WASHINGTON — As an orator, Representative Todd Akin of Missouri may
stand out for his clumsiness. But as a legislator, Mr. Akin’s record on
abortion is largely indistinguishable from those of most of his Republican
House colleagues, who have viewed restricting abortion rights as one of their
top priorities.
That agenda — largely eclipsed for two years by a
protracted fiscal crisis and the fight over how to manage the federal deficit —
has wedged its way, for now at least, to the center of the 2012 campaign. It is
focusing attention on an issue that helped earn Mitt Romney, the presumptive
Republican presidential nominee, a reputation as a flip-flopper, threatening
the Republican quest for control of the Senate, and leaving Representative Paul
D. Ryan of Wisconsin, Mr. Romney’s vice-presidential pick, in the uncomfortable
position of distinguishing himself from Mr. Akin, with whom he has often
concurred.
It is an agenda that has enjoyed the support of
House leaders, including Speaker John A. Boehner and Representative Eric
Cantor, the majority leader, who has called anti-abortion measures “obviously
very important in terms of the priorities we set out initially in our pledge to
America.” It became inextricably linked to the near-shutdown of the federal
government last year when an agreement to keep the government open was reached
only after it was linked to a measure restricting abortion in the District of
Columbia.
Even as Congressional Republicans, including Mr.
Boehner, denounced Mr. Akin’s remark that victims of “legitimate rape” were
able to somehow prevent pregnancy, an agenda to roll back abortion is one that
House Republicans have largely move in step with.
In an anti-abortion measure once sponsored by Mr.
Akin, Mr. Ryan and scores of other Republican lawmakers, an exemption was made
for victims of “forcible” rape, though that word was later removed.
On Tuesday, Republicans approved platform language
for next week’s nominating convention that calls for a constitutional amendment
outlawing abortion with no explicit exceptions for cases of rape or incest.
That is a view more restrictive than Mr. Romney’s, who has said that he
supports exceptions to allow abortions in cases of rape.
Mr. Ryan’s more conservative views, which have been
reflected in votes that would restrict family planning financing overseas, cut
off all federal funds to Planned Parenthood and repeal President Obama’s health
care law, have come into sharp relief as Mr. Akin struggles for his political
life. Mr. Akin and Mr. Ryan each have voted in this Congress for 10
abortion-restricting measures as well as those that limited other family
planning services.
Both Mr. Ryan and Mr. Romney have earned praise
for their positions from the National Right to Life group and other
anti-abortion organizations. “The right-to-life Romney/Ryan ticket is now
complete,” wrote Barbara Lyons and Sue Armacost, executive director and
legislative director for Wisconsin Right to Life, respectively, on the
organization’s Web site.
It is a legislative theme Democrats plan to
highlight, even as House Republicans try to keep the focus on economic issues.
“All you need to know is that the House Republicans were willing to
shut down the government rather than fund Planned Parenthood,” said
Representative Nancy Pelosi, the House Democratic leader, in an e-mail on
Tuesday. “This is in keeping with their efforts — whether it’s Congressman Akin
or Chairman Ryan or others — to deny investments in critical women’s health
services, weaken the definition of rape, and take away access to preventive
care like cervical and breast cancer screenings.”
The House Republican agenda has troubled the half-dozen
or so Republican House members whose views differ from those of their
colleagues.
“I have time and again spoken out against this to leadership,” said
Representative Robert Dold of Illinois, who is in a tough re-election battle.
“I’ve tried to talk to them about the issues that we ought to be moving forward
on, like out-of-control spending.”
Mr. Dold has voted in favor of half of the
abortion restriction measures in this Congress, far fewer than most of his
colleagues. “There is no question that there are times when I may disagree with
a vote that’s brought to the floor,” he said in an interview, “and the majority
of my Republican colleagues, but that is just part of what we deal with every
day.”
There have long been lawmakers, like Mr. Akin,
whose main legislative agenda centers on the abortion issue. They got a boost
after the 2010 election when a large group of conservative members joined them.
Mr. Romney’s views align with that of the Mormon
Church, which, opposes abortion except in cases of rape and incest or when the
life of the mother is in danger. He has said he is personally opposed to
abortion; as a Mormon bishop in the 1980s he attempted to talk a congregant out
of terminating a pregnancy after doctors advised her to do so because of a potentially
lethal blood clot.
But abortion has proved to be a politically
volatile topic for Mr. Romney, whose evolving views have disappointed liberals
and stirred distrust among conservatives.
In 1994, when he challenged Senator Edward M.
Kennedy, Mr. Romney said he would not “not force our beliefs on others on that
matter.” In 2002, as a candidate for governor, he claimed to support “the
substance” of Roe v. Wade. By 2005, though, when he was beginning to consider a
presidential run, he had reversed course and described himself as a “pro-life
governor in a pro-choice state.” Now, as a presidential candidate, he refers to
himself as solidly “pro-life.”
Aides to Mr. Romney declined to say on Tuesday
whether he would call on the convention delegates to reconsider their position
on abortion.
Reince Priebus, the chairman of the Republican
National Committee, tried to deflect questions on behalf of Mr. Romney, saying
on Fox News that “this is the platform of the Republican Party, it is not the
platform of Mitt Romney.”
The idea of outlawing any exceptions for abortion
is not new in American political discourse or in legislation, nor are proposals
to narrow the definition of rape to distinguish between what some call
“forcible rape” and cases involving statutory rape or even some types of date
rape. Anti-abortion activists have long been concerned that women would falsely
claim to have been raped to gain an exemption to terminate a pregnancy.
Historians and other experts on abortion politics
say the no-exceptions idea became part of the debate virtually as soon as Roe
v. Wade legalized abortion in 1973. “It has deep roots,” said Donald Critchlow,
a historian at Arizona State University who has studied abortion politics. He
added, “It’s appealing to segments within the Republican Party to show that
you’re pro-life.”
Susan Cohen, director of government affairs for
the Guttmacher Institute, said the no-exceptions idea is “not new and it’s not
fringe. It is something that has been part of mainstream anti-abortion movement.
The record is replete with evidence of the fact that there was this
no-exceptions attitude, and of course this makes logical sense from the
perspective of people who believe an embryo should have the same legal status
as you and I do.”
In the 1992 election, the Republican Party
included in its platform language opposing abortion, allowing no exceptions and
calling for a constitutional amendment to make abortion illegal. Similar
language opposing any exceptions was included in 2000 and 2004, even though
George W. Bush also supported outlawing abortion except in cases of rape,
incest, or when the life of the pregnant woman was in danger.
Four years ago, the Republican Party adopted a
platform seeking an unconditional ban on abortion, though its nominee, Senator
John McCain, had urged the party in the past to allow certain exceptions. After
this year’s 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.”
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