Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A leading pro-abortion activist says Rudy Giuliani's attempt to moderate his pro-abortion views during the Republican presidential contest is a betrayal of his hard-core position backing abortion when he was New York City's mayor.

As the mayor of the largest city in the nation, Giuliani could be counted on to support abortion.

He supported taxpayer funding of abortions, gave a donation to Planned Parenthood, and repeatedly spoke in opposition to pro-life laws.

Giuliani appointed Kelli Conlin to the city's Human Rights Commission, an irony not lost on pro-life advocates.

Conlin, the head of NARAL's affiliate in New York, told CNN in an interview that Rudy's attempt to moderate his pro-abortion views for Republican voters, most of whom are pro-life, is a betrayal of his mayoral record.

"He never seemed to have a struggle with the issue as mayor," she said. "He was very proudly pro-choice."

Conlin told the television news station that she finds it disconcerting when she hears Giuliani say he will appoint "strict constructionists" to the Supreme Court.

"It is code for judges who will overturn Roe v. Wade," she says.

Perhaps the biggest change is the former mayor's position on partial-birth abortion.

"I have not supported [a ban] and I do not see my position on that changing," Giuliani told CNN when former President Clinton vetoed a ban on partial-birth abortion.

But when the Supreme Court upheld a national ban this April, Giuliani said, "I must say, Justice [Anthony] Kennedy's opinion convinced me even more that my support for the ban is a correct one."

Whether Giuliani has truly flip-flopped or if he is trying to hide his uncompromising pro-abortion views behind minor issues such as a partial-birth abortion ban, Conlin remembers Giuliani not budging on opposing even the minor ban on a gruesome abortion procedure.

"He spoke at one of our events one time about that legislation and he was very intelligent about it," she told CNN.

She added that Giuliani clearly opposed the partial-birth abortion ban as mayor because he said doctors needed the abortion method in cases when the mother's life is in danger. However, the ban includes such an exception and doctors have said the three-day-long abortion procedure is never necessary to protect a woman's health.

Ultimately, Colin says Giuliani needs to do more to explain why he has changed.

"He owes the American people an explanation of why he's flip flopped so dramatically," she concluded.