Romney Affirms Opposition to Abortion

Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney speaks at a round table discussion with local Republican activists after speaking at an early morning breakfast stop at the country club in Boone, Iowa, Thursday, Feb. 8, 2007. (AP Photo/Steve Pope) (Steve Pope - AP)

ANDERSON, S.C. -- Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney sought to dispel doubts about his opposition to abortion while campaigning Friday in the heart of South Carolina's Bible Belt.

"I am firmly pro-life," the former Massachusetts governor told about 100 Republicans at a restaurant here. "I was always for life."

When pressed about his former stance in favor of abortion rights, Romney said he knew he could do nothing to change the law while governor. "Every act I've taken as governor has been in favor of life," he said.

While appealing for the support of moderate and liberal voters in his 2002 race for governor and in an unsuccessful bid for the Senate in 1994, Romney positioned himself as a supporter of abortion rights. He said the death of a teenage relative during the 1960s from a botched abortion had convinced him that the procedure should be made safe and legal.

Two years ago, he reversed that position, saying that learning of the destruction of embryos used for stem cell research had convinced him that abortion had "cheapened the value of human life."

Abortion is a key issue among the state's religious conservatives, an important voting bloc in the first Southern primary in the nation next year.

Dick White, a conservative whose wife used to lead the county branch of the Christian Coalition, said Romney simply needs to stick to his guns.

"If he follows through with his conservative philosophies, he won't have a problem," White said.

Later Friday in Montgomery, Ala., Republican state Sen. Scott Beason "shocked" at some of Romney's earlier views.

"When he ran for the U.S. Senate against Ted Kennedy, Mitt Romney took some of the most pro-abortion and pro-gay rights positions I have ever seen a Republican take. He made Ted Kennedy seem almost conservative," said Beason, a conservative and a supporter of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.

While meeting with Republican activists in Des Moines, Iowa, the previous evening, Romney conceded that the war in Iraq has been poorly managed and may hurt Republican candidates again next year. However, he refused to oppose the course President Bush has charted.

Romney is set to formally enter the presidential race next week.