GOP Backs Strict Abortion Stance: No Exceptions

Democrats calling it the 'Akin plank'
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 21, 2012 4:31 PM CDT
GOP Backs Strict Abortion Stance: No Exceptions
The GOP platform committee supports a ban on abortion, even after rape.   (Shutterstock)

The Republican Party platform is set to support a Constitutional amendment banning abortion, with no exceptions for rape or incest cases. Republican leaders ratified the party stance at a meeting today ahead of next week's convention, where the measure is all but guaranteed for final approval, CNN reports. "We support a human life amendment to the Constitution and endorse legislation to make clear that the Fourteenth Amendment's protections apply to unborn children," the platform says.

The party position reportedly took just minutes to approve, and it's similar to planks in recent GOP platforms, notes the New York Times. This year, though, Democrats are calling it the "Akin plank," Politico reports, following Rep. Todd Akin's "legitimate rape" comments. The platform isn't in line with the views of Mitt Romney, who has supported an exception for abortion in cases of rape. (More Republican Party stories.)

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