DES MOINES, Iowa (CWNews.com) - Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush said on Thursday that the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion was unconstitutional, but would not elaborate on how he planned to address it.

    "Roe v. Wade was a reach -- overstepped the constitutional bounds as far as I'm concerned," the Texas governor said, adding that it "usurped the rights of the legislatures" of the states. When asked if that meant he would seek to overturn Roe v. Wade as president, Bush replied that he intended to appoint only "strict constructionists" to the Supreme Court. He would not elaborate further.

    Strict constructionist judges tend to adhere directly to the written US Constitution and its amendments, rather than interpret the constitution as a "living document," changing for the times. Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas consider themselves strict constructionists and are generally thought to be the most pro-life members of the high court.

    Bush has said consistently he opposed abortion except in cases of rape or incest or to protect the life of the mother, but has also said previously the time was not right to repeal Roe v. Wade because "America's heart is not right." He has also said that he opposes "litmus" tests for judges, possibly because such tests would disqualify justices during Senate hearings as biased against certain cases before they reached the court.