Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, September 10, 1995 TAG: 9509110116
SECTION: NATL/INTL PAGE: A1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: JOHN KING ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
\ Stirring the GOP's abortion debate anew, Pat Buchanan reminded religious conservatives Saturday that presidential rivals Bob Dole and Phil Gramm voted for two Clinton administration Supreme Court nominees who support abortion rights.
``When the time came to stand up for life - they stood instead with Bill Clinton,'' Buchanan told the Christian Coalition's weekend conference. ``So when they come to tell you how dedicated they are to the cause of life, answer them with the words of the Book: `Not by honeyed words, but by their fruits shall ye know them.'''
For Buchanan, it was the latest salvo in his bid to win the loyalty of Christian conservatives, the base of his support and a major GOP primary constituency. His attack came a day after Gramm and Dole appeared before the same gathering and voiced their strong opposition to abortion.
Buchanan, however, said their commitment to the anti-abortion cause was questionable given votes to confirm Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Steven Breyer to the Supreme Court.
``Not only did Bob Dole and Phil Gramm not oppose these justices, they both voted to put them on the Supreme Court - locking in Roe vs. Wade for another decade,'' Buchanan said in his prepared remarks. He said he opposed both nominations.
The abortion debate has been a prominent subject throughout the Christian Coalition meeting. Immediately after President Clinton's 1992 victory, there was considerable pressure within the Republican ranks to drop the anti-abortion platform plank, or to modify it to include an olive branch to those who support abortion rights.
At the time, even several prominent social conservatives said they were open to changes, among them Christian Coalition executive director Ralph Reed and longtime anti-abortion activist Phyllis Schlafly.
But they have been emboldened by the Republican gains in the 1994 elections, and are now determined to maintain the existing platform.
Christian Coalition founder Pat Robertson, the religious broadcaster, said in a speech Friday night that abortions in the United States have claimed ``seven times more innocent people than Adolf Hitler slaughtered during the horrors of the Holocaust.''
He told 4,000 religious conservative activists to do ``whatever it takes'' to get abortion outlawed. ``That is our duty.''
The Republican National Coalition for Life, an organization headed by Schlafly, has distributed pledges to each of the GOP presidential candidates that put them on record supporting the existing Republican Party platform plank, which calls for a constitutional amendment outlawing abortion.
Buchanan was first to sign, followed by Gramm, California Rep. Bob Dornan, Indiana Sen. Dick Lugar and Alan Keyes, a radio talk-show host and former Reagan administration State Department official.
In his remarks Friday, Gramm chided Dole for not signing the pledge, and a few dozen Gramm supporters in the audience interrupted Dole during his remarks with chants of ``Sign the Pledge.''
Dole told the audience to check his record, which he said was solidly anti-abortion. Aides said Dole was considering signing the pledge, and ultimately might do so, but was not going to appear to be bowing to Gramm's pressure.
``He has had a pro-life record and I am hopeful that he will sign it,' Schlafly said of Dole, predicting he would suffer among social conservative voters if he does not.
Lugar, speaking to the group Saturday, expressed his opposition to abortion except in cases of rape, incest and where the mother's life is in danger.
Keywords:
POLITICS
Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.