THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, May 30, 1996 TAG: 9605300376
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: THE WASHINGTON POST
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: 56 lines
Wisconsin Gov. Tommy G. Thompson, an influential voice among Republican state officials, said Wednesday that the GOP platform plank on abortion should be ``modified'' to make supporters of abortion rights more comfortable with the party's anti-abortion stand.
The chairman of the National Governors Association and one of several governors reportedly under consideration as a possible running mate for Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, Thompson told reporters that anti-abortion Republicans like himself need to be flexible on platform language to reduce the prospects of a divisive fight at the national convention in San Diego this August.
``The Republican Party is pro-life,'' he said, ``but we have to make some kind of statement that is broad enough to make all our governors who are pro-choice and others who agree with them feel comfortable'' with the party position.
But Ralph Reed, executive director of the Christian Coalition, based in Chesapeake, said Wednesday he opposed such language as part of the abortion plank, saying it ``unfairly singles out'' abortion opponents as out of step or in the minority.
Reed, speaking at the Heritage Foundation, confidently predicted the party would emerge from San Diego with the anti-abortion plank intact, even if abortion rights supporters muster enough votes to force a floor fight on the issue. ``I am absolutely confident they will be soundly defeated,'' he said.
The present plank commits Republicans to support an anti-abortion amendment to the Constitution. Dole and his choice for the chairmanship of the platform committee, Rep. Henry J. Hyde, R-Ill., have given no indication that they support a change in that language.
Reed claimed Wednesday that Dole has explicitly told another person he favors no change in the language. Without addressing that assertion, Dole campaign spokeswoman Christina Martin said, ``The senator maintains his expectation that the platform will maintain a pro-life plank.''
Anti-abortion forces, led by Dole's opponent for the nomination, Patrick J. Buchanan, have vowed to fight any retreat from the position that has been adopted in every Republican convention since 1980.
But a number of governors who support abortion rights, including Pete Wilson of California, Christine Todd Whitman of New Jersey, George E. Pataki of New York and William F. Weld of Massachusetts, have called for more flexibility in the platform - with several urging that the plank be jettisoned.
Reed said he would not oppose general language in the platform's preamble to note, as the party did in 1992, that Republicans disagree on many issues. But he said singling out the abortion plank was unacceptable, noting there were similarly sharp disagreements on issues such as term limits and trade. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Ralph Reed
KEYWORDS: REPUBLICAN PARTY ABORTION by CNB