June 20, 2011 06:19 PM UTC

A Fresh Romney Flip-Flop For Colorado Consumption?

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• by: Colorado Pols

Perhaps more of a flip-flop-flip, reports ABC News this weekend:

Republican presidential hopefuls Mitt Romney and Herman Cain have announced that they won’t sign the Susan B. Anthony’s List Pro-Life Presidential Pledge, which five other Republican contenders –Michele Bachmann, Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, Tim Pawlenty and Rick Santorum — agreed to sign.

Romney announced his decision in an oped today on the National Review’s website. He called the pledge “overly broad” and said signing it could have “unintended consequences.”

“It is one thing to end federal funding for an organization like Planned Parenthood; it is entirely another to end all federal funding for thousands of hospitals across America,” Romney wrote…

Romney also said he is pro-life, but he didn’t always feel that way, a fact Rick Santorum has pointed out on several occasions. In 1994, when running for the Senate against Ted Kennedy, he said, “I believe abortion should be safe and legal in this country.” In 2002, during his bid for the Massachusetts governorship, Romney vowed to “preserve and protect a woman’s right to choose.”

Upstart “Tea Party” candidate Michele Bachmann immediately fires back:

“It is distressing that Governor Romney refuses to sign the SBA Pledge, even while claiming to be pro-life. The excuses for not signing clearly continue the doubts about his leadership and commitment to ending the practice of abortion – particularly for a candidate who ran as pro-choice for the Senate and Governorship of Massachusetts. Any Presidential candidate seeking our party’s nomination should sign the SBA Pledge and vow to protect life from conception to natural death. Governor Romney should reconsider his decision not to sign the Pledge just as he reconsidered his position on the life issue during the last campaign.”

And let’s not forget the beloved local who got this latest anti-Romney purity pledge snowball rolling, Susan B. Anthony List Project Director Marilyn Musgrave; who announced the “Pro-Life Presidential Pledge” at the Republican Leadership Conference this weekend. Holla!

Over at the Brewery Bar in Aurora at 4:30PM today, GOP presidential frontrunner Mitt Romney will meet with local small business owners–a little more public than his exclusive Cherry Hills Village fundraiser at the home of energy developer Bruce Payne, where you probably won’t get to hear if Romney is confronted about this. But we can already give you the likely response: Romney is headed to Aurora (and Bruce Payne’s house) to talk business, not abortions. Why waste time talking about abortions while Barack Obama is killing America?

Ken Buck, speaking from experience, might suggest Romney tell that to Bachmann.