"I don't think we're ever going to reach a stage where there will no abortions," Paul said. The Texas congressman, whose long-shot bid for the Republican nomination is gaining steam, said he would like to see Roe v. Wade overturned. But Paul said state governments should be able to decide for themselves how to regulate abortion. "But I want to sort this out the way the constitution mandates, and that is at the local level."

Paul, a former OB-GYN, said his anti-abortion position was based on his view that a fetus was a human being with the same rights as any other person. Just as he advocated personal privacy that ...