
DATE: Friday, October 31, 1997              TAG: 9710310673

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A6   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: DECISION '97
SOURCE: BY WARREN FISKE, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: RICHMOND                          LENGTH:  155 lines

ABORTION TRUTH LIES SOMEWHERE BETWEEN POLES OF REPUBLICAN, DEMOCRAT VIEWS

Listening to the Democrats, you might think a woman's basic right to have an abortion is at stake in this fall's elections.

``Who will protect a woman's right to choose?'' blares a television commercial by Democratic gubernatorial nominee Donald S. Beyer Jr. ``Jim Gilmore wants to make abortion illegal after the first eight weeks of pregnancy, even in the cases of rape and incest.''

And if you listen to Republicans, you might believe there's no reason to discuss abortion at all in statewide campaigns.

``My opponent's not being honest with you on the very personal matter of abortion,'' Gilmore, the Republican gubernatorial nominee, replies in a TV ad of his own. ``The Supreme Court has spoken. No one's going to ban abortions, and Don Beyer knows that.''

What's a voter to believe?

The truth on abortion is almost exactly in between the implications of the two polar ads. Gilmore is correct in saying U.S. Supreme Court decisions have left states powerless to ban abortions - although access may be limited when a fetus can viably survive outside the womb, usually somewhere between the 20th and 22nd weeks of pregnancy.

But state governments have been left with a number of constitutional ways to discourage early term abortions which Gilmore and his running mate for lieutenant governor, John H. Hager, have been reluctant to discuss.

Only in recent years has Virginia begun taking some of these steps. The General Assembly last winter passed legislation requiring physicians to notify parents before performing abortions on unmarried patients under 18. Gov. George F. Allen has banned the use of insurance funds to pay for abortions for state employees except in cases of rape, incest, gross fetal abnormality or when the mother's life would be endangered by continuing a pregnancy. Virginia restricts Medicaid-funded abortions to similar emergencies.

A list of regulations used by other states remains untapped in Virginia. The options include requiring:

Parental consent before abortions may be performed on minors, now law in 15 states.

Twenty-four-hour waiting periods before abortions may be performed after a consultation with a physician, now law in 11 states.

Pre-abortion counseling on adoption and child-support laws, now required in 20 states.

Although no figures are available, many states also have tried to limit the medical procedure by tightening health and building code regulations on abortion clinics, according to Susan Cohen, a senior public policy analyst at the Alan Guttmacher Institute, a liberal New York-based think tank on reproductive rights.

Gilmore makes it clear that state governments can't ban abortions and says his often-repeated statement that pregnancies should not be terminated after 8 to 12 weeks merely is his personal belief. He says he would uphold all existing state abortion laws and that enacting new restrictions ``would not be a priority'' of his administration.

But outside of favoring a parental consent law, Gilmore will not say what - if any - additional abortion restrictions he would support in Virginia.

``It is not a major issue in this campaign,'' Mark A. Miner, Gilmore's press secretary, said last week while declining to discuss abortion. ``The law is the law.''

Republican lieutenant governor candidate Hager - who would have the tie-breaking vote in a state Senate of 20 Democrats and 20 Republicans - also declined to respond in detail this week when asked about his positions on abortion issues under the state's control. Hager refused to answer questions that he said were hypothetical and not tied to specific legislation.

Republican attorney general candidate Mark L. Earley strongly opposes abortions and is hopeful that one day the procedure can be banned.

Gilmore appeared to stumble on the issue two weeks ago when he said he would strongly consider supporting a law requiring women to notify their husbands before having abortions. He quickly retracted his statement after learning that spousal notification laws have been ruled unconstitutional.

Beyer has since aired a commercial accusing Gilmore of ``treating women like second-class citizens.'' Page Boinest, press secretary for Beyer, said she doesn't believe Gilmore's spousal notification statement was a gaffe.

``He's trying to have it both ways,'' she said. ``He appears to be signaling to his right-wing supporters that he has a strong position on abortion and, on the other hand, he's telling the rest of us not to worry about it.''

But Gilmore's known sentiments may have a wide base of support. A Washington Post poll of Virginia voters last week found that three out of four respondents support parental consent laws. The same poll also found that Virginians support a spousal notification law, 49 percent to 44 percent.

Despite those figures, many Republican strategists say Democrats have made it all but impossible to honestly debate abortions during campaigns. ``They're always using scare tactics to make people think that all abortions will be outlawed when, in fact, there's very little state government can do,'' said Michael Salster, a spokesman for Hager, the Republican candidate for lieutenant governor.

All three members of the Republican statewide ticket are being criticized for opposing ``a woman's right to choose'' on TV spots put out by Democratic opponents. Democrats say it's fair game, noting that Hager and Earley, the GOP candidate for attorney general, support amending the U.S. Constitution to outlaw all abortions.

Many Republicans argue that there is no threat to abortion rights on the horizon. Congress seems in no mood to propose a constitutional amendment, which would have to be approved by 38 state legislatures to have the effect of law. And the Supreme Court, they add, appears to be solid in its 5-to-4 majority affirming abortion rights - at least as long as Democrats control the White House and appointments to the high court.

Although Democrats have made abortion rights a central debate in state campaigns for the past eight years, it appears that the issue may have lost some of its emotional sway with voters.

In 1989, Democrat L. Douglas Wilder attributed his razor-thin victory in the governor's race to his insistence that abortion should be a matter of individual choice, not government policy. Two factors worked strongly in Wilder's favor: The U.S. Supreme Court issued an opinion that summer that suggested states might deserve wider latitude in curbing abortions; and Republican gubernatorial nominee J. Marshall Coleman first took a hardline stance against the procedure and then reversed himself.

Democrats have tried to duplicate Wilder's use of the issue ever since, but have found that circumstances have changed. The high court has reaffirmed abortion rights. And polls consistently show that most Virginians, while defending basic abortion rights, also support many of the restrictions states can impose.

Public opinion surveys this fall have not indicated that the abortion commercials have helped any of the statewide Democrats. To the contrary, a poll this week by Virginia Commonwealth University found that just 8.5 percent of voters cited abortion as the most important issue in the fall's election, and the majority of them support Gilmore.

Some influential Democrats are wondering whether the party's candidates should place emphasis on abortion in the future.

``One of the interesting things in this election,'' said Ken Geroe of Virginia Beach, a former state Democratic vice chairman, ``will be learning whether the abortion issue still excites people.'' ILLUSTRATION: Graphics

Color photos

WHERE THEY STAND

GOVERNOR

James S. Gilmore III: Will not state positions on some areas the

state has policymaking power over. Favors parental consent. Says he

personally opposes abortion after 8 to 12 weeks.

Donald S. Beyer Jr.: Supports. Also supports parental

notification for minors.

LT. GOVERNOR

John H. Hager: Opposes except in cases of rape, incest or if the

mother's life is in danger.

L.F. Payne: Supports with some restrictions regarding minors and