April 23, 2008 06:06 PM UTC

"Abortion Storm" Crisis Deepens for Schaffer

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• by: Colorado Pols

There’s no respite for morally embattled Senate candidate Bob Schaffer from either left or right, As the Rocky Mountain News reports:

An abortion opponent ripped Republican Bob Schaffer on Tuesday, accusing him of refusing to support the “personhood” initiative for fear it might cost him votes in his U.S. Senate race.

Steve Curtis, spokesman of American Right to Life and former chairman of the Colorado GOP, said the proposed measure is similar to Schaffer’s stance against abortion when he served as a state legislator and U.S. congressman.

The proposal would define a person as a human being from the moment of conception.

“Schaffer never had a problem being true to his faith and to his beliefs – until now,” Curtis charged.

“Bob Schaffer used to be one of us. Now he’s being handled,” he said.

That was a reference to Schaffer’s campaign manager, Dick Wadhams, who fired back.

“Yes, Bob has reputation of being pushed around by staff, he really does,” Wadhams said facetiously…

An inevitable by-product of the Marianas/Abramoff scandal over Schaffer’s defense of labor and immigration policy in the Northern Marianas territory (where forced abortions on factory workers are alleged to have been widespread), this latest exchange has broadened the front Schaffer must beat back questions on to include this year’s “Every Sperm Sacred” ballot initiative. Which is more uncomfortable a question for Schaffer than one might initially think, as the Rocky’s Lynn Bartels continues:

Udall’s campaign spokeswoman, Taylor West, said Udall opposes the abortion proposal. She said the measure is written so broadly it “would define any termination of a pregnancy as murder, constitutionally outlaw birth control pills and ban stem cell research.”

“No candidate who truly stands with Colorado could hesitate to oppose that,” she said.

Wadhams said Schaffer hasn’t formed an opinion on the personhood measure, in part because it isn’t on the ballot yet.

“It’s a lie, an absolute lie,” Curtis countered. “Of course Bob Schaffer has an opinion.”

Abortion became an issue in the Senate race after Schaffer touted the Marianas Islands’ guest-worker program. Critics claimed Schaffer ignored documented evidence that factory workers who became pregnant were urged to get abortions.

Schaffer said he didn’t see any evidence of forced abortions when he visited the U.S. territory in 1999.

Also read a transcript of a speech Schaffer gave in 2000 on abortion, reprinted in its entirety on the Rocky’s website today.

Our view: of course Bob Schaffer has a very defensible anti-abortion record. This isn’t an issue Schaffer should be fighting off uncomfortable questions on. And it’s been correctly pointed out that the pro-life groups criticizing Schaffer are on the strident end of their movement–which doesn’t make them less influential necessarily, but should be noted. The bottom line is the “Every Sperm Sacred” ballot initiative is meant to directly challenge the landmark Roe v. Wade Supreme Court case that “settled” abortion-rights law in the early 1970s, and some Republicans aren’t sure that’s a wise course politically. Unfortunately for those smarter Republicans, though, a large percentage of their base thinks it’s the greatest idea ever.

The problem for Schaffer, despite his pro-life record, is he has been clearly shown now to have participated in stalling reform in the Northern Marianas, preserving a status quo that turned a blind eye to practices  any abortion foe (not to mention abortion-rights supporter) cannot help but find totally appalling. Pro-life activists know about the situation in the CNMI almost as well as labor activists do, and to hear Schaffer deny any evidence of it (which he is forced to do at this point) is no less dismaying. They know better and they can’t reconcile what he says with what they know.

And now they want to ask more messy questions…