NY Times again ignored Giuliani's shifting position on abortion ban

[NNN0LHI]

http://mediamatters.org/items/200704190005

In an April 19 New York Times article on the political impact of the Supreme Court's recent decision to uphold the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003, staff writer Robin Toner reported that Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani "said the court 'reached the correct conclusion.' " But while the article noted that Giuliani is "a longtime supporter of abortion rights," it did not mention that, in 2000 when running for a Senate seat from New York, Giuliani agreed with President Clinton's veto of similar legislation, the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 1997, saying that had he been in the Senate when it was considering the bill, he would have "vote to preserve the option for women." By contrast, in related April 19 articles, the Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, and Newsday all noted the apparent contradiction in Giuliani's statements.

As Media Matters for America noted, an April 18 post on The New York Times' political weblog, The Caucus, also printed Giuliani's statement applauding the court's decision but omitted his prior opposition to the ban.

The April 19 New York Times article reported that the Supreme Court's decision pushes abortion rights issues "squarely into the 2008 presidential election" and later noted Giuliani's approval of the Supreme Court's decision upholding the ban:

Both sides in the abortion struggle predicted that the Supreme Court's decision on Wednesday would escalate the drive for new abortion restrictions in state legislatures and push the issue of abortion rights -- and the Supreme Court -- squarely into the 2008 presidential election.

<...>

Rudolph W. Giuliani, the Republican former mayor of New York and a longtime supporter of abortion rights, said the court "reached the correct conclusion."