WASHINGTON (EWTN News)—A new campaign ad for the Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul highlights his commitment to defend the lives of the unborn.

“This whole notion of life not being valuable just is something I was never able to accept,” Rep. Paul, R-Texas, says in the ad, which was released Oct. 12.

The TV spot hails Paul as “a man of faith, committed to protecting life.” It recalls his years as an OB-GYN, applauding the fact that he has personally delivered “more than 4,000 babies.”

Paul has pledged to end taxpayer funding of abortion and to select only pro-life appointees to important Cabinet and executive-branch positions.

However, he has faced criticism for his proposal to return the issue of abortion to the states rather than fighting it on a federal level.

Paul has opposed overturning Roe v. Wade in the Supreme Court and has instead supported removing abortion legislation from the jurisdiction of the federal courts. Doing so would allow laws regarding abortion to be decided on a state-by-state basis.

Paul supports this view by saying that the Constitution intentionally leaves matters of criminal and civil law to the states.

In his latest ad, Paul recalls a story from his time as a physician, when he “happened to walk into an operating room where they were doing an abortion on a late pregnancy.”

“They lifted out a small baby that was able to cry and breathe, and they put it in a little bucket and put it in the corner of the room and pretended it wasn’t there,” he said.

“I walked down the hallway and a baby was born early, slightly bigger than the baby that they just put in a bucket, and they wanted to save this baby,” he recalled. “So they might have had 10 doctors in there, doing everything conceivable.”

“Who are we to decide that we pick and throw one away and pick up and struggle to save the other ones?” Paul asked.

“Unless we resolve this and understand that life is precious and we must protect life, we can’t protect liberty.”