All of the candidates from the Democratic party running for president support the continuation of Roe v Wade,
which provides for a right of privacy, specifically reproductive
privacy. This in turn, prohibits any state from enforcing a law that
prohibits abortion. There are two general principles that drive the
Democrats’ position. First is the right to privacy issue outlined in Roe v Wade.
Almost all of the Democratic candidates agree that this right to
privacy exists in the constitution. One candidate does not use this
principle to arrive at his position. Senator Joseph Biden sees Roe v
Wade as an equitable compromise in a pluralistic society, but does not
specifically agree with the Roe v Wade right to privacy.
The other principal upon which Democrats arrive at their position is
from a position of civil rights. Again Biden departs from the rest of
the field on this. His position is one of recognizing the right of the
child while still in the mother’s uterus. James Gilmore, a Republican
who recently dropped out of the race, arrived at his position on
abortion using this same logic. All other Democratic candidates lament
over the difficult decision that women must make when considering
abortion, but believe it is ultimately the woman’s right to decide.
On the Republican side, the field is a bit more divided. Giuliani
is the only candidate to support the concept of a right to privacy as
outline in Roe v Wade. Among the rest of the candidates their position on Roe v Wade
is driven by two general principals: the point at which life begins,
and the Supreme Court’s authority to find a right to privacy.
Huckabee, Romney and Hunter (and perhaps Tancredo) tend to arrive at
their positions based on when life begins. Brownback, Ron Paul and
Tommy Thompson tend to support the idea that the Supreme Court usurped
the authority of the states on this issue. McCain has been all over
the map on this issue, so I really don’t know what drives his position.
Given all that background, most of the Democrats and a few of the Republicans have at least chosen sides on the proper debate.
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