Pro-Life Stalwart Sam Brownback Will Leave Republican Presidential Race 
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
October 18, 2007
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — One of the strongest pro-life candidates will leave the race for the Republican nomination for president on Friday. Kansas senator Sam Brownback, who many pro-life advocates favored but who never could rise up out of the back end of the polls, said he would quit the race after reporting fundraising problems.
Brownback had a sterling pro-life record as a member of the Senate and was the key sponsor of pro-life bills to ban human cloning and help limit the number of abortions.
He finished third in the August pre-caucus event in Iowa but that was considered a bust in some circles because fellow pro-life candidate Mike Huckabee spent less on the event and came in second.
With Brownback’s departure, a scramble will begin for the many pro-life activists in the leading primary states who had signed on to his campaign.
His withdrawal could help focus pro-life efforts to make sure pro-abortion former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani doesn’t secure the GOP nod next year.
Brownback is expected to formally announce the departure on Friday at a news conference in Topeka and political observers say he may consider a big for governor in 2010 after his second term expires.
Aides to Brownback indicated he would not yet endorse a candidate in his Friday speech announcing his departure from the campaign.
His campaign went after former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney over his recent conversion to the pro-life perspective and whether he has been consistent and genuine. He could endorse Huckabee or possibly Fred Thompson, the former Tennessee senator who is also exciting pro-life advocates.
As recently as last week, Brownback drove home his pro-life themes and he has said he wants to make sure a pro-life advocate gets the Republican Party’s endorsement to run in the general election.
"This is the biggest moral issue of the day," he said, referring to abortion. "We’ve killed over 40 million people that should be here."
"With every abortion there’s at least two victims. One dead, one wounded," he said. "We believe all people are sacred and they’re beautiful."
