Republican candidates play up differences on abortion

Republican candidates play up differences on abortion | Elections | Wichita Eagle: The term '100 percent pro-life' means different things to different people — and congressional candidates Mike Pompeo and Wink Hartman are no exception. To Pompeo, that means opposing abortion except when necessary to save the life of the woman. It's a much harder line than current state law, which allows abortion on demand in the first trimester of pregnancy and later-term abortions to preserve the woman's life or health. Hartman, however, takes a harder line than Pompeo — no abortions, no exceptions. He also opposes several popular forms of birth control, which he considers to be another form of abortion.

Pompeo won the coveted endorsement from Kansans for Life, the state's most powerful anti-abortion lobbying and activist group. Hartman countered with an endorsement from the Rev. Michael O'Donnell, pastor of Wichita's Grace Baptist Church and a longtime anti-abortion activist.