Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Rudy Giuliani isn't doing himself any favors on abortion by upsetting pro-life Republican voters will constant reminders that he's pro-abortion. Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards isn't helping him either as she lavished praise on the former New York City mayor over a speech he gave Friday.

Last week, Giuliani appeared in Houston for a campaign stop and told voters there that his record as New York mayor and his dealing with issues like terrorism and crime made him the best candidate for president.

He said Republicans should support him on that basis even though he disagrees with most members of his party by supporting abortion and wanting to force taxpayers to fund embryonic stem cell research.

"If we don't find a way of uniting around broad principles that will appeal to a large segment of this country, if we can't figure that out, we are going to lose this election," he said.

Richards praised the comments in a press release LifeNews.com obtained.

“It's encouraging to see that the front-runner for the Republican nomination for president supports the right to make personal private health care decisions free from government intrusion," she said.

"Giuliani's principled stand disproves the old-school belief that you have to check your convictions at the Presidential primary door," Richards added.

She warned that "Giuliani is pro-choice and at the front of the pack" claimed that "the days of the anti-choice strangle-hold on the Republican Party are numbered."

But, Republican voters have previously turned away pro-abortion candidates from capturing the primary nod, including former California Gov. Pete Wilson and Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter. Republicans haven't had a pro-abortion nominee since Gerald Ford in 1976.

Polls have also shown that abortion is a winning issue for GOP presidential candidates.

Post-election polling after the 2004 presidential elections found that President Bush's pro-life stance gave him an edge over pro-abortion Sen. John Kerry.

A 2004 Wirthlin Worldwide post-election poll found that 42 percent of voters said abortion affected the way they voted for president. Twenty-four percent of voters cast their ballots for President Bush while 15% voted for Kerry, giving Bush a 9 percent advantage on the issue of abortion.

Eight percent of voters in the Wirthlin poll indicated abortion was the "most important" issue affecting their votes and Bush won among those voters by a six to two percent margin, leading Kerry by four percentage points among the most intense abortion voters.