Cain Signs Pro-Life Pledge

Herman Cain (Ap File)

Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain has signed an anti-abortion pledge penned by a major conservative group.

"This decision is consistent with the Herman Cain we have come to know," said Marjorie Dannefelser, president of the Susan B Anthony List. "[S]hould he be elected to the White House, we look forward to him leading the fight to protect women and unborn children."

"I am an associate Baptists Minister and am 100 percent pro life," said the former Godfathers Pizza CEO. "I believe that all human beings have intrinsic dignity."

Cain signed on the pledge on Tuesday, about a month after he stepped into a controversy surrounding the abortion debate seeming to contradict himself in a televised interview. Cain said he was against abortion rights, but when asked about what he would do in the case of rape or incest Cain said that should not be up to the government, but rather to the family in question.

In signing the pledge, Cain looks to move past the criticism that has dogged him from some social conservatives. In addition to Herman Cain, Michele Bachman, Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, Rick Perry, and Rick Santorum have also signed the SBA List Pro-Life Presidential Leadership Pledge.

Mitt Romney calls himself pro-life and has written he believes "that abortion should be limited to only instances of rape, incest or to save the life of the mother." However, Romney says he will not sign the "well-meaning" pledge because it is overly broad and would have unintended consequences, such as ending federal funding for thousands of hospitals across America as well us unduly burdening a president's ability to appoint the most qualified individuals.

The SBA pledge reads as follows:

"The Pledge asks declared presidential candidates to commit to four key pro-life goals if elected to the presidency in 2012:

FIRST, to nominate to the U.S. federal bench judges who are committed to restraint and applying the original meaning of the Constitution, not legislating from the bench;

SECOND, to select only pro-life appointees for relevant Cabinet and Executive Branch positions, in particular the head of National Institutes of Health, the Department of Justice, and the Department of Health & Human Services;

THIRD, to advance pro-life legislation to permanently end all taxpayer funding of abortion in all domestic and international spending programs, and defund Planned Parenthood and all other contractors and recipients of federal funds with affiliates that perform or fund abortions;

FOURTH, advance and sign into law a Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act to protect unborn children who are capable of feeling pain from abortion."