Lawton, IA Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul restated his commitment on Tuesday to overturning the landmark abortion decision that allowed virtually unlimited abortions. He said he would work to overturn the Supreme Court ruling if he is nominated as the Republican candidate for president and elected to the White House. Paul said he was pro-life and would make reversing the decision a top priority. He also said that more people should be exposed to what abortion does to an unborn child and women who have them.
“The country should see what is happening and when they see the violence of abortion and what it really means, maybe they too would change their attitude about abortion,” said Paul.
Paul, a Texas congressman, also said he would make sure that taxpayer funds are not used to pay for abortions and explained that his training as a gynecologist taught him that human life is valuable.
"Life is sacred. The most obscene thing government could do is to ... use your money to commit abortion," he said to loud applause.
"When you consider our careless attitude about the unborn ... why is it so strange to see how our society is abusive to children?" he added, according to a WCF Courier report.
Paul's strong stance in opposition to abortion is what led Paul Dorr of Ocheyedan to become his Iowa field coordinator. He told the Sioux City Journal newspaper that he trusts Paul, who frequently opposes federal involvement in any program, to get out of promoting abortion.
"We as a nation can't bury our heads and pretend we don't see anything." The issue is paramount, he said, since "if you don't have respect for life, you can't have a respect for liberty."
Paul is a nine-term Texas congressman and a medical doctor who is pro-life but his view of the role of the federal government has lowered his pro-life voting record during his tenure on Capitol Hill.
From 2005-2006, Paul had just a 56 percent pro-life voting record as he voted four times against a federal law protecting teenagers from being taken to other states for secret abortions in violation of the parental notification or consent laws of their home state. He doesn't think federal law should cover abortion issues.
Because he believes in limited government, he strongly opposes using taxpayer funds to pay for embryonic stem cell research but has also voted against public funding of adult stem cell research as well.
In previous years, Paul's had a 73 percent, 81 percent and 79 percent pro-life voting record going back to 1999, according to the National Right to Life Committee.
Paul was first elected to Congress in 1976 and then lost a Senate primary in 1984. He later ran for Congress in an adjacent seat in 1996 and won. He most recently won his re-election bid by a 60 to 40 percent margin.