With only a handful of days left until the Iowa Republican caucus, presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, is stressing his strict pro-life stance, taking a more strident tone than his October appearance on the NewsHour.
In a Dec. 27 press release, Paul highlighted his sponsorship of HR 2597, the “Sanctity of Life Act” and HR 300, the “We the People Act.” These bills, according to the release, would allow states to outlaw abortion by prohibiting federal courts to interfere with state legislation that protects life.
Paul’s latest ad, which is running mostly in culturally conservative Iowa, stresses his conservative credentials, singling out his opposition to abortion.
In an Oct. 12 interview with the NewsHour, Paul took a much more subdued approach to the abortion issue, telling Judy Woodruff that complicated issues should be left to the states, but avoided equating abortion with murder or encouraging states to protect the unborn.
“I’d like to ban the federal government intervention in abortion. So since I’ve only been a federal official — a congressman and then running for the presidency — I say that we should keep our hands out of it,” he said. “And there are some extreme circumstances that I may not even endorse but I recognize that we’re always arguing about it. The states, they should deal with it, because they’re difficult. The more difficult an issue is, the more local the solution ought to be.
As the Jan. 3 Iowa caucus date nears, Paul remains in sixth in RealClearPolitics’ poll average. However, the Iowa Independent speculates that Paul’s support system could land him as high as third behind former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney in the state.
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