On abortion, many have flip-flopped

He is indisputably the most liberal Democrat running for president in 2008. He wants the U.S. out of Iraq -- and fast. He supports national health insurance. He’s against the death penalty.

And Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich is for abortion rights. At least, now he is. As recently as five years ago, the Ohio Democrat was so far from liberal orthodoxy on abortion policy that he earned a 90% rating from the nation’s leading anti-abortion advocacy group.

That journey underscores a rarely acknowledged fact about abortion, one of the most emotionally charged issues in American politics: Previous candidates for the nation’s highest offices have switched sides on this issue too. Among them have been such heavyweights as Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Al Gore and Dick Gephardt.

This year, Republicans are trying to come to grips with the 180-degree turn on abortion executed by Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor who has become a top-tier presidential contender and the favorite of many GOP conservatives.

Romney until just a few years ago firmly supported abortion rights; he reversed field in 2004 and now calls himself “pro-life.” That has spurred a pressing debate among conservative Republicans over whether they can trust him to be a true champion of the anti-abortion position.

As the history of abortion maneuvers shows, voters have come to accept some changes of heart as sincere and durable. Reagan, for example, eventually became a hero of anti-abortion activists even though, as California governor, he signed a law vastly expanding legal abortion.

But at other times, voters have viewed abortion converts -- whether they shifted to favor or oppose abortion rights -- as lacking commitment on a fundamental issue.

Gephardt abandoned a measure significantly restricting abortion, and that move endeared him to Democratic Party activists just before he ran for the 1988 presidential nomination. But the switch contributed to an unflattering view of him as a political opportunist without firm principles, which weakened him as a candidate.

A similar image dogged Gore’s 2000 presidential campaign, as he had also switched from a conservative to a liberal position on abortion and other issues.

That is a cautionary tale for Romney. His abortion conversion faces especially deep skepticism because it is one of many issues -- including gay rights and gun control -- where he seems to have been inconsistent.

“It’s part of such a glaring pattern of flip-flops on issues across the board,” said Gary Glenn, president of the conservative American Family Assn. of Michigan, in Romney’s home state.

“You need a scorecard to keep up with Mitt Romney’s daily machinations on where he is today versus where he was yesterday.”

Among Republicans, Romney is not alone in drawing suspicion from abortion foes. Former New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani is reviled by many activists for supporting abortion rights. And some conservatives worry that abortion is a low priority for Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), even though he recently reaffirmed his support for overturning Roe vs. Wade.

Still, no candidate has spent more time and energy addressing the issue than Romney. While he was a Senate candidate running against Democrat Edward M. Kennedy in Massachusetts, Romney portrayed himself as a committed supporter of abortion rights, as he did again when he ran successfully for governor in 2002.

But Romney says he was turned around in 2004 by the debate over embryonic stem cell research. A discussion with scientists about destroying human embryos for research, he says, led him to the broader conclusion that legalized abortion “cheapened the value and sanctity of human life.”

Trying to persuade skeptics that his change of heart is sincere, Romney likes to point to Reagan and other political leaders who underwent long-lasting abortion conversions.

As California governor, Reagan in 1967 signed one of the most liberal abortion laws in the country, legalizing the procedure in cases where a woman’s mental or physical health was at risk. Reagan “agonized” over the legislation, recalled former aide Edwin Meese, and took a week out of his schedule to talk to doctors, clergymen and psychiatrists about the issue.

“On one hand, he felt that if a woman’s health was threatened, there would be reason to have an abortion. But at the same time, he did not want to open the door to abortion in general,” Meese said.

Reagan came to regret signing the bill, Meese said, primarily because the number of abortions skyrocketed in California under the rubric of protecting the “mental health” of women. Within a year, Reagan said the law was a mistake.

Years later, when conservatives were casting around for an alternative to Gerald R. Ford for the 1976 GOP nomination, Reagan made increasingly strong statements of opposition to abortion.

His conversion helped position him as a darling of the Republican right and contributed to his surprisingly strong, if unsuccessful, showing in the GOP primary against Ford, who supported abortion rights.

By the time he ran for the White House a second time, Reagan was a clear champion of anti-abortion forces. In 1979, he declared his support for a constitutional amendment prohibiting all abortions except to save the life of a woman.

That same presidential race featured a second prominent Republican who repositioned himself on abortion. During the 1980 primary campaign, Reagan faced George H.W. Bush, who opposed the constitutional amendment restricting abortion.

But later, while he was Reagan’s vice president, Bush brought his views in line with Reagan’s and said he opposed all abortions unless the mother’s life was endangered.

Early in his career, Gephardt supported a constitutional amendment to severely restrict abortion. He had been elected to the House in 1976 from a heavily Catholic district. But in 1986 he changed that position, saying there was “no clear consensus in the country or the Congress to initiate an amendment.”

The shift may have contributed to the demise of his 1988 presidential campaign. One of the final blows came when a Democratic primary opponent, Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis, ran an ad criticizing Gephardt’s shifts on abortion and other issues, illustrated by an acrobat flip-flopping across the screen. Dukakis went on to win the party’s nomination.

Kucinich’s changing views on abortion have been little-discussed in the 2008 campaign.

But they were well noticed by the anti-abortion activists who had counted him among their most reliable backers after he was elected to the House in 1996 from a district that was largely Catholic.

Kucinich declined to discuss the change in his views on abortion. But in the past he has rejected assertions that he moved left because he began running for president in 2004. He has continued to easily win reelection to Congress.

It may be harder for Romney to negotiate his shift on abortion with a national constituency that is just getting to know him. That is in part why he is relying heavily on testimonials from well-known abortion opponents, such as James Bopp Jr., a national anti-abortion leader.

“I believe it is sincere,” Bopp said of Romney’s conversion in a column for National Review. “The simple question [is] whether social conservatives want someone who is currently on their side or someone who currently opposes them.”

janet.hook@latimes.com

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Some turn pro, some turn con

Democratic and Republican candidates for the nation’s highest office have changed their positions on abortion.

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Dick Gephardt

1977: “By ruling ... that a woman may legally have an abortion during the first three months of pregnancy, the Supreme Court has sanctioned the denial of the unborn’s rights.”

2003: “The sanctity of a woman’s right to control her own destiny is a moral force of its own. I came to realize that the question of choice is to be answered, not by the state, but by the individual.”

Al Gore

1987: “During my 11 years in Congress, I have consistently opposed federal funding of abortions. In my opinion, it is wrong to spend federal funds for what is arguably the taking of a human life. Let me assure you that I share your belief that innocent human life must be protected, and I am committed to furthering this goal.”

2000: “Yes, my position has changed. I strongly support a woman’s right to choose.”

Dennis Kucinich

1996: “I believe that life begins at conception.”

2003: “It became clear to me that this wasn’t only about the right to choose, that this was about a woman’s equality in society. The years of discussion that I had with women in Congress, with women in my own life, suddenly began to click.”

Ronald Reagan

1967: “I am satisfied in my own mind we can morally and logically justify liberalized abortions to protect the health of a mother.”

1983: “We cannot survive as a free nation when some men decide that others are not fit to live and should be abandoned to abortion or infanticide.”

Mitt Romney

2002: “Let me make this very clear: I will preserve and protect a woman’s right to choose.”

2005: “I am pro-life. I believe that abortion is the wrong choice except in cases of incest, rape, and to save the life of the mother.”

Times research by Scott Wilson