Abortion issue leads to mixed messages from Romney, Ryan

Romney’s Tightrope Walk Over Abortion

By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG, NYT

When Representative Paul D. Ryan, the Republican vice-presidential nominee, pledged at the debate on Thursday night that "the policy of a Romney administration is to oppose abortion with exceptions for rape, incest and life of the mother,'' it illustrated just how vexing the abortion issue has become for Mitt Romney and his running mate.

Asked if those "who believe that abortion should remain legal" should be worried if a Romney-Ryan ticket were elected, Mr. Ryan said that "people through their elected representatives" should make decisions about abortion "through the democratic process'' - a statement that is tantamount to saying that abortion policy should be changed through legislation.

But Mr. Romney, in a recent interview with The Des Moines Register, said abortion would not be on his legislative agenda.

"There's no legislation with regards to abortion that I'm familiar with that would become part of my agenda,'' he said. That statement, in itself, carries echoes of a pledge that Mr. Romney made, and reneged on, when he was governor of Massachusetts.

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