Republican Representative Paul Ryan officially jumped into the race for speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday after nailing down crucial endorsements from conservative and moderate factions.

Ryan earlier this week said he was open to replacing retiring House Speaker John Boehner, but only if he could win the unified backing of his divided party colleagues in the House. By Thursday afternoon he had gathered enough support to make him an overwhelming favorite in the contest.

"I believe we are ready to move forward as a one, united team. And I am ready and eager to be our speaker," Ryan wrote on Thursday evening in a letter to fellow Republican lawmakers that was released by his office.

Republicans are scheduled to nominate a new speaker on Oct. 28, with a vote by the full House on Oct. 29. They hope to thus end what has been a crippling internal power struggle and return to pressing legislative business, such as a looming deadline to raise the U.S. debt limit.

In 2010, Ryan described himself as being "as pro-life as a person gets"[175] and has been described as an "ardent, unwavering foe of abortion rights".[176] As of 2012 according to Bloomberg, Ryan has co-sponsored 38 measures in the U.S. Congress that restrict abortion.[177] The National Right to Life Committee has consistently given Ryan a "100 percent pro-life voting record" since he took office in 1999. NARAL Pro-Choice America has noted that Ryan has "cast 59 votes" (including procedural motions and amendments which don't have co-sponsors[177]) "on reproductive rights while in Congress and not one has been pro-choice".[178] He believes all abortions should be illegal, including those resulting from rape or incest, and only makes an exception for cases where the woman's life is at risk.[179][180]

During Ryan's 1998 campaign for Congress, he "expressed his willingness to let states criminally prosecute women who have abortions," telling the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel at the time that he "would let states decide what criminal penalties would be attached to abortions", and while not stating that he supports jailing women who have an abortion, stated: "if it's illegal, it's illegal."[179] In 2009, he cosponsored the Sanctity of Life Act, which would provide that fertilized eggs "shall have all the legal and constitutional attributes and privileges of personhood" and would have given "the Congress, each State, the District of Columbia, and all United States territories … the authority to protect the lives of all human beings residing in its respective jurisdictions".[181][182][183]

Ryan has also supported legislation that would impose criminal penalties for certain doctors who perform "partial-birth abortions".[176] Ryan voted against continued federal aid for Planned Parenthood and Title X family planning programs.[176][184] He also opposed giving over-the-counter status for emergency contraceptive pills.[96][185] Ryan was one of 227 co-sponsors of the 2011 No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act bill in the House of Representatives that would have limited funding for federally funded abortions to victims of "forcible rape". "Forcible rape" was not defined in the bill, which critics said would result in excluding date rape, statutory rape, or other situations where the victim had diminished mental capacity. The language was removed from the bill before the House passed the bill, the Senate did not vote on the bill.[186]

Ryan opposes same-sex marriage, had previously supported a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, opposed the repeal of the don't ask, don't tell policy, voted against same-sex couples adopting children in Washington D.C., and voted against a bill that would expand federal hate crime laws to cover offenses based on a victim's sexual orientation .[176][180][187] Unlike most of his fellow Republicans, Ryan voted in favor of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act in 2007, which would've prohibited employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.[176] The Human Rights Campaign, a LGBT rights organization, has frequently given Ryan a 0/100 rating on its legislative scorecard.[188] During Paul Ryan's 2012 vice presidential bid, he was endorsed by two gay conservative organizations, GOProud[189] and the Log Cabin Republicans.[190] On April 30, 2013, Ryan came out in favor of same-sex couples adopting children. He also said he had always supported civil unions. He also said that if the US Supreme Court declares the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional, then he believes it will become a federalist issue for states to decide same-sex marriage.[191][192]