GOP state House candidate Joyce Haas, once called a pro-choice Republican, is running as a firmly pro-life woman in the 77th District race, she said Thursday.
As recently as August 2008, the New York Daily News reported that Haas was a pro-choice Republican. In 1996, according to a PBS news report, she called herself a ‘moderate pro-choice Republican.’ And in 1986, when Haas tried to unseat then-incumbent state Rep. Ruth C. Rudy, abortion ‘never surfaced as an issue,’ Rudy recalled.
Rudy is, and was, pro-choice.
Still, the Haas campaign website in the current race notes that ‘Joyce believes that life begins at conception and laws protecting it should extend to the unborn.’ The site names Haas, of Patton Township, as the choice ‘for defending the unborn.’
Haas also is the vice-chairman of the state Republican party.
Asked about her position Thursday, Haas said that ‘I can’t tell you where things have evolved, but I can tell you (that) by 2008 I was working very hard to make sure life is protected.’
She helped that year to develop the Republican party platform opposing legalized abortion and advocating for the reversal of Roe vs. Wade, Haas said.
She said she was not aware of the New York Daily News article in August 2008 that identified her as a pro-choice Republican. She suggested that someone may have ‘gone back in time and (made) an assumption’ about her views.
In addition, Haas said she was not aware of the 1996 PBS report that identified her as a pro-choice Republican. ‘I can only say that (pro-choice stance) was not my position,’ she said. ‘That was somebody else stating my position.’
But Susan Rogacs, board president at the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation, said that Haas ‘did have a pro-choice position’ in the past.
Even so, Rogacs said, she does not question Haas’ pro-life stance now. Rogacs said it became clear to her about seven or eight months ago that Haas’ perspective had changed.
Haas completed a federation questionnaire that illustrates her ‘100 percent pro-life’ position in the current 77th District race, Rogacs said.
‘This is not unusual,’ she said of Haas. ‘People change their position.’
Rogacs said she believes Haas changed her position probably because she became more informed. ‘Happens all the time,’ she added.
Haas said she would support abortion rights under three circumstances: rape, incest and endangerment of the mother.
The incumbent in the 77th District House race, state Rep. Scott Conklin, D-Rush Township, holds the same stated position.
Conklin’s view ‘has never changed,’ said Tor Michaels, a campaign aide. ‘He has been a pro-life Democrat all of his life.’
Conklin has the endorsement of the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation political-action committee, but only because the PAC, as a matter of policy, prefers the incumbent candidate when both contenders are equally pro-life, Rogacs said.
‘Our position is that they’re both pro-life,’ Rogacs said of Haas and Conklin. ‘If she would happen to win, we would be fine with that.’
The Pennsylvania chapter of the National Organization for Women, however, has endorsed neither Haas nor Conklin, said Pennsylvania-NOW President Joanne Tosti-Vasey.
She suggested that voters concerned about women’s issues look at the candidates’ stances on other issues, such as education, domestic violence and health-care reform.
‘I think, in general, when you’re looking at any candidate, you need to look at where their heart is for the working person; where they land on the idea of health care; where they land on the side of making sure that (everyone has access to) government services,’ Tosti-Vasey said.
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