The Most Anti-Abortion, Pro-Choice President

“I oppose it. I don’t like it. I hate it. I think abortion is something, as a personal matter, I would advise somebody against. However, I believe in a woman’s right to choose. I think you have to ultimately not put a woman in jail for that, and I think ultimately you have to leave that to a disagreement of conscience. You have to respect the choice that somebody makes.”

So said Rudy Giuliani last week in reference to abortion. But as was once said in another context, Mr. Mayor, Does your ass hurt from straddling the fence so much?

To be sure, one can support X (say, legalizing marijuana, as does National Review) while personally opposing its use. But as Giuliani himself admitted, he doesn’t merely “oppose” abortion—he “hates” it.

Hmm. How can you “respect” (Giuliani’s word) something you “hate”?

Indeed, if the former mayor hates abortion as much as he asserts, then how he possibly have sanctioned such a gruesome practice as partial-birth abortion?

As Richard Land, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, puts it, a politician who personally believes abortion is wrong but who refuses to ban it, is more repugnant than someone whom abortion does not morally trouble in the first place.

This paradox takes on even greater significance when you factor in Giuliani’s promise to appoint judges who would almost certainly repeal Roe v. Wade: “What I do say to conservatives,” Giuliani told Sean Hannity, is that “the appointment of judges that I would make would be very similar to, if not exactly the same as the last two [Supreme Court] judges,” John Roberts and Sam Alito.

In other words, Giuliani is pledging to be the most anti-abortion, pro-choice president.