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RNC now denying platform takes no-exceptions stance on abortion
The GOP's draft abortion platform takes no position on the question of exceptions, an RNC spokesmen said on Thursday, in a sign that the party is concerned abou
RNC now denying platform takes no-exceptions stance on abortion
By
Amanda Sakuma
The GOP’s draft abortion platform takes no position on the question of exceptions, an RNC spokesmen said on Thursday, in a sign that the party is concerned about being portrayed as out-of-the-mainstream on the issue.
Sean Spicer, communications director for the Republican National Committee, told CNN’s Soledad O’Brien Thursday that the party’s pro-life draft platform, approved this week, was merely “a simple set of principles,” rather than a declaration that the party opposed any exceptions to abortion restrictions.
“There is no additional language, so to talk about exceptions or whatever is not found in the platform,” Spicer said. “We also have a principle that says we are for a balanced budget amendment. We don’t get into details about whether we support cuts here or there.”
The draft platform reads:
Faithful to the ‘self-evident’ truths enshrined in the Declaration of Independence, we ass
ert the sanctity of human life and affirm that the unborn child has a fundamental individual right to life which cannot be infringed. We support a human life amendment to the Constitution and endorse legislation to make clear that the Fourteenth Amendment’s protections apply to unborn children.
Incendiary remarks on abortion and rape made by Rep. Todd Akin, a Republican candidate for Missouri’s U.S. Senate seat, have focused attention on the party’s abortion stance. The platform it approved this week expressed opposition to abortion, and made no mention of exceptions. Mitt Romney has said he supports exceptions for rape, incest, and the life of the mother. Democrats have seized on the platform to portray both Romney and the party as extreme on the issue.
O’Brien pressed Spicer on his claim that absence of exceptions in the platform isn’t significant.
“To try to read into it and say this means this, and as you just, did attach a specific piece of legislation, it is not what the platform says,” Spicer said, adding that it instead was left up to individual states to interpret what were deemed exceptions.
