Ed FitzGerald Flip-Flops on Abortion
Ohio Right to Life Asks Candidate to Define “100 percent pro-choice”
COLUMBUS, Ohio–Recently, Ed FitzGerald, Democratic candidate for Ohio Governor, backtracked from his “100 percent pro-choice” position when questioned by a reporter from the Hillsboro Times-Gazette. This comes after more than a year of campaigning as “100 percent pro-choice,” and more recently, choosing a running mate who the Plain Dealer describes as someone who “ran twice for Congress but is known as well in political circles for being an abortion-rights activist.”
“As far as we can tell, FitzGerald is backtracking from an extreme position that only works with the pro-choice fringe,” said Katherine McCann, Public Relations Manager at Ohio Right to Life. “Why drop the label now? At the beginning of his campaign, it might have been a cheap trick to get the name recognition that he lacked. Now, he has to appreciate the fact that Ohioans in general just aren’t as extreme as ‘100 percent pro-choice.'”
At the end of February, Quinnpiac University released a poll revealing that 75 percent of Ohioans want some restrictions on abortion. (Read Ohio Right to Life’s press release.) Last summer, another Quinnipiac poll demonstrated that 60 percent of American women favor a 20-week abortion ban, rather than the Supreme Court-prescribed 24-week limit.
“Just what does ‘100 percent pro-choice’ mean? What is Ed FitzGerald’s limit?” continued McCann. “If not at 9 months, what about 8 or 7 months? At what point does he recognize that abortion involves two bodies, not one? I think that if he continues to be pressed on this issue, he will out himself as a true flip-flopper who consults neither science nor morality when taking a policy position.”
To read the “100% pro-choice” email from FitzGerald’s campaign aide, Chip Shannon, click here.
To read the story from the Hillsboro Times-Gazette, click here.
Founded in 1967, Ohio Right to Life, with more than 45 local chapters, is Ohio’s oldest and largest grassroots pro-life organization. Recognized as the flagship of the pro-life movement in Ohio, ORTL works through legislation and education to promote and defend innocent human life from conception to natural death.