GOP Chair Steele Calls Abortion An 'Individual Choice,' Says He Disagrees With Roe V. Wade

Republican National Committee Chair Michael Steele in an interview this week with GQ magazine said that abortion is an "individual choice" and that decisions regarding the procedure should be left to the states, the Washington Times reports. In the interview, which was posted on the magazine's Web site on Wednesday, Steele said his background as an adopted child showed him "the power of life … and the power of choice." Steele continued, "The choice issue cuts two ways. You can choose life or you can choose abortion. You know, my mother chose life. So, you know, I think the power of the argument of choice boils down to stating a case for one or the other." When asked whether he thinks women have the right to choose an abortion, Steele replied, "Yeah. Absolutely," adding, "I think that's an individual choice."

During the interview, Steele also said he disagrees with the Supreme Court's 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade. Steele said that "as a legal matter, Roe v. Wade was a wrongly decided matter." When asked how women would have the ability to choose abortion if Roe were overturned, Steele responded that "states should make that choice." He elaborated, "That's what the choice is. The individual choice rests in the states. Let them decide."

The Times reports that although Steele has always categorized himself as "pro-life" and received an endorsement from the antiabortion-rights group National Right to Life Committee when he ran for the Senate in 2006, he "often has been viewed with suspicion" by conservatives who oppose abortion rights. For example, Steele worked with Christine Todd Whitman, a Republican abortion-rights supporter, to form the Republican Leadership Council. During a 2006 interview on NBC's "Meet the Press," Steele said that he thought Roe should be followed as a settled law. Steele during the 2006 interview also would not say that he would support a constitutional amendment to ban abortion (Morton, Washington Times, 3/12).

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