Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Poizner no longer supports government funding for abortions, his campaign said Friday, although he checked Yes on an item in a 2004 questionnaire asking "Do you support government funding of abortion for low-income women?"
The issue hit the blogosphere today after the Web site POLITICO posted a copy of the questionnaire, which was from The Wish List, a pro-choice Republican group.
Both Poizner and his rival Meg Whitman have said they support abortion rights, with Whitman also expressing her support for public funding of abortions for low-income women.
On Thursday, Poizner said in an interview with The Bee that he had rethought another issue, his support for Proposition 39 , the 2000 ballot initiative that lowered the vote threshold to pass school bonds. Whitman did not vote in that year's election and took no stand on the proposition. Whitman press secretary Sarah Pompei said the candidate does not support raising taxes for any reason.
The abortion funding issue gained relevance today because Poizner announced he's supporting a ballot initiative on this year's ballot requiring parents be notified when a minor seeks an abortion, except in cases of parental waiver, medical emergencies and parental abuse.
Poizner will appear this weekend at the convention of the conservative California Republican Assembly. He announced today that U.S. Rep. Tom McClintock has endorsed his bid for governor, calling Poizner the "only conservative candidate" in the race.
Poizner's communications director Jarrod Agen said in a statement: "Steve Poizner is the only candidate in this election against taxpayer-funded abortions. Steve is and has always been pro-choice, but has said many times that he wants to drive the number of abortions down to zero. He realizes that one important step to accomplish this goal in California is to end taxpayer-funding of abortions. On the other hand, Meg Whitman favors few restrictions on abortion and has always been a vocal advocate of taxpayer-funded abortions."
Pompei said, "Poizner's trying to run as the conservative in this race, but his true record shows that is not the case and shows that California voters can't trust him. ... Commissioner Poizner's claim doesn't match his record of supporting government funding of abortions, higher taxes and donating to Democrats such as Al Gore and John Kerry."
Whitman has also given money to Democrats, including to Kerry in 1999 and to U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer in 2003.
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