Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Behind Romney's change of heart on abortion

I came across this article today. I saw it first mentioned at Evangelicals For Mitt, and I went to the original article in the Washington Post. In it the author, Kathleen Parker, talks about what lead to Mitt Romney's change of heart regarding the issue of abortion. I thought I would share a part of it here.

Romney’s own change of heart evolved not from personal experience but rather from a purposeful course of study. I know this because I know the man who instructed him in 2005 on the basics of embryonic life during the stem-cell research debate then taking place in Massachusetts. As governor at the time, Romney was under intense pressure to help flip a state law that protected embryos from stem-cell research. Some of that pressure came from Harvard University, Romney’s alma mater, where scientists hoped to assume a leading role in stem-cell research.
The politically expedient choice was obvious, but Romney took a more thoughtful approach and sought to educate himself before staking out a position. Enter William Hurlbut, a physician and professor of biomedical ethics at Stanford University Medical School. For several hours, Hurlbut and Romney met in the governor’s office and went through the dynamics of conception, embryonic development and the repercussions of research that targets nascent human life. It was not a light lunch.
The result of that conversation and others was a pro-life Romney, who kept his campaign promise to honor the state’s democratically asserted preference for abortion choice but also began a personal path that happened to serve him well, at least theoretically, among social conservatives. Was his conversion sincere? No one can know another’s heart, but Hurlbut is convinced that it was.
“Several things about our conversation still stand out strongly in my mind,” Hurlbut told me. “First, he clearly recognized the significance of the issue, not just as a current controversy but as a matter that would define the character of our culture way into the future.
“Second, it was obvious that he had put in a real effort to understand both the scientific prospects and the broader social implications. Finally, I was impressed by both his clarity of mind and sincerity of heart. . . . He recognized that this was not a matter of purely abstract theory or merely pragmatic governance, but a crucial moment in how we are to regard nascent human life and the broader meaning of medicine in the service of life.”
Whether one agrees with Hurlbut’s appraisal or Romney’s conclusions, this was at least a flip-flop of a higher order. Would that all our politics were so painstakingly crafted.

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21 comments:

Right Wingnut said...

Kathleen Parker? LOL

Next....

Anonymous said...

RWN you are truly a schmuck if a weak little LOL re: the author is all you have to say. Say something substantive about the article, which pointed out truths about the sincerety of the "flip" by Romney (no flop mind you). This didn't happen overnight. This was done thoughtfully. Contrast to it taking all of 2 days for Newt to go into full backpedal mode regarding his "right winged social engineering" comment. Why aren't you pointing out those?

Anonymous said...

Yes, I believe it was a sincere conversion. You can tell that a man who treats his family as well as Romney has his that he handles decisions with upmost responsibility and consideration.

Anonymous said...

Ignore Rw, hes too full of shit to understand.

Anonymous said...

Saw this comment from Right Scoop that our very own RW seems to encourage and like. This was in response to romney's interview with Brett Baier.RW did you like this commenter's comment that Romney is a F*ing piece of garbage?




M_J_S Yesterday 08:51 PM in reply to MrMicawber

If you want to lose, vote for this F*ing piece of garbage.
Flag Right_Wingnut and 3 more liked this

Ohio JOE said...

First of all RW is not full of it.

As to the article Noelle, it is a good one. It is comforting that I agree with Mr. Ronmey on at least a few important issues. Also it is good to know that Mr. Romney attracted you to his camp for the right reasons.

Right Wingnut said...

anon,

Yes, I did hit the "like" button on that one. Unfortunately for Mitt, 6 other people did as well.

Terrye said...

Right Wing Nut:

Well, there are no shortages of dumb asses in the world so it is not that surprising that you and a handful of silly little people would get a kick out of a comment like that. Why is that unfortunate for Romney? He is not the one who tweeted or liked such an idiotic comment.

I sent an email to Fox telling them that I thought their interview was unfair and unbalanced and that I thought their obvious desire to pander to one of their own contributors Newt Gingrich while going after Romney had to do with ratings and money. Not journalism.

BTW, Romney is not a piece of garbage, he is a better man and a better candidate than Gingrich.

And it is obvious that a lot of conservatives are in fact hypocrites...when liberal media put words in Palin's mouth..they cried fowl..when liberal media cherry picked her comments, they complained in outrage, when snotty reporters edited video just to make her look bad...they were outraged..but they are more than ready to do exactly the same things themselves to someone they don't like. That makes them hypocrites. And transparent ones at that.

Terrye said...

On the subject of abortion..I changed my mind as well. It as the sonograms that did it. I saw those little babies and I just could not think of them as a bunch of cells anymore. No way.

Right Wingnut said...

Terrye,

I'm sure you and your friends will deny it, but the people from the McCain campaign that were leaking bullshit stories to the press were Mitt's hacks. In other words, they were complicit in much of what you mentioned in in your comment. So F them and the horse they rode in on.

Right Wingnut said...

So..while Newt was smacking down the MSNBC reporter who was questioning Palins' qualifications on the convention floor, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkaKwJ9eOUU
Mitt's lackeys were scheming how they could tube the campaign to clear the way for Mitt '12. Sure McCain ran an inept campaign, but the actions of those jerks didn't help matters.

Ohio JOE said...

"In other words, they were complicit in much of what you mentioned in in your comment." Bingo, it appears that Terrye is the pot that call the kettle black.

Right Wingnut said...

Kristopher Lorelli chronicles some of the Palin bashing by Romney staffers...

http://race42012.com/2008/10/29/will-romney-and-his-supporters-ever-learn/

Ohio JOE said...

Unfortunately, I have lost track of Mr. Lorelli and Tommy Boy over the years RW. Do you have their e-mails?

Anonymous said...

Noelle, thank you for posting this. It's new to me, but not surprising.

-Martha

Ohio JOE said...

"It's new to me" I thought you were a Romneyite for quite a while already.

Right Wingnut said...

OJ, no, I don't have their emails. I wasn't involved with Race in 2008, so I don't know them as well as you do. I don't even know who Tommy Boy is. I'm sure you could google Lorelli. He's probably a Gingrich supporter.

Right Wingnut said...

Lorelli recently had an article on Daily Caller.

Anonymous said...

OJ, I hadn't heard about the conversation.

-Martha

Ohio JOE said...

I tried googling Tommy Boy under his real name and under face book and twitter, in fact (I only joined Twitter so I could fine him,) but no luck. A few years back, I had the pleasure of speaking with him by phone. He did a better job at putting the Romneyites in their place than the rest of us combined. I regret loosing track of him and I hope he is OK. He even won a few bets against Pollman.

As for Mr. Lorelli, I cannot get a hold of him either, but I do keep in touch with another old Palinite from race.

Phillip said...

Anyone who can forgive Reagan, who supported and signed into law the biggest ever expansion of abortion rights ONE YEAR before running for president as PRO-LIFE in 1968. ought to be able to forgive Romney, who vetoed expansion in abortion rights 3 years before running for the nomination.

Look up Reagan on facebook of you don't believe me.