LANSING – Gubernatorial candidate Dick DeVos announced during a program onAve Marie Radio, a Catholic station out of Ann Arbor, that he would be thrilled if Roe vs. Wade were overturned, hitting on one of the most emotional issues of the race for governor.

“Women’s reproductive rights are among the key issues that drive voters’ selection of candidates,” said Kary Moss, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan (ACLU). “I think a majority of people in Michigan support women’s reproductive rights and Gov. (Jennifer) Granholm understands that. She’ll have the support of the pro-choice people.”

DeVos is endorsed by the Right to Life of Michigan for his stance on banning abortions with the exception of saving the mother’s life. That had been the law in Michigan before Roe vs. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court case that said laws banning abortion violate constitutional rights of privacy.

Pam Sherstad, director of public information for Right to Life of Michigan in Grand Rapids said, “Abortion will affect many voters because life is one of the most important social issues facing our society today.

“We look to people who have an understanding that all life has value. We do that because we realize that without life, all of the other rights and privileges we have as citizens aren’t applicable.”

Granholm is backed by EMILY’s List, a political network founded in 1985 that supports pro-choice Democratic women running for federal, state and local government.

Granholm has vetoed two bills that would have limited a woman’s right of choice. The first would have banned partial-birth abortions. The second bill would have limited the ability of pregnant minors to get court approval for abortions without parental consent.

DeVos, the Republican nominee, supports the proposed ban on partial-birth abortions and has said that he would not allow abortion even in cases such as rape and incest.