GOP abortion stance called just a start

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TAMPA, Fla., Aug. 26 (UPI) -- A Republican U.S. governor said Sunday the states and Congress would have a large say in crafting a constitutional amendment banning abortion.

Gov. Robert McDonnell of Virginia said the campaign's support for an abortion ban did not make any exceptions, but that did not mean there would not be as the issue goes through the extensive ratification process.

"The real point is, we are affirming that we are a pro-life party," McDonnell said on ABC's "This Week." "The details certainly are left to Congress and ultimately to the states and the people on how they ratify such an amendment, or more importantly, what they do at the state level."

McDonnell, chairman of the GOP platform committee, took issue with the idea the party was leaning too far to the right to appeal to the majority of more-moderate voters. "What matters in this race, is how we're going to get the greatest country on Earth back to work and out of debt," he said.

Democratic mayor Antonio Villaraigosa of Los Angeles countered that the Republicans' failure to mention exceptions, particularly the longstanding one for rape victims, indicated to him they indeed planned to take them away. "Maybe it's been there for 30 years, but it's time to take it out?" he told ABC. "The idea that we put in our U.S. Constitution an amendment that says that women can't get an abortion even in the case of incest and rape is way beyond the mainstream."