Caught in a Contradiction

George Bush says a woman should be able to get an abortion when she has been the victim of rape or incest. Yet the President last week announced that he would veto a bill that would provide Medicaid money to pay for such abortions. The bill put Bush in a difficult position. By denying the Medicaid funds, he was making abortion in those cases an alternative only for women who can afford it. But if he made federal funds available for the poor, he risked alienating his right-to-life constituency. Bush said he did not want to "compound a violent act with the taking of an unborn life" but acknowledged that "to some there might be a contradiction there." Democrats attacked the decision, but so did Republicans. Said Republican Senator Bob Packwood: "We are on the wrong side on the issue."