He has voted in support of certain pro-life measures, but he does not appear to be pro-life.
Here is the full article and some excerpts:
"'He spoke five times about not overturning Roe,' said David O'Steen, Executive Director of National Right to Life. 'It was a consistent line for a period of time. This wasn't just misspoken one time.'"
From another site that argues he is pro-life:
"I have stated time after time after time that Roe v Wade was a bad decision, that I support a woman — the rights of the unborn — that I have fought for human rights and human dignity throughout my entire political career," McCain said. "To me, it's an issue of human rights and human dignity."
I really have no idea what he is saying there if he does not want to overturn Roe v. Wade.
Another site has a good number of quotes from McCain on the issue:
Here is the question asked to him in a debate by Alan Keyes. I find it interesting that he just would not give a clear answer. Heck, if someone asked me about anyone that I knew contemplating abortion, I would offer to adopt their baby. So if one of my daughters did not want their baby, I would gladly raise it.
KEYES [to McCain]: What you would say if your daughter was ever in a position where she might need an abortion? You answered [earlier today] that the choice would be up to her and then that you’d have a family conference. That displayed a profound lack of understanding of the basic issue of principle involved in abortion. After all, if your daughter said she was contemplating killing her grandmother for the inheritance, you wouldn’t say, “Let’s have a family conference.” You’d look at her and say “Just Say No,“ because that is morally wrong. It is God’s choice that that child is in the womb. And for us to usurp that choice in contradiction of our declaration of principles is just as wrong.
McCAIN: I am proud of my pro-life record in public life, and I will continue to maintain it. I will not draw my children into this discussion. As a leader of a pro-life party with a pro-life position, I will persuade young Americans [to] understand the importance of the preservation of the rights of the unborn.
Source: (X-ref from Keyes) GOP Debate in Manchester NH Jan 26, 2000
McCain said, “I’d love to see a point where Roe vs. Wade is irrelevant, and could be repealed because abortion is no longer necessary. But certainly in the short term, or even the long term, I would not support repeal of Roe vs. Wade, which would then force women in America to [undergo] illegal and dangerous operations.” A spokesman said that McCain “has a 17-year voting record of supporting efforts to overturn Roe vs. Wade. He does that currently, and will continue to do that as president.”
Source: Ron Fournier, Associated Press Aug 24, 1999
When I began to research this, I became hopeful that he was pro-life. In the end, I had to conclude that he is not. He is somewhere in the middle (like he is on most issues) between pro-life and the fringe pro-choicers. However, the middle does not make one pro-life, it makes one pro-choice.
