Is McCain Really "Pro-Life"?

Tom Piatek wonders.

Notably, neither McCain nor Bennett and Leibsohn mention McCain’s enthusiastic support for federal funding of embryonic stem-cell research. It is impossible to square that support with principled belief in the pro-life cause, unless McCain’s operative principle is, “I will support legal protection for the unborn, unless it is politically inconvenient.” Neither of them mention McCain’s recent statement, reported in the Washington Post on Feb. 3, that “It’s not social issues I care about.” Nor do they mention his statement to the San Francisco Chronicle on Aug. 19, 1999, “[C]ertainly in the short term, or even the long term, I would not support the repeal of Roe v. Wade which would then force X number of women in America to [undergo] illegal and dangerous operations.” In the same interview, McCain stated he would not have a “litmus test” on abortion for judicial nominees.