Kathryn, I share your reaction: Eric Johnston’s pro-life case for Rudy is not very persuasive.

Johnston writes:

Only a constitutionalist who supports abortion rights can create an anti-Roe majority by explaining that the end of Roe means letting the people decide, state by state, about abortion.

But since Giuliani has not called for the end of Roe, when does Johnston expect him to explain this point?

Mr. Giuliani’s ambivalence about the end of Roe is consistent with his belief that judges should not seek to achieve political ends. This is a judicial philosophy that pro-lifers should applaud, not condemn. It is, after all, the position consistently articulated by the pro-life movement’s favorite Supreme Court justices: John Roberts, Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia.

What a bizarre passage. Justices Thomas and Scalia do not “consistently” express the same views as Giuliani on Roe. Their judicial philosophy dictates that it be reversed; it does not say that keeping Roe on the books would be “ok,” which Giuliani’s judicial philosophy does.

[T]he policies [Giuliani] calls for look. . . like President Bush’s. . . . Mr. Giuliani pledges his support for the Hyde Amendment. . . . Pro-lifers care about many important policy questions related to abortion, and Mr. Giuliani consistently stands with us.

Again with the “consistently.” Bush has said he would veto any weakening of the Hyde amendment; Giuliani hasn’t. The House has voted to weaken, and the Senate to abolish, the rule against giving money to organizations to promote or perform abortions overseas. Bush has said he would use his veto to protect the policy. Giuliani hasn’t. And then there’s the question of stem cells.

Johnston reasons that Giuliani would not fund embryo-destructive research because as mayor he showed a reluctance to use taxpayer money in ways that offend social conservatives. But he supported taxpayer-funded abortion the whole time he was mayor! Before concluding (via a rickety chain of inferences) that Giuliani opposes taxpayer funding for embryo-destructive research, maybe Johnston should wait to hear him say so.