Media often report Giuliani supports abortion rights but ignore pledge to appoint judges like Scalia

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http://mediamatters.org/items/200710190009?f=h_top

Numerous media reports have claimed that Republican presidential candidate and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani "supports abortion rights" or is "pro-choice" without noting, as Media Matters for America documented, that Giuliani has repeatedly said that if elected president, he would appoint "strict constructionist" judges and has specifically pledged to use as "model appointments" Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas -- both of whom have declared their support for overturning Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision finding that the Constitution protects abortion rights -- among others. In the past two days alone, reports by the Associated Press, The Economist, Slate.com , USA Today, NPR, CNN, and CBS have characterized Giuliani as a supporter of abortion rights:

On the October 18 broadcast of NPR's Morning Edition, Fox News contributor and NPR senior correspondent Juan Williams said that Giuliani is "just so unusual -- he supports abortion rights, gay rights, gun control."

On the October 18 edition of CNN's The Situation Room, host Wolf Blitzer said that Giuliani is "having serious problems winning over some Christian conservatives because he supports abortion rights and gay rights."

On the October 18 edition of the CBS Evening News, anchor Katie Couric said that Giuliani "would be the first Republican nominee in three decades to support abortion rights."

An October 18 Associated Press article said that Giuliani "angers some conservatives because of his support of abortion rights and past stands on gay rights and gun control."