(CNSNews.com) - Hours after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a national ban on partial-birth abortion as constitutional, candidates who are already campaigning to win the White House in 2008 reacted to the decision along party lines on Wednesday.

"The Supreme Court reached the correct conclusion in upholding the congressional ban on partial-birth abortion," said former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. "I agree with it," the GOP candidate added.

During his 2000 campaign for the U.S. Senate, Giuliani said he would not vote to restrict a woman's right to a partial-birth abortion. Last Friday, he told supporters in Des Moines, Iowa, that Republicans need to "get beyond" pro-life issues and pick a candidate who can win in 2008.

"Today's Supreme Court ruling is a victory for those who cherish the sanctity of life and integrity of the judiciary," said Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who opposes abortion except in cases of rape, incest and danger to the mother's health. "The ruling ensures that an unacceptable and unjustifiable practice will not be carried out on our innocent children.

"It also clearly speaks to the importance of nominating and confirming strict constructionist judges who interpret the law as it is written and do not usurp the authority of Congress and state legislatures," McCain said. "As we move forward, it is critically important that our party continues to stand on the side of life."

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, a Republican, also praised the ruling, in which "our nation's highest court reaffirmed the value of life in America by upholding a ban on a practice that offends basic human decency."

"This decision represents a step forward in protecting the weakest and most innocent among us," he said. Romney said he holds pro-life views, though critics note that his record while serving as governor was distinctly "pro-choice."

Another GOP former governor, Tommy Thompson of Wisconsin, said Wednesday's ruling "sends a clear message that the United States values life and has no tolerance for this gruesome, abhorrent way to take a life."

"There is no place for partial-birth abortions in this country, and I am pleased the court upheld the law passed by Congress," he added.

Thompson's campaign website describes him as a "reliable conservative," saying he signed a ban on partial-birth abortion and that during his term as governor, abortions in Wisconsin decreased by 37 percent and adoptions increased by 22 percent.

Sen. Sam Brownback, another pro-lifer running for the GOP 2008 nomination, called the decision is "a great step forward for our nation's citizens, born and unborn."

"This ban was enacted to put an end to one of the most grotesque forms of abortion, and it is completely in line with the respect for life that is at the very heart of our Constitution," the Kansas Republican added.

And pro-life five-term Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.) condemned partial-birth abortion as a "barbaric practice of infanticide," adding that he hopes the decision is the first step toward a broader ban of all procedures allowed under the landmark Roe v. Wade Supreme Court ruling, which he called a "moral and intellectual travesty."

'Ill-Considered'

The 1973 ruling was also on the mind of Sen. Hillary Clinton, who is generally acknowledged as the frontrunner for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination.

"As the Supreme Court recognized in Roe v. Wade in 1973, this issue [of abortion] is complex and highly personal; the rights and lives of women must be taken into account," the junior senator from New York said.

For Clinton, Wednesday's decision "marks a dramatic departure from four decades of Supreme Court rulings that upheld a woman's right to choose and recognized the importance of women's health."

In addition, the ruling "blatantly defies the court's recent decision in 2000, striking down a state partial-birth abortion law because of its failure to provide an exception for the health of the mother," she said.

"It is precisely this erosion of our constitutional rights that I warned against when I opposed the nominations of Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito," two of the justices who voted to uphold the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003.

Sen. Barack Obama agreed that the ruling "dramatically departs from previous precedents safeguarding the health of pregnant women," and for that reason, he said, he "strongly disagree[s]" with it.

"As Justice [Ruth] Ginsburg emphasized in her dissenting opinion, this ruling signals an alarming willingness on the part of the conservative majority to disregard its prior rulings respecting a woman's medical concerns and the very personal decisions between a doctor and patient," the Illinois Democrat continued.

Also disagreeing was former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, who said that "the ban upheld by the court is an ill-considered and sweeping prohibition that does not even take account for serious threats to the health of individual women."

"This hard right turn is a stark reminder of why Democrats cannot afford to lose the 2008 election," he noted. "Too much is at stake, starting with - as the court made all too clear today - a woman's right to choose."

Another Democratic 2008 hopeful and former U.S. senator, Mike Gravel of Alaska, declared himself "disappointed in today's ruling or any ruling that places restrictions on reproductive freedom."

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