McCain faces tough questions on abortion

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate John McCain courted female voters on Friday with appearances on TV shows popular with women, but prompted boos from a studio audience while stressing opposition to abortion.

In reply to a question on ABC television talk show "The View," McCain told the five women hosts and its live studio audience he believed the U.S. Supreme Court's legalization of abortion 35 years ago was a mistake.

"I believe Roe v Wade was a very bad decision, it was a bad decision," he said of the 1973 decision that established a woman's right to an abortion.

The mostly female audience, who had cheered many of the Arizona senator's earlier comments, responded with boos.

The question was posed by host Elisabeth Hasselbeck, an abortion opponent and supporter of the Iraq war who told McCain he had her vote in his close race against Democratic Illinois Sen. Barack Obama in the November 4 election.

He also faced pointed questions about his selection of little-known Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate and the McCain campaign's attempts to portray their ticket as true agents of change in the election.

And he came in for fire over advertisements that independent fact-checkers say distort Obama's positions, including one that said Obama was referring to Palin when he used a colloquial expression about putting "lipstick on a pig," and another claiming Obama wants sex education for children.

"They're lies," host Joy Behar said.

McCain defended them as accurate. "Sen. Obama chooses his words very carefully. He shouldn't have said it," McCain said of the lipstick comment. Obama says he was referring to the economic policies of McCain and Palin.

Host Barbara Walters interrupted McCain several times to pin down what in Washington the 44-year-old self-described "hockey mom" and conservative first-term governor of Alaska would reform.

"The Republican Party. The Democratic Party. She's going to reform all of Washington," McCain said.

"What specifically?" Walters pressed, noting that McCain's own party occupies the White House and has been in power in Congress for much of the past eight years.

McCain won applause when speaking about his belief in God and the separation of church and state enshrined in the U.S. Constitution. Host Whoopi Goldberg, an Oscar-winning actress, asked if religion would guide him as president.

"Everyone, obviously, is entitled to their own faith," McCain said.

McCain has aggressively courted undecided and independent women voters, holding a round-table with women in the largely Democratic city of Philadelphia on Wednesday and appearing on two TV shows popular with women on Friday

After going on "The View," he taped the "Rachael Ray Show," a popular daytime talk show, lifestyle and cooking program, where he fielded questions in a studio kitchen and grilled ribs while dressed in an apron that read "kiss the candidate." The show will air September 22.

The appearances are aimed in part at attracting disaffected supporters of Democratic New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, who lost a bruising primary to Obama.

A Washington Post/ABC News survey published on Tuesday found much of McCain's improvement in the polls since the Republican National Convention ended September 4 was due to a big shift in support among white women voters.