US: President George W Bush's nominee for the US Supreme Court promised in 1989 to support a constitutional amendment banning all abortions unless they were necessary to save the life of the mother, according to documents given to the Senate yesterday.
Harriet Miers told senators this week she had not given anyone any assurances on how she would vote on Roe v Wade, the 1973 ruling that obliges US states to permit abortion.
"Nobody knows my views on Roe v Wade. Nobody can speak for me on Roe v Wade," one senator quoted Ms Miers as saying.
But as a candidate for Dallas city council in 1989, Ms Miers expressed support for the platform of the anti-abortion group Texans United for Life, saying she would take part in "pro-life rallies and special events" and use her influence to keep "pro-abortion" people off city health boards and commissions.
"If Congress passes a Human Life Amendment to the Constitution that would prohibit abortion except when it was necessary to prevent the death of the mother, would you actively support its ratification by the Texas legislature?" asked a questionnaire sent out in April 1989 by Texans United for Life.
Ms Miers, who was raised a Roman Catholic but was "born again" as an evangelical Protestant in 1979, ticked Yes to that question and all the others on the questionnaire.
The White House this week relaunched its campaign to secure Senate support for Ms Miers's nomination, stressing her experience as a lawyer rather than her religious background or the fact she is a woman.
Ms Miers has met a number of senators on the judicial committee that will question her before the full Senate votes on the nomination.
Many conservative groups that have supported Mr Bush since before he became president have held back from endorsing Ms Miers's nomination or mounting campaigns on her behalf.
Some conservatives feel betrayed by the president, who they expected would nominate a conservative intellectual to the Supreme Court.
David Keene, head of the American Conservative Association, told conservative activists in an e-mail this week the right had lost patience with the president.
"We've been there for him because we've considered ourselves part of his team. No more. From now on this administration will find it difficult to muster support on the right without explaining why it should be forthcoming. The days of the blank cheque have ended," he wrote.
Ms Miers has become a target for America's late-night television comedians on account of gushing messages she wrote on greeting cards to Mr Bush while he was governor of Texas. One described him as "the best governor ever" and another said that Mr and Mrs Bush were "cool".
It emerged this week that Ms Miers has been equally effusive in recent speeches, telling Pepperdine Law School graduates in May that "serving President and Mrs Bush is an impossible-to-describe privilege".
In another speech, she spoke of how Mr Bush hugged the family of a soldier who was killed in Iraq.
"This is a scene I will never forget for the selfless caring and value and sacrifice it depicted. So much of what is great about America is wrapped up in one big hug," she said.