I have a new story on Mitt Romney up today – this one on his efforts to convince social conservatives that his conversion to the pro-life cause three years ago was genuine and lasting. In a conversation with me in Iowa recently, Romney pointed to his record as governor of Massachusetts, when on every occasion that presented itself, he said, “I came down on the side of the sanctity of life, and at the end of my administration the Massachusetts Citizens for Life gave me the leadership award for my contribution towards protecting human life.” From the story:

One source of skepticism about Romney is his habit of occasionally pushing his argument a little too far, of cutting a few corners with his record. Take that award from the Massachusetts Citizens for Life. It was presented in May 2007, not by the state organization of Massachusetts Citizens for Life but by the Pioneer Valley Regional Chapter, which represents the western part of the state. When Romney began to cite it in his campaign appearances, group officials in Boston issued a statement “to make clear that the local award did not constitute endorsement by the state organization.” The statement went on to give a mixed view of Romney, saying he had taken “a politically-expedient pro-abortion position,” but that “admitting that he was wrong took rare courage.” So what Romney points to as the stamp of approval from a pro-life group is really a bit less.
Another example: Recently, the Romney campaign, in response to a rather mild criticism on National Review Online, sent out a series of talking points to underscore his pro-life record. Among them was the assertion that “Governor Romney Support[ed] Parental Notification Laws and Opposed Efforts to Weaken Parental Involvement.” As evidence, the campaign cited an October 2002 Associated Press account of Romney’s debate with his Democratic opponent for governor, Shannon O’Brien. But a look at the debate itself shows that Romney, while opposing a proposal to lower the abortion-without-consent age from 18 to 16, spent a great deal of time reaffirming his pro-choice position. On five different occasions, he vowed to “preserve and protect a woman’s right to choose.” He seemed comfortable with an 18 year-old girl receiving an abortion without parental consent, and he stressed his approval of a special legal process through which younger girls could also receive abortions without consent. No one watching the debate or reading the transcript could come away with the impression that Romney was anything but emphatically pro-choice. Yet now, he cites the debate as evidence of his commitment to life.