The AP headline reads "Miers Supported Ban on Most Abortions", and it's been picked up earliest by The Guardian (UK), ABC NEWS (who truncated the story online), San Francisco Chronicle, and Salon.com (requires registration).
"If Congress passes a Human Life Amendment to the Constitution that would prohibit abortion except when it was necessary to prevent the death of the mother, would you actively support its ratification by the Texas Legislature," asked an April 1989 questionnaire sent out by the Texans United for Life group.This was included in materials given to the Senate in advance of Miers' Supreme Court nomination hearing. AND it was outed anonymously by two people: a Senate "official" and a "Republican consultant working with the White House on her nomination." I'm not too sure I'm pleased about that.Miers checked "yes" to that question, and all of the group's questions, including whether she would oppose the use of public moneys for abortions and whether she would use her influence to keep "pro-abortion" people off city health boards and commissions.
"A candidate taking a political position in the course of a campaign is different from the role of a judge making a ruling in the judicial process." said Jim Dyke, a White House spokesman.
(ABC News chops off the online article here)Senators say Miers has insisted that she has not given anyone any assurances that she would overturn Roe v. Wade if given the chance. "She said nobody knows my views on Roe v. Wade. Nobody can speak for me on Roe v. Wade," said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y....
In the questionnaire that she turned in the Judiciary Committee, Miers answered "no" to questions asking whether anyone during the nomination process discussed specific cases or legal issues with her to get an assurance on her positions. She also answered "no" to whether she told anyone how she might rule if confirmed.
