Pro-Abortion Group Says Rudy Giuliani Nomination Would Help Its Efforts 
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
October 10, 2007
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — One of the top abortion advocacy groups hasn’t endorsed Rudy Giuliani for the Republican nomination for president, but an official says his bid would help their efforts. NARAL political director Elizabeth Shipp acknowledged it "would help" the pro-abortion movement to have both parties with pro-abortion nominees.
Shipp said it would be an asset for pro-abortion groups to show that a pro-abortion Republican can capture the nomination of what is mostly a pro-life party.
"The Republican Party used to be about the conservative principles of limited government intervention in private life," Shipp told the Huffington Post newspaper. "It seems to me if they went back to that and stood out from the rigid mainstream, anti-choice agenda, I think yeah, it would be good for the movement."
However, the GOP hasn’t nominated a pro-abortion candidate to run for president since President Gerald Ford in 1976, and Ford lost to President Jimmy Carter — whom many saw as more pro-life.
And with Republicans turning back pro-abortion presidential candidates like Pete Wilson, Arlen Specter, and others, will the GOP back Giuliani?
"I don’t know yet," Shipp told the Huffington Post newspaper, but she conceded it is possible her group would endorse the former New York City mayor.
Despite his pro-abortion views, Shipp said her group still has some issues with Giuliani.
"He has said some very concerning things since getting into this race. If you have to grade him compared to everyone else you have to give him an incomplete."
NARAL has only endorsed one pro-abortion Republican in its history — giving $5,000 to Illinois lawmaker John Anderson, who ultimately lost to President Ronald Reagan.
Commenting on Shipp’s remarks, David Brody, the senior correspondent for CBN News, said, "the Giuliani campaign loves endorsements."
"But they don’t want the pro-choice group NARAL endorsing them. That would require Giuliani staffers to reach for their heart medication," he added.
Still, Brody says he doesn’t think Giuliani will get NARAL’s backing.
"I don’t think Giuliani has to worry about being endorsed by NARAL. Hillary Clinton seems more appropriate. Plus, Giuliani’s strict constructionist judge talk would give them major pause," he said.
"But comments like this by NARAL give Giuliani’s Republican opponents more ammunition against him as they try and make the case that he shouldn’t be the standard bearer of the GOP," he concluded.
