Questions are beginning to arise about Senator Sam Brownback’s cornerstone issue: abortion.
According to the Kansas Republican Party Chairman Tim Schallenburger, Brownback has not always been pro-life.
During a Thursday teleconference, Brownback said that always had been his position.
Not true, say some in Kansas who have a different recollection of Brownback’s rise through the state Republican Party ranks.
Kansas Republican Party Chairman Tim Shallenburger said he remembered having a conversation with Brownback in 1994 when Brownback was running in the GOP primary for the U.S. House.
After the conversation, Shallenburger said he left with the impression that Brownback “was not pro-life.”
David Gittrich, development director for the state’s largest anti-abortion organization, Kansans for Life, said when Brownback first ran for Congress in 1994 “he was ill-informed.”
Gittrich added, “He didn’t know whether he was pro-life or pro-choice.” [emphasis added]
The Kansas senator says that the characterization of him from thirteen years ago is “not true.”
He said in that 1994 race he probably failed to get his views across because instead of stating that he was “pro-life,” he would tell audiences where he stood on various abortion-related bills before Congress.
Asked why he did that, Brownback said he thought it was more appropriate to address specific legislation. He conceded it probably was a “poor choice of words at the time. I’ve learned that lesson.”
On Monday, Brownback, along with fellow GOP candidate, Congressman Duncan Hunter (R-Alpine, Calif.), vowed to overturn the 1973 Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion, Roe v. Wade.
Questions about Brownback’s pro-life position is not nearly as damaging as former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, however, abortion is the Kansas senator’s key issue that will attact social conservatives. It is an important foundation to work with when Brownback stands opposite of the GOP base on Iraq and immigration.
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