TALLAHASSEE, Fla., April 4 (UPI) -- Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani Wednesday said he supports public funding for some abortions, a position he held as mayor, CNN reported.
The remark is likely put the Republican presidential nomination contender at odds with social conservatives, CNN said.
"Ultimately, it's a constitutional right, and therefore if it's a constitutional right, ultimately, even if you do it on a state-by-state basis, you have to make sure people are protected," Giuliani said in an interview with CNN.
A video of Giuliani when he was running for New York mayor in 1989 showed up recently on the Internet.
"There must be public funding for abortions for poor women," Giuliani says in the clip posted on YouTube. "We cannot deny any woman the right to make her own decisions about abortion."
In Wednesday's interview, Giuliani said he supports public funding for some abortions.
"If it would deprive someone of a constitutional right," he said, "If that's the status of the law, yes."
Giuliani emphasized that he is personally opposed to abortion and his campaign aides later told CNN he would not seek to change current law, which restricts federal funding of abortions to cases of rape, incest and saving the life of the mother.
