Presidential Candidates Brownback, Hunter Discuss Abortion at March 
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
January 23, 2007
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — Two of the Republican presidential candidates with strong pro-life views spoke to tens of thousands of people at a rally preceding the annual March for Life. Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback and California Rep. Duncan Hunter both said they favor overturning Roe v. Wade and allowing states to prohibit abortions.
"We recognize a tragedy of life in Roe v. Wade, but that tragedy will not always stand," Brownback told the cheering crowd.
During his speech, the pro-life senator, who formally declared his candidacy for the 2008 Republican nomination on Saturday, spoke about adopting his daughter Jenna from an orphanage in China.
"I mention her because some woman in China, who I probably will never meet, fought for her life," Brownback said. "Somebody fought for her life. You are fighting for somebody’s life."
Meanwhile, Rep. Hunter promised pro-life advocates that he would have a pro-life litmus test when it comes to the appointment of federal judges.
"If we have a judicial applicant, a judicial nominee who can look at a sonogram of an unborn child and not see the value of human life … if I should become president of the United States, he will not receive a judicial appointment," Hunter said.
“I tell you what you he will receive, he will get an appointment with an optometrist so he can get a pair of eye glasses," Hunter added.
The two candidates also attended a meeting of pro-life bloggers and offered similar comments.
According to a Washington Post report, Hunter talked for a few minutes to a relatively subdued crowd and then left to joining the pro-life people at the March for Life.
Brownback came in afterwards and "entered the same room to noisy applause, a standing-room-only crowd and camera flashes. He fielded enthusiastic questions, then left after half an hour to a standing ovation."
The senator said he has a good shot at climbing in the polls if the pro-life community rallies around him.
"Over 40 percent will not vote for anybody who is not pro-life — period," he said, according to the Post. "You know, if I can do 40 percent in this field, I’d probably win."
During the meeting, Brownback also announced the reintroduction of the Unborn Pain Awareness Act and introduced a 4-year old girl with Down syndrome saying that too many disabled babies are targeted by abortions.
Both Brownback and Hunter have strong pro-life voting records and have opposed both abortion and forcing taxpayers to fund embryonic stem cell research which involves the destruction of human life.
