With the Republican nomination still up for grabs, I can’t let this go. I found this at another conservative blogger‘s website:

As the perceived threat of terrorism recedes, the question of social values has come to the fore in Rudy’s campaign. Rudy tackled those issues head on in his speech to the Value’s Voters Summit in October, and I won’t hear any criticism of him on those issues from persons who haven’t read excerpts from that speech.

He reminded his audience: “Ronald Reagan had a great way of summarizing it. He used to say my 80 percent friend is not my 100 percent enemy.” Rudy is not the enemy of values voters. He is their friend. Adoptions soared in New York and abortions declined on Rudy’s watch as mayor. Can Mike Huckabee say the same about his time as Governor of Arkansas?

First of all, abortions fell in NY to the same extent that they fell nationwide during his terms as Mayor of NY and had nothing to do with his Adoption policy. Some facts from FactCheck:

* Adoptions more than doubled in the five years prior to Giuliani.
* Adoptions had already increased by 257 percent in the seven years prior to creation of ACS [Administration for Children’s Services, which Giuliani created in 1996 to protect children and encourage adoption], the agency Giuliani credits with increasing adoptions.
* Adoptions initially peaked, then declined by 26 percent between
the time ACS was created and the end of Giuliani’s tenure.
* Adoptions declined in five of the mayor’s last six years.
* Adoptions have continued to decline thereafter, and in the most recent fiscal year were half what they were when ACS was created.

read more

I have already said this, but I’ll say it again; from the beginning of his candidacy, Giuliani has been artfully trying to appease pro-life voters (promising to support parental notification, a ban on partial birth abortion (which he never supported in the past), and to veto attempts to weaken the Hyde Amendment (see the video below on his support for public abortion funding) and the Mexico City Policy, not to mention his dubious Supreme Court promises) while never wavering in his belief that a women have a constitutional right to kill their unborn children (BTW, I question the constitutional judgment of a man who finds a “constitutional right” to abortion and his ability to pick judges who would interpret the document correctly as well). For some, these promises are enough, but I have learned first hand not to trust a politician who vows to support legislation that would weaken a cause which he believes in. As mayor of NYC, Rudy Giuliani was an ardent supporter of abortion rights and has not yet backed off from that position in the midst of his many promises to pro-lifers. Don’t forget that Giuliani himself has stated that we wishes the Republican party would “get beyond issues like (abortion).” If he is nominated, that is exactly what will happen. With friends like that, who needs enemies?

When it comes to politics, the issue of life (especially for us “values voters”) is not just about Roe v. Wade or the Supreme Court. It’s about the Constitution and the foundation of American freedom and democracy as laid out in our Declaration of Independence – the self evident truth that all men are “created equal” and endowed with the “unalienable…right to Life.”

Many pro-lifers appreciated the braveness and honesty of Giuliani’s address at the values voters summit (yes I read it). But as long as abortion is still legal and politicians are itching to expand funding for ESC research and slip in bills allowing unrestricted research on cloned human embryos (disguised as cloning bans) we’re looking for a real leader in Washington on the pro-life front. One who is willing to stand strong in defense of the weakest members of our society and the principles on which our country was founded. For that, Giuliani definitely does not qualify.

A video extra, Giuliani on public funding for abortions at the Women’s Coalition for Giuliani event, 11/3/89:

If you listen closely at the end he says he opposed Pres. Bush’s veto of public funding for abortions. He also defended this position as recently as April of 2007:

Question: do you still support taxpayer, public funding for abortions?

Giuliani: “Yes…If it would deprive someone of a constitutional right, If that’s the status of the law, yes.”

Why do I vote pro-life?
Preserving America’s Freedom