Dole, Like Bush, McCain, stakes middle ground on abortion

By Jill Zuckman, Globe Staff, April 10, 1999

After weeks of contemplating and refining her position on abortion, Elizabeth Dole yesterday said Republicans must recognize "that good and honorable people disagree" about the issue and that the battle to repeal the constitutional right to abortion is all but a lost cause.

Dole's comments continue a trend by some leading Republican candidates for president to downplay the role of the abortion issue -- long one of the most powerful and divisive in American politics -- in the national 2000 campaign.

Texas Governor George W. Bush, Arizona Senator John McCain, and now Dole have all pledged to stick by their antiabortion principles while recognizing that an inflexible stance is unlikely to help to win back the White House.

The Republican presidential field has essentially split into two camps now, with one side calling for tolerance toward people who support the right to an abortion and the other side calling the abolition of abortion a moral imperative.

In a letter to a supporter in Phoenix, Dole described herself as "prolife, with exceptions in cases of rape or incest, or to save the life of the mother." The one-page thank-you note to Sandy Cowen-Miller, released by the Dole campaign yesterday afternoon, is the most extensive discussion of Dole's views on abortion since she formed her presidential exploratory committee one month ago.

In it, she said she would support the idea of a constitutional amendment to ban abortions -- if it were possible. "But of course, it's not," Dole wrote. "It's not going to happen because the American people do not support it."

Continued discussion and questions about an amendment are "irrelevant and highly divisive." Dole said Republican women can set the example, refusing "to be drawn into dead-end debates."

Dole said that instead, she can concentrate on stopping late-term, or "partial-birth," abortions, enacting parental notification requirements, continuing the ban on government funding of abortion, and doing all possible to place unwanted babies with adoptive parents.

Dole received criticism from both the sides of the issue yesterday.

"That position means she is willing to accept the status quo and cannot be counted on to do anything" new, said Phyllis Schlafly, president of the Eagle Forum.

Kate Michelman, the president of the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League, said Dole, like Bush and McCain, is trying to have it both ways.

"She has declared herself in opposition to a woman's right to choose," said Michelman, whose group has aired television commercials in Iowa, New Hampshire, and California reminding voters that Dole and Bush oppose abortion. "At the same time, she is trying to reassure the majority of Americans . . . that she won't pursue an antichoice amendment if she were in the White House. That won't work."

Ari Fleischer, a spokesman for Dole, said the former American Red Cross director issued the letter because she wanted to address the subject in a thoughtful manner, rather than in a television sound bite.

"The heart of this is that Elizabeth Dole intends to run a campaign that's an inclusive campaign that brings people together," he said.

As Dole, Bush, and McCain have tried to soft-pedal their opposition to abortion, four other GOP hopefuls -- publisher Steve Forbes, former TV commentator Patrick Buchanan, Gary Bauer, and New Hampshire Senator Bob Smith -- have put opposition to abortion at the center of their campaigns.

That split was evident yesterday as a spokesman for Steve Forbes, who has embraced the antiabortion community, blasted Dole and Bush.

"It sounds to me like she and Governor Bush are kind of taking the same position and it basically is to suggest 'We're prolife, but there's not much we can do about this issue so let's put it by the wayside,' " said Greg Mueller. "I don't think that sells to the prolife community. They want a candidate who has a clear agenda to get us to the human life amendment."

James M. Farrell, a communication professor at the University of New Hampshire, said it is not difficult to see what Dole, Bush, and McCain are doing.

"They're trying to find the position that offends the fewest number of people," Farrell said.

That may play well in the Granite State, which holds the first presidential primary in the nation and plays a decisive role in selecting the nominees. New Hampshire has traditionally taken a libertarian stance when it comes to abortion, preferring to leave the subject alone. The Legislature tilts to the abortion rights side of the debate, and the governor, Democrat Jeanne Shaheen, favors the right to an abortion.

Studies have shown that an antiabortion stance by the Republican nominee in 1992 and 1996 hurt the candidate more than it helped among general election voters. The result in 2000 may be a more pragmatic acknowledgment that the topic is unhealthy for the politically ambitious.