Guiliani on the White House Faith-based Office

"Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani, attempting to woo support at one of the largest gatherings of religious and social conservatives, said that if elected president he would use the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives to support private organizations that offer alternatives to abortions."  Here's more on that score from a Roundtable story about some of the presidential-hopefuls' speeches at the Family Research Council's Washington Briefing:

Giuliani was the only candidate to talk about the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, created in 2001 by President George W. Bush to promote greater partnerships between government and religious organizations.

Giuliani said he would work with Congress through the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives to support groups that promote abortion alternatives. He cited Best Friends, an abstinence education program in Washington, D.C. created in 1987 by Elaine Bennett, the wife of former Education Secretary and "drug czar" William Bennett.

The Bush administration and Congress have for years supported sexual abstinence education funding both domestically and internationally as a means to reduce unwanted pregnancy and fight HIV/AIDS. The Compassion Capital Fund, a Bush initiative funded by Congress to support faith-based and community organizations, also funds programs that encourage alternatives to abortions.

Giuliani also said as mayor he worked with faith-based organizations to turn welfare offices into job centers and institute the largest welfare-to-work initiative in the country, moving more than 640,000 New Yorkers off the welfare rolls.

For the Roundtable's assessment of that New York initiative, click here.