Allowing choice keeps government out of people's lives

GIULIANI: There is no circumstances under which I could possibly imagine anyone choosing slavery or supporting slavery. There are millions of Americans, who are as of good conscience as we are, who make a different choice about abortion. And I think in a country where you want to keep government out of people's lives from the point of view of coercion, you have to respect that.

Q: Governor, has the mayor persuaded you?

HUCKABEE: He has not. I have great respect for the mayor because he's been honest about his position

Seek bipartisan ways to reduce abortion & increase adoption

GILMORE: Giuliani has said that he is against federal funding of abortions, but is in favor of federal financing of abortions. But then on the other hand, he said in the last debate he was against the Hyde Amendment.

Q [to GIULIANI]: You're pro-choice, you're pro-gay rights, you're pro-gun control; Are those the stands of a conservative?

GIULIANI: I think Rudy McRomney wouldn't make a bad ticket. And I kind of like the order. According to George Will, I ran the most conservative government in the last 50 years in NYC. I look for ways in which we can come together. I think we can all agree that we should seek reductions in abortion. I ultimately do believe in a woman's right of choice, but I think that there are ways in which we can reduce abortions. Abortions went down 16% & adoptions went up 133% when I was mayor. We can work together and achieve results that we all want

Giuliani donated to Planned Parenthood throughout 1990s

Federal tax returns show that he and his then-wife, Donna Hanover, made personal donations to national, state and city chapters of Planned Parenthood totaling $900 in 1993, 1994, 1998 and 1999. The returns have been on the public record for years, but the detail about Giuliani's support for Planned Parenthood was provided to The Politico by aides to a rival campaign, who insisted on not being identified.

Planned Parenthood was founded in NYC in 1916. They performed 264,943 abortions in 2005. In addition to providing abortions, the organization also provides birth control, emergency contraception, testing for STDs and other gynecological services.

Ok to repeal Roe v. Wade, but ok to view it as precedent too

ROMNEY: Absolutely.

BROWNBACK: It would be a glorious day of human liberty and freedom.

GILMORE: Yes, it was wrongly decided.

HUCKABEE: Most certainly.

HUNTER: Yes.

THOMPSON: Yes.

McCAIN: A repeal.

GIULIANI: It would be OK to repeal. It would be OK also if a strict constructionist judge viewed it as precedent and I think a judge has to make that decision.

Q: So it would be OK if they didn't repeal it?

GIULIANI: I think the court has to make that decision and then the country can deal with it. We're a federalist system of government and states can make their own decisions.

TANCREDO: After 40 million dead because we have aborted them in this country, I would say that that would be the greatest day in this country's history when that, in fact, is overturned.

Allow states to fund or not fund abortion

A: I don't. I support the Hyde amendment. I hate abortion. I wish people didn't have abortions.

Q: So you're not for funding at all?

A: I believe that the Hyde amendment should remain the law. States should make their decision. Some states decide to do it. Most states decide not to do it. And I think that's the appropriate way to have this decided.

Q: When you were mayor of New York, should the state should have been paying for abortion?

A: That's a decision New York made a long time ago.

Q: And where were you on that?

A: I supported it in New York, but I think, in other places, people can come to a different decision.

Encourage adoptions; ban partial-birth abortion

Embryonic stem cell research ok if limited properly

A:As long as we're not creating life in order to destroy it, as long as we're not having human cloning, and we limit it to that, and there is plenty of opportunity to then use federal funds in those situations where you have limitations. So I would support it with those limitations, like Senator Coleman's bill in Congress.

FactCheck: Encouraged adoptions; but over-stated results

Actually, adoptions rose only 17% during Giuliani's tenure as mayor, according to the New York City Administration for Children's Services. It's true adoptions went up by 73% between 1994 and 1997 -- the first three years he was in office. But from that peak they slid back by 32% before he left office, erasing most of the initial gain.

Pro-choice; no ban on partial-birth abortions

Rudy at Wikipedia