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Cain clarifies abortion comments as Santorum continues attack
Herman Cain issued a statement Thursday clarifying comments on CNN in which he said abortion "ultimately gets down to a choice that that family or that mother has to make. Not me as president, not some politician, not a bureaucrat. It gets down to that family."
Cain was scrambling to defend himself as opposing abortion rights after the comments raised eyebrows with conservatives, who generally support government restrictions on abortion procedures. Rick Santorum sent a fundraising appeal to supporters Thursday night, saying he was "absolutely floored" by Cain's comments.
"Herman Cain’s pro-choice position is similar to those held by John Kerry, Barack Obama and many others on the liberal left. You cannot be both personally against abortion while condoning it — you can’t have it both ways. We must defend the defenseless, period," Santorum wrote.
But questions about his interview, along with an earlier interview on the Fox Business Channel wherein Cain said that "government shouldn't make that decision" about whether "people shouldn't just be free to abort" led the campaign to issue a statement Thursday night:
Yesterday in an interview with Piers Morgan on CNN, I was asked questions about abortion policy and the role of the president.
I understood the thrust of the question to ask whether that I, as president, would simply “order” people to not seek an abortion.
My answer was focused on the role of the president. The president has no constitutional authority to order any such action by anyone. That was the point I was trying to convey.
As to my political policy view on abortion, I am 100 percent pro-life. End of story.
I will appoint judges who understand the original intent of the Constitution. Judges who are committed to the rule of law know that the Constitution contains no right to take the life of unborn children.
I will oppose government funding of abortion. I will veto any legislation that contains funds for Planned Parenthood. I will do everything that a president can do, consistent with his constitutional role, to advance the culture of life.
The comments — and Cain's decision not to simply say that abortion should be illegal — will likely be a hot-button issue at Iowa's Faith and Freedom dinner on Saturday, an event that will draw at least 1,000 social conservative activists and at which all of the 2012 GOP candidates, aside from Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman, will be speaking.
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