PAT TOOMEY CHANGES TUNE ON ABORTION EPIPHANY, BUT STILL OPEN TO THROWING DOCTORS WHO PERFORM PROCEDURE IN JAIL

By THE DEMOCRATIC SENATORIAL CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE

In today’s Roll Call, Pat Toomey offers a new explanation for his conversion on the issue of choice. During his first run for Congress, Toomey was firmly pro-choice. After being elected, Toomey quickly flip-flopped positions and has been pro-life since then. But Toomey’s reasoning for his flip-flop has changed over time. Initially, Toomey claimed he became pro-life after seeing the ultra sound of his child. But in an article in today’s Roll Call, Toomey’s spokesperson said that Toomey “never felt fully comfortable with that position [pro-choice], and in his early days in Congress came to realize that the pro-life position was where his conscience was.” Even with his changing story on his pro-life epiphany, Toomey has gone so far as to say on national television that he would supporting throwing doctors who perform abortions in jail.

“Pat Toomey can change the way he talks about his evolution as a right-wing fringe candidate, but it does not get him any closer to the mainstream of Pennsylvania’s electorate,” said Democratic Senatorial Campaign Communications Director Eric Schultz. “After looking all over the state for a credible alternative, Republicans appear stuck with Pat Toomey and his far-right voting record. Pat Toomey is so far outside the Pennsylvania mainstream that even conservative Republicans like Senator Hatch admit he cannot win a general election.”

NRSC Vice-Chairman Orrin Hatch: “I don’t think there is anybody in the world who believes he can get elected Senator there.”

http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=F2A56248-18FE-70B2-A8ECA08F25BCAA87

Toomey Said He Would Outlaw Abortion, Penalize Doctors that Perform Abortions. During an interview on MSNBC in August 2009, Toomey told host Chris Matthews that he believes that “states should be free to restrict abortion,” and that he would support “legislation in Pennsylvania that would ban abortion.” When asked whether or not he would throw doctors who perform abortions in jail, Toomey said, “At some point, doctors performing abortions, I think, would – would be subject to that sort of penalty.” [MSNBC, “Hardball,” 8/5/09]

The American Conservative Union gave Toomey a lifetime rating of 97 (out of 100), while Santorum only has a lifetime rating of 88.1.

http://www.acuratings.org/

Toomey Claimed He Became Pro-Life After Seeing Ultra Sound of his Child. “Toomey did vote for approving RU-486, the abortion pill, early in his first term in Congress, Kettering said, but that was before Toomey’s wife became pregnant and before he got a look at an ultrasound of the baby. Since then, his position on abortion has changed. ‘Pat was not totally pro-life when he started,’ Kettering said. ‘That is true.’” [Sunday News, 4/4/04]

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