Giuliani Played No Role in Limiting N.Y. Abortions
Say it ain't so Rudy...
The late New York Democratic Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan was fond of saying that people are entitled to their own opinions, but not their own facts. Fellow New Yorker and GOP Presidential Candidate Rudy Giuliani might do well to take that to heart.
During Wednesday's final debate in Des Moines before the Iowa caucuses, Giuliani was asked about abortion — never an easy question for a pro-choice candidate in a largely pro-life party. He's mostly managed to finesse the issue until now; professing his belief on the one hand, as he said at the debate, "that ultimately the government should leave that decision to a woman and her conscience," but on the other hand promising to appoint "strict constructionist" judges that would, presumably, overturn Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that guarantees that decision is left to said woman and her conscience.
This time, however, Giuliani went off in a different direction after professing his core pro-choice view, saying: "I would like to see limitations on abortion. I brought those about in New York City. We reduced abortions."
Whoa, says, Kelli Conlin. She's the President of NARAL Pro-Choice of New York, has been there for 15 years, and served on Giuliani's transition team and many of his high-level councils while he was mayor. She can't recall a single limitation he imposed. In fact, she says, he couldn't have limited abortion if he'd wanted to. "Only the state has the power to limit abortions," she said in an interview. "It's all up to the state legislature, which is in Albany."
To the contrary, says Conlin, Giuliani was anything but inclined to limit abortion when he was Mayor. "In fact, one of his key signal achievements was signing a bill which really clamped down on those who would blockade clinics," she said. On signing that measure in 1994, "He basically said 'New York will not be an accommodating place for those who seek to make it difficult for women who want to access their right to choose."
It's true that the abortion rate in New York did drop while Giuliani was mayor, Conlin said, but that was a reflection of the fact that it was dropping nationwide. She says she's getting more and more frustrated with some of the former mayor's statements on his abortion position. "In fact, he was a real booster and champion for reproductive choice and health in New York when he was here, so it's just hard to listen to him backpedaling at this point."
The Giuliani campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
- Julie Rovner
2:06 PM ET | 12-13-2007 | permalink
