Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., attacked Newt Gingrich for not defunding Planned Parenthood as House Speaker and for a potential willingness to put party over principle that culminated in his endorsement of pro-choice Republican Dede Scozzafava for U.S. House. Scozzafava eventually dropped out of the race and endorsed the Democrat over a pro-life third party candidate.
Saying that Gingrich “has failed to meet a consistently pro-life standard,” the Bachmann campaign quoted news stories from 1990 predicting that the Republican Party would merely “draw the line in such a way that we are clearly the party which will have fewer abortions in America than the Democrats,” adding that Gingrich said, “We will in fact be responsive to changing circumstances,” apparently in regards to which abortion restrictions have popular support.
Bachmann’s campaign notes that federal funding for Planned Parenthood ranged between $115 million and $125 million during Gingrich’s four years of House Speaker.
She also hit Gingrich for his 2009 endorsement of Scozzafava, a pro-choice Republican nominated by party leaders to run for a traditionally Republican seat in a special election. “Our best chance to put responsible and principled leaders in Washington starts here, with Dede Scozzafava,” Gingrich said at the time, in a blow to Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman, a pro-life conservative.
Scozzafava ultimately withdrew from the race when it appeared she would lose and endorsed the Democrat, who ultimately won the seat.
Gingrich’s campaign website addresses the Scozzafava endorsement, saying that “he has admitted it was a mistake to back Dede Scozzafava, the Republican nominee in the 2009 NY-23 special election.” The campaign also notes that Hoffman has forgiven Gingrich, saying “I would advise other conservative republicans: Don’t hold this [endorsement] against him.”
