[Alpines] legitimate rape - round 2

[Allan Ballard]

G.O.P. Approves Strict Anti-Abortion Language in Party Platform

By MICHAEL COOPER

Even as the Republican establishment continued to call for 
Representative Todd Akin of Missouri to drop out of his Senate race 
because of his comments on rape and abortion, Republicans approved 
platform language on Tuesday calling for a constitutional amendment 
outlawing abortion with no explicit exceptions for cases of rape or incest.

The anti-abortion plank, approved by the Republican platform committee 
Tuesday morning in Tampa, Fla., was similar to the planks Republicans 
have included in their recent party platforms, which also called for a 
constitutional ban on abortions. The full convention is set to vote on 
the partys platform on Monday.

While Republican officials stressed that the plank did not go into 
granular details, saying that they were better left to the states, the 
language of the plank seems to leave little room for exceptions to the 
abortion ban. It states that the unborn child has a fundamental 
individual right to life which cannot be infringed.

Faithful to the self-evident truths enshrined in the Declaration of 
Independence, we assert the sanctity of human life and affirm that the 
unborn child has a fundamental individual right to life which cannot be 
infringed, said the draft platform language approved Tuesday, which was 
first reported by CNN. We support a human life amendment to the 
Constitution and endorse legislation to make clear that the Fourteenth 
Amendments protections apply to unborn children.

The timing of the approval of the Republican anti-abortion plank was 
awkward for Mitt Romney, who has denounced Mr. Akins comments about 
rape and abortion and who has said that he supports exceptions to allow 
abortions in cases of rape. And it comes as his selection of his running 
mate, Representative Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin, was already drawing 
scrutiny for his support for a more absolute ban on abortions, even in 
cases of rape or incest.

But Mr. Romney would hardly be the first Republican nominee at odds with 
his partys more absolute opposition to abortion. Just four years ago, 
the Republican Party adopted a platform with a similar plank seeking an 
unconditional ban on abortion, even though its nominee, Senator John 
McCain of Arizona, had urged the party in the past to allow certain 
exceptions. George W. Bush also supported outlawing abortion except in 
cases of rape, incest, or when the life of the pregnant woman was in danger.

After this years abortion plank language was approved with little 
debate, the chairman of the platform committee, Gov. Bob McDonnell of 
Virginia, praised the committee for affirming our respect for human 
life and for doing so expeditiously.