THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, May 5, 1996 TAG: 9605050080
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: THE NEW YORK TIMES
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium: 98 lines
Ralph Reed, the executive director of the Chesapeake-based Christian Coalition, tried to dispel any impression Saturday that he was out of step with other leaders of the anti-abortion movement, angrily dismissing as ``totally inaccurate'' a news article in The New York Times saying he would accept changes in the party's platform.
In a statement, the Christian Coalition said Saturday that the article in The Times on Saturday ``inaccurately states'' that Reed ``would be willing to accept rape and incest exceptions as a possible change in the wording of the pro-life plank of the Republican Party's platform.''
In an interview on Friday for the article, Reed said that he would accept changes in the party platform, without specifying what those changes might be.
Reed also said in the interview that he would accept a compromise on a law banning abortions - not the platform. Later, he objected to the article's characterization of the circumstances under which he would do so.
The Times article did not clearly draw a distinction between language in the party platform, language in possible anti-abortion legislation, and language in a proposed constitutional amendment outlawing abortion.
Reed said Saturday that the Christian Coalition favored an exception to an abortion ban only if the mother's life was endangered. In the interview on Friday, Reed had said he would ``reluctantly'' accept exceptions in cases of rape and incest if that were the only way to get an anti-abortion law passed.
In one edition on Saturday, The Times incorrectly reported that Reed said that he would reluctantly support those exceptions in a constitutional amendment that banned abortion.
Reed called The Times after its early editions to say he had referred only to laws, not to a constitutional amendment.
Although he acknowledged that he was repeatedly asked about exceptions to an amendment, he said his answers applied only to legislation. He said it was ``too hypothetical'' to discuss what an amendment might say. In later editions, the article was revised to reflect Reed's statements about legislation.
The Christian Coalition has 1.7 million members, and Reed is widely seen as one of the most influential leaders on the Christian right. His approval is assiduously courted by candidates.
In excerpts from his new book that Newsweek magazine announced it would publish this week, Reed lays out what he calls ``my effort at a pro-life plank,'' which includes changes that other anti-abortion leaders harshly condemned Friday as unacceptable.
Further, according to the magazine, Reed calls for a new, more compassionate approach to major issues of social conservatives. ``Religious conservatives must shun harsh language on critical issues - chiefly abortion, Clinton-bashing and homosexuality - and learn to speak of our opponents with charity,'' he writes in the book, ``Active Faith.''
And he implores conservatives to be more patient about one of their most cherished goals, a constitutional amendment banning abortion. ``As a purely tactical matter, it is true that amending the Constitution may be the most remote weapon at our disposal at this time,'' he writes.
In a telephone interview Saturday, Reed emphasized that he did not intend to offer his new language for the platform at the convention in San Diego.
In his statement Saturday, Reed said, ``I am unalterably opposed to any change in the language of the Republican Party platform that would signal a retreat from its defense of innocent human life. Any suggestion to the contrary by The New York Times is totally inaccurate. The Christian Coalition opposes abortion in every case except when the mother's life is in danger. We will oppose with every fiber in our being any effort to include a rape and incest exception in the pro-life plank or to drop a call for constitutional and legal remedies such as an amendment to the Constitution.
``We do not object to minor changes in language that do not affect these principles, such as the insertion of a statement condemning President Clinton's veto of the partial-birth abortion ban. But any attempt in San Diego to weaken or water down the GOP platform's unequivocal stance on behalf of legal and constitutional protection for all innocent human life - including children conceived in cases of rape and incest - will be met with our fierce opposition.''
Reed, in an interview with the Reuters news agency Saturday, said he would accept a ``nonsubstantive minor language change'' such as the addition of a sentence condemning President Clinton's veto of legislation banning partial birth abortions.
But according to Newsweek, Reed is willing to rewrite the current plank. Reed writes that he will support the existing plank, but says that ``pro-lifers could draft language that would be as morally compelling.'' ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
ABOUT THE INTERVIEW
In an interview on Friday for the article, Reed said that he
would accept changes in the Republican Party platform, without
specifying what those changes might be.
He also said in the interview that he would accept a compromise
on a law banning abortions - not on the platform.
Later, he objected to the article's characterization of the
circumstances under which he would do so.
by CNB