Republican Mike Huckabee is Good on Abortion, Pro-Life Advocate Says 
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
February 2, 2007
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — A leading local pro-life advocate in Arkansas, where Mike Huckabee was the governor, says the potential Republican presidential candidate is strongly opposed to abortion. However, he said he can’t say where the possible candidate stand when it comes to embryonic stem cell research.
Just days ago, Huckabee filed the papers to create an exploratory committee to consider a potential candidacy to seek the GOP nomination for president.
John Thomas, assistant director of the Family Council of Arkansas, says pro-life advocates will find much about Huckabee that they will probably like.
"His record here in Arkansas has been very, very strong conservatively speaking … at least what issues you deal with at the state level," he told AgapePress.
Thomas describes Huckabee as "very strong [on] pro-life," but says he doesn’t know where the former governor stands on forcing taxpayers to fund embryonic stem cell research, which involves the destruction of human life.
"I can’t speak on what he might say about embryonic stem-cell research, since that’s not an issue that ever came up in Arkansas, and other issues maybe like that that are federal issues," he said.
In 2005, Huckabee signed a bill into law that would require abortion facilities to obtain the approval of a parent or legal guardian before an abortion can be scheduled for a teenager.
Huckabee supported a 2003 version of the bill that passed in the state House and Senate before dying in a legislative committee responsible for reconciling the versions passed by each chamber.
In March 2003 Huckabee signed a ban on human cloning. Under the Arkansas law, human cloning would be considered a felony, punishable with prison sentences as long as ten years and fines as high as $10,000.
Huckabee also signed a bill in 2003 authorizing the sale of Choose Life license plates. Twenty-five dollars from the plate proceeds goes to the Choose Life Adoption Assistance Program Fund and are distributed to organizations that help pregnant women and promote adoption such a pregnancy centers or adoption agencies.
Still, the former Baptist preacher will have to distinguish himself form other Republican presidential candidates seeking support from the pro-life community including Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney and Representatives Duncan Hunter of California and Tom Tancredo of Colorado.
The two leading GOP candidates aren’t fully pro-life as former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani backs both abortion and embryonic stem cell research and Arizona Sen. John McCain supports the latter.
