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GREENVILLE, S.C. -- At a pro-life forum here Wednesday night, four of the Republican presidential candidates -- and even the event moderators -- ganged up on the one who wasn't taking part: Mitt Romney.

First up was Rick Perry, who called Romney's changed position on abortion rights "a choice of convenience."

"This was a decision that Governor Romney made for political convenience, not as an issue of his heart," the Texas governor said, noting that he has a difficult time understanding how a middle-aged person could change his or her views.

Perry, though, conceded that he modified his own opinion on whether abortion should be permissible in cases of rape or incest after having a conversation with a woman "who was a product of rape."

With just three days until South Carolina voters weigh in on his lagging candidacy, Perry's attack on Romney was sharp. But he didn't shoot fire without being provoked. When a forum moderator asked him to differentiate between his and Romney's record on abortion, Perry replied, "You don't have enough time in here." He then attacked the former Massachusetts governor for claiming to be pro-life after having run for the Senate and governor as a supporter of abortion rights. (Romney has said he changed his opinion after an embryonic stem cell bill hit his desk as governor.)

Perry and fellow candidates Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum and Ron Paul (who appeared via satellite from Washington, where he had returned for a day to vote on the debt ceiling) spoke at the gathering sponsored by Personhood USA, which seeks to amend the Constitution to say that life begins at conception. Romney declined his invitation, and the hosts were not shy about expressing their disappointment.

A day ahead of the event, Personhood USA President Keith Mason posted a statement on the group’s website encouraging Romney to attend "so that he can demonstrate that he will be a President with the strength and conviction to end abortion in the United States. South Carolinians and pro-life voters nationwide deserve to know exactly where he stands on the right to life before we cast our votes.”

On Wednesday night, the moderators would not let a round of questioning end without asking the candidates a question about Romney, whom they noted is the only GOP candidate still in the race who did not sign their personhood amendment pledge.

Gingrich cited Romney's record as governor as evidence he isn't "likely to change Washington" when it comes to abortion rights. The former House speaker said Romney "wrote Planned Parenthood into RomneyCare with no right-to-life group; his administration approved paying for an abortion clinic for Planned Parenthood with state funds; and he appointed pro-abortion and pro-gay-marriage judges to the court.” When asked, Paul said he opposed these kinds of appointments.

The candidates asserted that Planned Parenthood should be defunded and that life begins at conception. And they discussed their personal epiphanies that solidified their pro-life convictions. Paul, an OB-GYN physician, recalled how the invention and use of ultrasound imaging was a decisive moment for him, because the technology enabled his patients to actually see the fetus. Gingrich's came when a constituent approached him and told him a fetus was nothing more than a "malignant tumor." At that moment, he said, he realized "the gap between those who think this is not life and those who understand the preciousness of life is so wide."

David Shirley, a Greenville resident who attended the forum, said Gingrich's pro-life stance is a defining factor in his decision to support him on Saturday. "A person's stance on life determines his stance on other issues, and he's been pro-life to begin with," Shirley said.

Justin Corker disagreed. "Gingrich touted that he is so pro-life, but then I heard him on TV saying he wants to kill our enemies," said Corker, a Greenville registered nurse who supports Ron Paul.

Asked about Romney's views on abortion, Gingrich supporter Andrew Jenkins said, "His absence [tonight] speaks for itself."