Romney courts abortion opponents

Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney sought to solidify his anti-abortion credentials at the National Right to Life Convention Forum Friday, saying his previous support of abortion rights was “wrong.”

{mosads}Romney explained that, while he “was always personally opposed to abortion” when he ran for governor of Massachusetts, he “considered whether this should be a private decision or whether it should be a societal and government decision.”

The presidential hopeful concluded that he would “support the law as it was in place — effectively, the pro-choice position.”

“And I was wrong,” he said.

Romney’s position on some social issues is seen as an obstacle to wooing conservative voters, which he needs to compete for the GOP nomination.

He also responded to presidential rival Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) Wednesday attack. The McCain campaign had criticized Romney for supporting abortion rights in his gubernatorial campaign. Romney said that in that campaign he “promised to maintain the status quo with regards to laws relating to abortion” and to do that he vetoed legislation that would have expanded abortion rights.

Romney also touted his conservative track record on same-sex marriage. He vehemently disagreed with the Massachusetts Supreme Court’s decision that same-sex marriage is constitutional, and said that he “took every conceivable step within the law to stop, block or slow down this unprecedented court decision.”