McCain Backs Down: Decides to Flip Flop on Abortion

Posted by Digby, Hullabaloo at 6:34 AM on August 21, 2008.

Fanatics

ABC News' Teddy Davis and Rigel Anderson Report: John McCain's campaign signaled on Wednesday that the Arizona senator is backing away from his previously stated goal of changing the GOP’s platform on abortion.

"There's a process in place for the delegates to work on the platform and we are going to let that process work itself out," McCain spokesman Brian Rogers told ABC News.

McCain’s plan to take a hands-off approach with the abortion platform stands in stark contrast with the position he took during his first presidential run.

Back in 2000, McCain clashed with then-Gov. George W. Bush over his unwillingness to change platform language that called for a human life amendment banning all abortions.

McCain implored Bush to join him in wanting to add exceptions for rape, incest, and danger to the life of the mother.

[...]

During an April 14, 2007 media availability which followed the Iowa GOP's Lincoln Day Dinner in Des Moines, McCain reaffirmed his support for changing the platform.

But now that he is the presumptive Republican nominee, the McCain camp is making it clear that he has no plans to push for changes to the platform.

They won't even allow abortion if the woman's life is in danger? Yep. And they consider it so fundamental that if McCain changes it, he will be committing political suicide:

McCain's decision to leave the platform untouched follows a warning from a prominent social conservative.

"If he were to change the party platform," to account for exceptions such as rape, incest or risk to the mother's life, "I think that would be political suicide," Tony Perkins, the president of the conservative Family Research Council, told ABC News in May. "I think he would be aborting his own campaign because that is such a critical issue to so many Republican voters and the Republican brand is already in trouble."

Welcome to the Dark Ages. May I offer you some mead?

I doubt even most conservatives think that a woman's life should be sacrificed in favor of a fetus, much less normal people. Someone should tell them. McCain, GOP

Tagged as: abortion, gop, mccain

Digby is the proprietor of Hullabaloo.