September 10, 2008

GOP platform decries abortion, calls for human life amendment

WASHINGTON (CNS)—Upholding its long-standing view that life begins at conception, the Republican Party decried the practice of abortion and repeated its call for a human life amendment to the U.S. Constitution in its 2008 political platform. Adopted Sept. 1 at the start of the GOP’s national convention in St. Paul, Minn., the platform affirms that “the unborn child has a fundamental individual right to life which cannot be infringed.” It echoes language in the party’s 2004 platform. The abortion plank drew praise from several pro-life organizations, including a spokeswoman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. “According to their 2008 platform, the Republican Party stands courageously for the protection of innocent life from its earliest stages onward, both in the womb and in the lab, laying the necessary foundation for promoting all other basic human rights,” said Deirdre McQuade, assistant director for policy and communications in the USCCB’s Office of Pro-Life Activities. She praised the party for opposing the “status quo of abortion law” under the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision.