Just days after widely condemned remarks about rape by a Republican Senate candidate in Missouri, GOP officials are preparing a platform for next week's national convention that rejects the idea of abortion in cases of rape or incest.
Convention leaders are drafting official platform language that includes a call for a "human life amendment" to the constitution. The amendment makes no mention of rape or incest. CNN first reported the news after obtaining a copy of the draft.
"Faithful to the 'self-evident' truths enshrined in the Declaration of Independence, we assert the sanctity of human life and affirm that the unborn child has a fundamental individual right to life which cannot be infringed," the draft says.
The draft adds, "We support a human life amendment to the Constitution and endorse legislation to make clear that the Fourteenth Amendment's protections apply to unborn children."
GOP Rep. Todd Akin, who is running against Democratic incumbent Sen. Claire McCaskill in Missouri, said in an interview that women's bodies can stop pregnancies in cases of "legitimate rape."
Akin apologized repeatedly on Sunday and Monday, but national GOP leaders have called on him to withdraw from the race. Missouri law gives him until 6 p.m. Tuesday to do so, before it becomes more difficult.
Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus has publicly asked Akin not to attend the GOP convention and presidential candidate Mitt Romney has condemned Akin's remarks as well.
The platform draft is still being reviewed by a convention committee and would have to be approved by delegates during next week's convention.
A statement from the Romney campaign said a Romney-Ryan administration would not oppose abortion in instances of rape, although vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan has previously expressed support for a human life amendment."
by RTT Staff Writer
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