Abortion issue divides candidates

Head to head: Abortion

Abortion doesn't rank as a top issue in election polls, but for many voters it remains a litmus test for how the presidential candidates lean on various social issues and whom they would nominate to the Supreme Court.

Democratic Sen. Barack Obama is supportive of abortion rights, saying a woman's right to decide on whether to have a child is a fundamental freedom. He opposes overturning Roe vs. Wade, the 1973 court decision that legalized abortion.

Republican Sen. John McCain opposes abortion except in cases of rape, incest and to protect the life of the mother. He believes that Roe vs. Wade should be overturned.

Day Gardner, president of the National Black Pro-Life Union, said she supports McCain, who has voted mostly in agreement with abortion opponents.

Referring to Obama, she added, "He has consistently voted for abortion and will make it a priority to keep Roe v. Wade and abortion legal as president."

Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Action Fund, said women have a "good partner" in Obama when it comes to health needs.

"I honestly think McCain is out of touch with what women's health-care needs are in the 21st century," Rogers said.

Initiatives to restrict abortion in different ways are on November ballots in California, Colorado and South Dakota. The South Dakota initiative would ban abortion except in cases of rape, incest and when the mother's physical health was at risk.

A proposed federal rule would increase job protections for doctors and other health-care workers who refused to participate in an abortion because they thought it was wrong. Abortion supporters fear that the rule would define contraceptives as a form of abortion and protect workers who refused to distribute them.