Lowden: My Views on Abortion Have Clearly Changed

(Sue Lowden) – I am personally pro-life and should I be fortunate enough to defeat Harry Reid and be elected, I will legislate as a pro-life U.S. Senator. Unlike Harry Reid, I would never write or support federal legislation that includes taxpayer-subsidized abortion.

As a life long practicing Catholic, I respect and support my church’s doctrine of protecting innocent life. However, I admit that earlier in my life it wasn’t an issue that I had truly internalized and I did not give it the importance in my life that it deserved. I knew that protecting innocent life mattered but my opinions on life were mixed.

As a state senator, I helped lead the effort on parental notification legislation. When a resolution was brought to the Senate floor to support the Roe v. Wade decision, I decided not to rise in support. However, I acknowledge that nearly twenty years ago, as a private citizen, before entering public office, I supported a measure on the Nevada ballot that said if the Roe decision was overturned, Nevada would remain a pro-choice state.

My views on abortion have clearly changed over the decades and I have become pro-life – which I believe is consistent with the path of many other individuals. It has recently come to my attention that Ronald Reagan even signed a pro-abortion law as governor of California in 1967.

I support the pro-life plank of the Republican Party platform. In 1996, I did not try to remove it from the Nevada Republican Party platform nor from the platform of the National Republican Convention.

But that was a long time ago and since then, Paul and I have raised our children. And for a long time, I was out of the public arena. In that time, life has become even more precious to me. My personal life and dramatic advancements in technology have furthered my resolve that life begins at conception. Abortion is wrong and we must get away from abortion.

As a United States Senator, I will consistently work to defend life and fight against taxpayer funding of abortion.

As a conservative and a strict-constructionist, I am a supporter of our 10th Amendment guarantee of states rights. The issue of Roe, I have come to believe, contradicts this important Amendment to our U.S. Constitution.

Today, some individuals and groups are inaccurately calling me pro-choice because I do believe that there should be exceptions on the abortion issue – such as protection of the life of the mother, and in cases of rape and incest

I believe the position I have come to on this issue is right, and it is one that is shared by many others in our state – despite the fact that my exceptions can be used as a political opportunity by my opponents. As stated, should I be fortunate enough to be elected, I will proudly and consistently work to defend life and prevent taxpayer dollars from being used to fund abortion.

(Mrs. Lowden is a Republican candidate for the United States Senate in Nevada)