Politicians Abort Their Stance on a Major Issue

In an article published in the March 11, 2007 Los Angeles Times, Janet Hook reports on several politicians' ever-changing views on abortion. She notes that although many politicians have stood firm on other issues like health insurance, death penalty, and war, abortion is the one issue that some politicians have changed their mind about. 

She notes that U.S. Congressman Dick Gephardt opposed legalized abortion in 1997, but in 2003, made this statement: "The sanctity of a woman's right to control her own destiny is a moral force of its own. I came to realize that the question of choice is to be answered, not by the state, but by the individual." 

Similarly, former Vice President and Presidential candidate Al Gore opposed federal funding of abortion in 1987, but in 2000, strongly supported a woman's right to choose. 

2008 Presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich believed in 1996 that life began at conception, but in 2003, offered this quote: "It became clear to me that this wasn't only about the right to choose, that this was about a woman's equality in society. The years of discussion that I had with women in Congress, with women in my own life, suddenly began to click."

On the other hand, former U.S. President Ronald Reagan supported of a woman's choice in 1967, but in 1983, he claimed that a free nation could not survive when human life could be abandoned. 

In 2002, Mitt Rommey, former Governor of Massachussettes, campaigned to preserve and protect a woman's right to choose, but just three years later, announced his belief that abortion was wrong, except in cases of incest and rape. 

Why have politicians changed their stance on abortion? Kucinich and Gephardt claim that his experiences with women convinced him that abortion was about women's rights, and was not a political issue, but a personal one. These particular experiences show that people continue to learn and grow and form different opinions at any age or stage in life, and although it is important to take a stance on an issue, it is also humbling to know that our opinions and beliefs may grow and evolve as we continue to experience life and learn from ourselves and others.