Analysis
This story is based upon comments that DeVos made during the 2nd gubernatorial debate. It seems that his comments were intepreted by some organizations differently. Jerry Zandstra with the Pro-Life Federation of Michigan which questioned DeVos’ commitment to an anti-abortion position. DeVos clarified his position on a radio program called Ave Maria Radio, which could be labeled a conservative Catholic radio entity that provides programming throughout the country. The story also cites spokesperson from Right to Life of Michigan and Planned Parenthood Advocates of Michigan. Do you think there was any bias in this story? Would readers learn anything about DeVos’s position on the issue of abortion?
Article Text
Jerry Zandstra doesn’t doubt for a second Republican gubernatorial candidate Dick DeVos’ solid pro-life credentials.
But after the last gubernatorial debate, some pro-life advocates did.
“The next day I got inundated with phone calls,” said Zandsta, a former Republican U.S. Senate candidate and president of the Pro-Life Federation of Michigan. “There was a lot of anger over it.”
The confusion — addressed by DeVos in a radio interview Thursday — arose from a reply DeVos gave to a question on abortion, and illustrates the fine line DeVos walks as he seeks to get elected as an economic candidate who nevertheless is a strong social conservative.
Asked during the debate if he would sign a bill that would “put further limits on a woman’s right to receive an abortion,” DeVos seemed to say no.
“I’m comfortable with the laws we have in Michigan and I see no change,” DeVos said during the debate with Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm at WOOD TV-8 in Grand Rapids. DeVos added that the only exception would be to outlaw the late-term abortion procedure called partial birth abortion.
During the Thursday appearance on a conservative Catholic radio program, DeVos said he would be “thrilled” if the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding a woman’s right to an abortion is overturned and abortion is sharply restricted.
“As soon as Roe v. Wade is overturned, which I think we all pray that it will be … we will revert back to Michigan law,” DeVos said Thursday in an interview with Al Kresta, host of the syndicated Catholic talk show “Kresta in the Afternoon” on Ave Maria Radio. “We would go back to that standard, and I would be thrilled about it.”
DeVos, of Ada, has made his campaign almost exclusively about the bread-and-butter issue of getting people back to work. He also holds positions crucial to social conservatives — he’s pro-life, backs school choice and supports teaching intelligent design in public schools subject to local control — but hasn’t emphasized those issues.
Granholm and Democrats have pounced on opportunities to turn the election debate to hot-button issues and away from joblessness. They did so recently when DeVos voiced his support for school districts teaching intelligent design.
Listeners might have perceived DeVos to be backing away from his pro-life position during the debate. But those deeply involved in the abortion issue on both sides heard otherwise.
Ed Rivet, legislative director of Right to Life of Michigan, understood DeVos to be affirming an already restrictive abortion law that’s on the books in Michigan, but is inoperative because of Roe v. Wade.
“I was completely comfortable with it as he said those words during the debate,” he said. “I knew what he meant. He just didn’t say it well.”
Sarah Scranton, executive director of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Michigan, heard the same thing — but she’s doubtful ordinary people did.
“To the average person when they hear that, they don’t know what laws are still on the Michigan books,” Scranton said. “They are going to assume that because abortion is legal, he supports that. He did do a good job of hiding his extreme anti-choice views.”
Abortion is an issue candidates generally like to steer around in general elections.
A late-September poll by Lansing-based EPIC/MRA found that 53 percent of likely voters consider themselves “pro-choice,” and 41 percent consider themselves “pro-life,” with the rest undecided.
Also, 45 percent surveyed said Granholm has views more like theirs on abortion. Only 25 percent said DeVos had views that mirrored theirs. The remainder either had no opinion, didn’t side with either candidate or sided with both.
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