McCain struggles with sensitive abortion questionBy Jonathan Karl/CNN
January 26, 2000
Web posted at: 1:19 p.m. EST (1819 GMT)
MANCHESTER, New Hampshire (CNN) -- Republican presidential candidate John McCain, when asked Wednesday what he would do if his 15-year-old daughter Meghan became pregnant and wanted an abortion, said it would be a "family decision."
"The final decision would be made by Meghan with our advice and counsel," McCain said, speaking of himself and his wife Cindy.
"I would discuss this issue with Cindy and Meghan, and this would be a private decision that we would share within our family and not with anyone else," McCain told reporters in New Hampshire on board his campaign bus nicknamed "The Straight Talk Express. "Obviously I would encourage her to bring, to know that baby would be brought up in a warm and loving family, but the final decision would be made by Meghan with our advice and counsel."
McCain describes himself as a "pro-life" candidate and says he favors a ban on abortion except in the case of rape, incest or to protect the life of the mother. But he has also angered anti-abortion advocates last year by saying that reversing Roe v. Wade now would force thousands of young women to have illegal and dangerous operations.
McCain grew irritated as reporters pressed him on the subject. Asked if that was the same answer an abortion-rights advocate would give, McCain said, "I don't think it is the pro-choice position to say that my daughter and my wife and I will discuss something that is a family matter that we have to decide."
Less than an hour later, his campaign issued a statement from McCain clarifying his position.
"What I intended to say is that this is a family decision. This family decision would be made by the family and not Meghan alone," McCain said in the statement.
The anti-abortion group Citizens for Life, the New Hampshire affiliate of the National Right to Life Committee, did not find fault with McCain's comments, but indicated concern about his overall position on Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion.
"The statement about his daughter is a private family matter. It is somewhat ambiguous, but the larger problem is that Senator McCain does not support the repeal of Roe v. Wade," said Roger Stenson, a spokesman for the group.
But the anti-abortion group American Life League condemned both McCain's initial comments and his clarification.
"That is not a pro-life position," said American Life League spokesman Steve Sanborn. "Because that means that the final decision could be the murder of a pre-born human child who has a right to life."
In August, McCain said he favored repealing the decision but the ban shouldn't happen until "we stop this dangerous operation" through counseling, adoption and other alternatives.
He also has said he would choose a vice presidential nominee and nominees to the Supreme Court based on their overall qualifications, and would not require that they oppose abortion rights, which angered anti-abortion advocates.
Texas Gov. George W. Bush, the Republican front-runner, also faced questions about the strength of his anti-abortion convictions and he has been asked a slightly different question -- what he would do if one of his twin daughters faced such a decision because of rape. "It would be up to her," he said.
During an earlier debate, conservative activist Gary Bauer said under the circumstances of rape he would pray for his daughter "and explain to her that she couldn't make right the terrible thing that had happened to her by taking the life of her innocent, unborn child."
Abortion is expected to be less important in New Hampshire, where many independents vote in the GOP primary, than it was in the Iowa caucuses. A CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll found that more GOP voters in Iowa identified themselves with the religious right than in New Hampshire.
But Bauer indicated he would press Bush in Wednesday evening's CNN-sponsored debate on abortion, as well as on China policy and other subjects.
"There is so much work to do with George and so little time to do it," Bauer said Wednesday in Holes, New Hampshire.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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