Abortion has been legal in the US since a 1973 Supreme Court decision, but now 27 years later it is still an issue in this year's presidential election.
In New Hampshire this week, where he hopes to win the Republican primary next Tuesday, Senator John McCain found his pro-life credentials tested when asked by a reporter on the campaign bus what he would do if his 15-year-old daughter, Meghan, became pregnant.
Mr McCain, who was accompanied by his wife, Cindy, said he would encourage her to know that the baby would be brought up in a warm loving family, but "the final decision would be made by Meghan with our advice and counsel". Later Mr McCain phoned reporters to say that he "misspoke" and he had meant to say that the final decision would be taken "by the family and not by Meghan alone". That night at the final TV debate among Republicans, Mr McCain was challenged on this position by Alan Keyes, who is also seeking the Republican nomination but has no hope. Mr Keyes, who is African-American and a Catholic, accused Mr McCain of having a "profound lack of understanding" of the issue.
"After all, if your daughter came to you and said she contemplated killing her grandmother for her inheritance," Mr Keyes said, "you wouldn't say, `Let's have a family conference'. You'd just say No because that is morally wrong."
Mr McCain was clearly uncomfortable and tried to come back at Mr Keyes, a former ambassador, later in the debate to say that as a former navy pilot he had seen death and knew the value of life so he did not want any lectures from Mr Keyes.
Governor George Bush, the Republican front-runner, was asked in the debate, if he could write a two-sentence amendment to the US Constitution on abortion what it would be. Mr Bush replied it would be that every child, born and unborn, should be protected in law and every child should be welcomed in life and that the Republicans should keep their pro-life position.
For the two Democratic contenders, Vice-President Al Gore the and former senator, Bill Bradley, the opposite is the case as they vie to show who is the most pro-choice candidate. Staunch defence of the Supreme Court decision, called Roe v Wade, has been a consistent policy of the Clinton-Gore administration.
Under pressure from its conservative wing, often called the Christian Right, the Republican Party since 1984 has a strongly anti-abortion plank in its manifesto or platform. Until this election, Republican presidential candidates have been able to play down the anti-abortion position which they know helps to alienate women voters. In any case the 1973 judgment can only be overturned by the Supreme Court itself and not by White House decree or legislation in Congress.
But in this election Mr Bush as the Republican front-runner has been pressed hard on abortion by his rivals such as Mr Keyes, Gary Bauer, who heads a family organisation, and the billionaire magazine publisher, Steve Forbes, who are all seeking the conservative vote in the primaries.
They are challenging Mr Bush to pledge that he would only appoint new Supreme Court judges who were anti-abortion and who would thus vote to overturn Roe v Wade. Mr Bush, who has said that the court "over-reached" in that decision, has been reluctant to make abortion a "litmus test" for future judges but makes it clear that he would lean very much that way.
While Mr Bush got 41 per cent in the Iowa caucuses last Monday, his conservative rivals totalled 53 per cent, and this has encouraged them to squeeze Mr Bush and Mr McCain further on the abortion issue in New Hampshire, which tends to be a conservative state.
The spotlight is also coming on Mr Bush over another life-and-death issue, the death penalty. He is governor of a state which leads the country in executions, and four convicted murderers have been killed by lethal injection in Texas in the past week alone. How can he reconcile this with his slogan of "compassionate conservatism"? Mr Bush is being asked.
This is easier to deal with than abortion as three out of four Americans and the Christian right support the death penalty. "We believe in swift and sure justice and we uphold the laws," Mr Bush answers. The death penalty "ultimately saves lives if it is administered surely and justly". On abortion, Mr Bush will find the pressure on him easing after New Hampshire as his conservative rivals begin to drop out of the race. But the issue will resurface at the Republican convention next August when the conservatives will fight to preserve the tough anti-abortion plank. The moderate Republicans will argue that this rigid stance will help Democrats who will use it to strengthen their appeal to women voters.
The moderates will also argue that if a Democrat wins the White House he will be able to influence the composition of the Supreme Court by his choice of judges and so ensure that Roe v Wade remains the law of the land for the foreseeable future. Attacking Mr Bush for not being tough enough on abortion is self-defeating, the conservatives will be told.