
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, April 13, 1990                   TAG: 9004130104
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A5   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

ABORTION RIGHTS FIGHT HEATS UP

The National Organization for Women is stepping up its fund-raising efforts for campaigns over ballot initiatives in Oregon and Nevada, states NOW officials on Thursday called the newest battlegrounds over abortion.

"We do not intend to lose Oregon," said NOW President Molly Yard, promising a strong fight against two proposed ballot questions that would limit abortion in the state.

"What they are deciding is going to affect every woman in this country," she said. "It is not a state issue. It is a national issue."

She said the group is holding rallies in Oregon to fight the proposed initiatives and in Nevada to support an abortion rights referendum there.

The abortion debate has focused on the states since a Supreme Court ruling in a Missouri case last year gave state legislators greater power to regulate abortion. Since then, both sides have fought over moves by state lawmakers and ballot questions to change local laws.

This week, New Hampshire Gov. Judd Gregg, a Republican, vetoed a bill he said would have been the most liberal abortion law in the country.

Anti-abortion groups in Oregon are gathering signatures to place two questions on the ballot this fall that would put new limits on abortion.

"They believe if they can win in one of the most progressive states in the nation, they will have an impact across the country," said Sheri O'Dell, a NOW vice president.

Yard said that abortion rights groups hope to head off possible action by Nevada's legislature, which does not meet this year but is considered strongly anti-abortion. "The plan is to pass a law through initiative this year so the legislature can't touch the question," she said.

Yard told a press conference that NOW will use rallies in both states to step up its efforts to raise money and recruit new abortion rights advocates.

"We know we are up against a very well-financed right wing in this country," she said. "They pass the collection plate at evangelical churches. They pass the collection plate at Roman Catholic churches. It is a very quick source of money."

by CNB