Hello Cliff Jumper. I appreciate the questions you are posing and would only add the following: Romney, as president, doesn’t have any say in whether a law against abortion would allow for exceptions for rape or incest. It would be nice if Romney was 100% in line with Catholic teaching, but he is pro-life where it counts: As president, Mitt Romney could help the pro-life cause by picking supreme court justices who would be likely to overturn Roe V Wade - which prevents states from passing laws that would outlaw or severely restrict abortions. He picked pro-life Catholic Paul Ryan as his running mate, and Robert Bork as judicial advisor. He can also do things around the margins - rescind the Mexico City policy, and he can also speak out in favor of the sanctity of life.
The other thing to consider other than Romney’s stance on abortion is Obama’s: he is unapologetically pro-abortion rights and is arguably the most pro-abortion rights president we’ve ever had. He didn’t vote against outlawing partial birth abortion! That alone should be reason enough to vote effectively to ensure that he doesn’t have a chance to shape the supreme court which decides so much of all this. (by “effectively” I mean voting for the most pro-life candidate who has the best chance to defeat Obama. A write-in of course, has no chance).
Lastly, neither Santorum nor Keyes are running this time. And while you might live in a solid Romney state, you might consider this: the margin of victory of a candidate affects their mandate to govern. If they only win by a little, then there is less pressure on the opposition to work with the new president. On the other hand, if Romney gets, say, 54% of the popular vote, there would be more pressure on senators, for example, to work with the president. (keep in mind, quite a few Democrat senators are up for re-election in 2014 and might be more inclined to work with Romney if they think the country overall supports Romney). This is important because the senate has to approve any supreme court justice nomination. If you want to know how a nominee fares when Democrats are strong and bold then look no further than David Souter and Anthony Kennedy. Both justices voted to uphold Roe V Wade. If Romney has a Republican majority in the senate and/or a few Democrats who are willing to consider his judicial picks, then we might well finally see Roe V Wade overturned. That would be a huge pro-life victory.
Ishii