Bush Outlines Abortion Beliefs

While working hard to turn out the vote in Monday's caucuses, George W. Bush is having to explain his views on abortion in a state where morality.

The GOP frontrunner is also having to fend off attacks on the issue from his conservative rivals.

Bush said Thursday that if the daughter of a friend or relative were raped and asked him about abortion, he would hope to respond with sympathy but would advise that "it's up to her" whether to end the pregnancy.

He also said Roe vs. Wade, the Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion, "was a reach," and that he "would not be inclined to accept" government approval of abortion-inducing medicines such as the French pill RU-486.

"It's abortion," Bush told reporters during a news conference at Central College where he was bombarded by abortion questions and, later, criticism from his rivals.

Steve Forbes told reporters after touring an abortion-counseling center that the procedure can leave women emotionally scarred, and he accused Bush of not doing enough to oppose it.

"What all this underscores is that it's not enough just to say one is pro-life," Forbes told reporters at the Aid to Women center in Cedar Rapids. "You have to find ways to move people, even if it's just step-by-step, toward your goal."

Rival Alan Keyes reacted with surprise to Bush's comments on Roe vs. Wade.

"He's just realizing this? Oh my gosh," Keyes said.

"If he has reached this conclusion for the sake of political expediency, then I hope it's too late," Keyes said before an appearance in Mason City. "But if it reflects real conviction, then it's never too late to admit the truth.

With the Iowa caucuses on Monday, Bush is working to convert his lead in public opinion surveys into victory.

"It's one thing to have a nice lead in the polls. It's another thing to have a lead when they actually show up" at caucus sites, the Texas governor told reporters.

Forbes, Keyes and conservative activist Gary Bauer are trying to distinguish themselves from Bush in the eyes of conservative voters by elevating the abortion issue.

Moral issues have great sway over voters, particularly in the year after President Clinton's impeachment trial for his affair with a White House intern.

"Everybody wants to get rid of excessive taxation, but to me morality is important because it's the heart and core of the nation. If everybody is on the wrong end morally, we can't expect good things to happen," Marlys Driesen, 49, a second-shift worker at the local Pella window factory, said after hearing Bush's speech at Central College.

Hoping to tap into such sentiment, Forbes is running TV ads in the state featuring women who insist that fetuses are people deserving of the legal protections he advocates. Bauer and Keyes are also running abortion ads.

On the stump, Bush routinely says he would not impose an abortion litmu test on nominees to the Supreme Court and would appoint only "strict constructionists."

But while he opposes abortion, Bush says he would make exceptions in three instances: when a woman becomes pregnant through rape or incest, or when delivering a baby would jeopardize her life.

Speaking with reporters after the speech, Bush defined a strict constructionist as a jurist who "doesn't use the opportunity of the Constitution to pass legislation or legislate from the bench."

Asked what such a judge would think about Roe vs. Wade Bush said: "Roe vs. Wade was a reach, overstepped the constitutional bounds as far as I'm concerned. I would remind you I'm not a lawyer."

When asked whether the ruling would be in jeopardy because he believes it is a "reach" legally, and because he would appoint only strict constructionists to the bench, he replied: "I'm going to name strict constructionists."

Later, when asked what he would tell a friend's or relative's child if they were raped and sought his about abortion, Bush said: "I would say, first of all, I believe in three exceptions when it comes to abortion. But I would say, I would hope I would be able to evoke enough sympathy from a rape case that I could help comfort her as a friend."