Laura Bush Supports Gay Marriage, Abortion

Laura Bush says she supports gay marriage and a woman's right to choose, and thinks a law allowing the former "will come" in due time.
"I think there are a lot of people who have trouble coming to terms with that because they see marriage as traditionally between a man and a woman," Bush told Larry King on his show Tuesday. "But I also know that ... when couples are committed to each other and love each other that they ought to have, I think, the same sort of rights that everyone has."

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The former first lady was promoting her new memoir, Spoken from the Heart. In the book, she writes that she asked her husband not to make gay marriage a significant issue during his 2004 re-election campaign. George W. Bush had endorsed a constitutional amendment earlier that year banning same-sex marriage."I guess that would be an area that we disagree," she told King. "I mean, I understand totally what George thinks and what other people think about marriage being between a man and a woman. And it's a real, you know, reversal really for that to accept gay marriage. ... But I think we could, yeah. I think it's also a generational thing."Asked if she thinks same-sex marriage will be legalized, Bush responded: "Yeah, that will come, I think."

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Bush, 63, also said she thinks abortion should remain legal — a stance she suggested she had on her husband's first day in office in 2001 when Katie Couric asked for her opinion on whether Roe v. Wade should be overturned. "I thought, do I really want to start my husband's presidency ... suggesting that a Supreme Court rule being overturned? And I said no," she said. "And I think it's important that it remain legal, because I think it's important for people, for medical reasons and other reasons."Bush, who acknowledged that she was "not really" expressive about the two issues while she lived in the White House, added that she and her husband discuss both issues and are "not at all" argumentative about them."I really understand his viewpoint and he understands mine," she said.

Watch the interview below: