supreme Court should overturn Roe v. Wade? Yes, I do.”

He added, “And by the way, if the people say it should be in the federal Constitution, then instead of having unelected judges stuff it in there when it’s not there, we should allow the people to express their own views through amendment and add it to the Constitution.”

Rick Santorum, the former Pennsylvania senator, also bashed the Supreme Court’s decision in Roe, which allowed for virtually unlimited abortions.

“They created through a penumbra of rights a new right to privacy that was not in the Constitution. And what I’ve — and that’s, again, I sort of agree with Governor Romney’s assessment — legal assessment, it created a right through boot-strapping, through creating something that wasn’t there. I believe it should be overturned,” Santorum said. “I am for overturning Roe versus Wade. I do not believe that we have a right in this country, in the Constitution, to take a human life. I don’t think that’s — I don’t think our founders envisioned that. I don’t think the writing of the Constitution anywhere enables that.”

Meanwhile, Gov. Rick Perry of Texas took a minute to bash the Obama administration for denying a grant to the nation’s Catholic bishops for a sex trafficking program helping women who are victims because they refuse to refer for abortions.

“When we see this administration not giving money to Catholic charities for sexually trafficked individuals because they don’t agree with the Catholic church on abortion, that is a war against religion. And it’s going to stop under a Perry administration,” he said.