Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, July 28, 1990 TAG: 9007280194
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: From Newsday and the Los Angeles Times
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The American Life Lobby, based in Stafford, Va., which favors an absolute ban on abortions, said it sent out 1 million letters to supporters nationwide urging them to withhold their backing until more is known about Souter's views.
Judie Brown, the group's president, said the nomination "raises serious questions for pro-lifers." The organization is in frequent disagreement with other anti-abortion advocates because of its more hard-line views.
A coalition of abortion rights groups, meanwhile, said they were wary enough of Souter to launch an advertising campaign aimed at persuading senators to draw out his views on abortion.
Linda Heller Kamm, an official with the Women's Legal Defense Fund, one of the groups helping pay for the ad, said the abortion rights organizations were preparing the message because of fear that the White House is trying to persuade senators to confirm Souter without questioning his views on abortion.
President Bush said Friday he believed that there was "broad support" in the Senate for Souter's nomination, predicting the little-known New Hampshire judge would sail through the confirmation process "with flying colors."
The president, who gave Souter a lift to New Hampshire aboard Air Force One, said reaction to the nomination had been "very favorable so far."
Bush denied that Souter had demanded, as a precondition to his pre-nomination interviews by administration officials, that he not be asked specific questions about the 1973 Supreme Court decision that opened the way to legalized abortions.
Reasons Brown cited for her group's alarm included a letter the judge wrote in 1981 to the New Hampshire Legislature involving a pending parental consent law. The law would have given minors the option of getting approval for an abortion from a judge if they feared asking their parents for consent.
Souter, while not taking a position on abortion, told lawmakers that judges should not be involved in deciding whether minors can end their pregnancies. His letter was considered influential in blocking passage of the legislation, which was favored by anti-abortion advocates.
Brown also expressed concern about an opinion Souter joined while on the New Hampshire Supreme Court, allowing a malpractice suit brought by a woman whose child was born with serious birth defects to go to trial. The woman contended her doctor should have counseled her about abortion. The group also expressed concern about Souter's role as a trustee at two New Hampshire hospitals where abortions were performed.
"If we discover during the hearings that Judge Souter is pro-abortion, we expect President Bush to immediately rescind his nomination and find a pro-life replacement," said Brown.
Brown asked supporters to write to Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, a longtime opponent of abortion and a member of the Judiciary Committee, and ask him to question Souter specifically about the issue. However, Grassley said through a spokeswoman, Caran McKee, Thursday that he will not ask Souter about his views on abortion. McKee said Grassley "wouldn't expect an answer" from Souter so there was no point in questioning him about it.
Asked by reporters in Washington Thursday whether there was any way he could be persuaded to make a statement on the subject of abortion, Souter answered: "No," then added with a smile: "I like that word."
by CNB