THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, May 12, 1996 TAG: 9605100029
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J5 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Opinion
SOURCE: MARGARET EDDS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium: 83 lines
Attorney General Jim Gilmore didn't flinch recently in laying out his position on abortion. Human life should be protected from its earliest stages, said next year's presumptive Republican nominee for governor.
To him, that means most abortions should be banned after the first 10 or so weeks of pregnancy, Gilmore added. Turned on its ear, what Gilmore was saying is this: Most first-trimester abortions should be allowed.
That view, akin to the position taken by Gov. George F. Allen when he ran three years ago, is a far leap from the stance of another Republican candidate for governor four years earlier.
In 1989, J. Marshall Coleman opposed all abortions even in cases of rape and incest, except to save the life of the mother. The position helped him win the GOP nomination for governor. It also helped him lose the general election.
In eight years, the Virginia GOP - among the most conservative state-party organizations in the country - has evolved from requiring lock-step opposition to all abortions to allowing flexibility in its standard bearers.
Now the national party is wrestling with whether to amend the GOP's national platform to reflect the same diversity of thinking. As an emotional lynchpin, abortion is perhaps unparalleled in the pantheon of GOP concerns. Just as there is no such thing as being ``a little pregnant,'' so for those who view abortion as evil, there is no such thing as ``a little murder.'' Killing is killing. It is a difficult position to compromise.
But, as many in the state Republican Party have come to recognize, that hardline view of abortion is far from universally accepted. Polls suggest that a majority of Americans are uncomfortable with abortion, wish it were used less, but do not want to tamper with the right of individual women to follow their consciences.
California Gov. Pete Wilson, New Jersey Gov. Christie Todd Whitman, and Gov. George Pataki of New York will be carrying that message to the GOP national convention in August. The Virginia Federation of Republican Women recently voted to take their side.
Privately, many activists in winning Republican campaigns would like to see them prevail. They also would like to avoid calling the public's attention to the party's stance.
``It's disheartening to go to a convention and have all that. I don't like to walk by those jars of things any more than anyone else does,'' sighed a prominent supporter of conservative officeholders.
The opposing view is articulated by Anne Kincaid, former constituent-affairs director for Allen and mother of the anti-abortion movement in Virginia. Kincaid herself has become more willing to view the abortion credentials of GOP candidates with latitude, but the platform should stay intact, she says.
``It is not a mandate. It is not a dictate. It is a standard,'' she said.
Ralph Reed, director of the Christian Coalition, weighed in on the issue in recent news stories and in an excerpt appearing in Newsweek from a book he has written. His argument has been interpreted in different ways by different readers.
The view here is that Reed is calling for more inclusive language without backing away from opposition to abortion. For instance, the current GOP platform specifies support for a human-life amendment to the Constitution. Reed, who doubts that such an amendment can be adopted, proposes a pledge to ``seek by all legal and constitutional means'' to protect the unborn, the elderly and others.
The current platform begins: ``We believe the unborn child has a fundamental right to life which cannot be infringed.''
Reed suggests: ``We are a party that respects the sanctity of innocent human life as the basis of all civil rights.''
Reed's comments are part of a remarkable article in which he urges Christian conservatives to soften their language and tactics. ``We will be judged by history and by our God not according to the political victories we achieve, but by whether our words and our deeds reflect His love,'' Reed writes.
Many liberals will view Reed's words with skepticism; many conservatives will see them as proof that Reed has sold out in pursuit of power. A better reading would be to forget motivation and acknowledge that Reed is correct. The tone he sets could be a start toward avoiding a platform debacle in San Diego. MEMO: Ms. Edds is an editorial writer for The Virginian-Pilot. by CNB