DATE: Tuesday, September 16, 1997           TAG: 9709160249

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B2   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 

DATELINE: ARLINGTON                         LENGTH:   29 lines

NATIONAL ABORTION GROUP GIVES BEYER ITS BLESSING IN GUBERNATORIAL CAMPAIGN

A national abortion rights group backed Donald S. Beyer Jr. in the Virginia governor's race Monday, despite Beyer's support for a law requiring doctors to tell parents when their underage daughters seek abortion.

The National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League, or NARAL, opposed the state law, which took effect in July.

Beyer supported a less restrictive version of the parental notification law but said Monday he would not try to overturn it if elected.

``That is the law that was passed and I will defend it,'' Beyer said after accepting the endorsement.

NARAL and other opponents of the Virginia law say they fear girls who are afraid to tell their parents will take desperate measures.

``We don't believe this is the best way,'' NARAL president Kate Michelman said. ``We just have a slightly different view'' than Beyer, but are confident he would support abortion rights in office.

His Republican opponent, James S. Gilmore III, has said that after a fetus begins to show signs of life, between the eighth and 12th week of development, abortion should be prohibited except to save the mother's life. KEYWORDS: ABORTION ENDORSEMENT GUBERNATORIAL RACE

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