One other note I forgot to mention from yesterday's Republican Party of Virginia convention comes from our man on the scene, James Martin. According to James, after the convention had voted -- by an extremely narrow margin -- in favor of Jim Gilmore as the party's U.S. Senate nomination, several supporters of Bob Marshall yelling "baby killer" at Gilmore. That got me to wondering, what IS Jim Gilmore's position on abortion? Courtesy of "On the Issues":
Q: You have said in the past that you believe in the first eight to 12 weeks of pregnancy that the woman should have the right to have an abortion. Do you still want to stick with that exception?A: I do. My views on this, my beliefs on this are a matter of conviction. And they've always been the same, and they've never changed, the entire time that I've been in public life. However, my record as governor of Virginia, I think, has been one that the pro-life community, of which I'm a part, would be very proud: passing a 24-hour waiting period, passing informed consent, passing parental notification, signing the partial-birth abortion law in Virginia. So I think the record is there. But my views -- my views are strongly and fundamentally believed and been held that way.
So, that's clear at least; Jim Gilmore supports -- or at least he did support for most of his life -- a woman's right to choose at least during the first 2-3 months of pregnancy.
Now, courtesy of the New York Times:
Once again, a Democrat, Lieut. Gov. Donald S. Beyer Jr., is campaigning to win the governor's mansion. And once again, he is trying to make abortion an issue. But this time, the Republican nominee, James S. Gilmore 3d, has eagerly joined the debate."The truth is, the Supreme Court has spoken," Mr. Gilmore tells Virginians in a television commercial. "No one's going to ban abortions and Don Beyer knows that."
Let's repeat that last line by Gilmore: "no one's going to ban abortion and Don Beyer knows that." You can't get much clearer than that.
Finally, courtesy of the Washington Post:
"I strongly believe that couples should talk to each other about the sensitive issues that occur in their marriages," Gilmore said in a statement. "The Supreme Court . . . has ruled that spousal notification is unconstitutional. Therefore it is not an issue in this campaign, and I would not support any form of spousal notification."
That's right, Jim Gilmore opposed "any form of spousal notification." Instead, his basic position was that "couples should talk to each other about sensitive issues in their marriages," like whether or not to have an abortion.
Finally, here's Jim Gilmore's current stated view on abortion from his website:
As Governor of Virginia, Jim Gilmore stood for the sanctity of life and the preservation of traditional family values time and time again.Gilmore pushed through successful legislation that created a 24-hour waiting period for women seeking an abortion, required parental notification for minors seeking an abortion and banned partial birth abortion.
Gilmore has hailed the recent Supreme Court decision on banning partial birth abortion which he has called "a barbaric procedure rejected by the vast majority of Americans." He has also said publicly, many times, that he believes Roe v. Wade was "wrongly decided."
In short, Jim Gilmore opposes so-called "partial birth abortion," appears to have flip flopped on parental notification, and may or may not believe in a woman's right to choose in the first 2-3 months. No wonder why those Marshall supporters were yelling at him.