CAMPAIGN 2012

GOP Platform: No Rape and Incest Exception for Abortion

Updated: August 21, 2012 | 8:11 a.m.
August 21, 2012 | 7:48 a.m.

A draft platform for the Republican Party reaffirms its stance on abortion, and does not make an exception for rape or incest, CNN reports.

"Faithful to the 'self-evident' truths enshrined in the Declaration of Independence, we assert the sanctity of human life and affirm that the unborn child has a fundamental individual right to life which cannot be infringed," the draft platform declares, according to CNN. "We support a human life amendment to the Constitution and endorse legislation to make clear that the Fourteenth Amendment's protections apply to unborn children."

Abortion has been in the spotlight in recent days after Rep. Todd Akin, a Republican Senate candidate in Missouri, made widely denounced comments Sunday saying that in cases of “legitimate rape,” a woman's body could stop an unwanted pregnancy.

The platform document was crafted by a GOP subcommittee on Monday, according to CNN, and must be approved by the full platform committee and delegates to the Republican convention next week in Tampa., Fla.

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