After ‘Soul Searching,’ Seymour Switches Stance to Pro-Choice

State Sen. John Seymour, concluding a 10-week public soul searching, on Thursday reversed his position on abortion to become pro-choice, adding that he will also support public funding of abortions.

For Seymour, a conservative Anaheim Republican who is running for lieutenant governor, the decision is political dynamite that is certain to draw emotional protests and could possibly alienate some of his core support in the conservative wing of the GOP.

At the very least, it is the first major distinction to emerge between Seymour and his rival in the Republican primary for lieutenant governor, State Sen. Marian Bergeson (R-Newport Beach), a lifelong opponent of abortion.

“Politically, there is no way to win on this issue,” Seymour said Thursday. “I know there are narrow-minded people who will look at that one issue and decide how they will vote, based on that one issue. I know that will occur, and I think that is very narrow-minded.”

Seymour said in July, after the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark Webster decision giving states authority to regulate abortion, that he was “rethinking” his anti-abortion position.

In a statement Thursday, Seymour said he still believes personally that life begins at conception and abortion is “morally wrong unless the pregnancy is a result of rape, incest, or in the event the mother’s life is endangered.”

The statement added: “The issue for me is whether to impose my personal and religious beliefs regarding abortion on all Californians through the privileged power I enjoy as a state legislator and as an aspirant for the office of lieutenant governor. After much soul searching and self-examination, I have decided that would not be appropriate.”

Seymour added that he supports public funding of abortion because “I believe that poor women should not be denied this option simply because they are poor.”

Seymour said he expects that his decision could cause protesters to picket his campaign appearances and offer Bergeson material for a campaign attack. Political strategists in Orange County agreed.

“I don’t think John helps himself by doing this,” said one Republican consultant, who did not want to be identified.

“In the grand campaign strategy of these things, you try to go to the right on the primary . . . and become a centrist in the general,” the consultant said, explaining that conservatives generally vote in greater numbers in primaries.

‘Very Courageous’

Another consultant, Harvey Englander of Newport Beach, praised Seymour’s decision as “a very courageous move that probably will go unappreciated by a certain segment of the Republican Party.”

Bergeson on Thursday would not say whether she will attack Seymour for his abortion position during the campaign, and she declined to criticize his decision.

“I am running my own race, and I think I have defined my (abortion) position very clearly,” she said. “I have always opposed abortion.”

Bergeson also said she does not expect abortion to be a major issue in the lieutenant governor’s race, but she acknowledged that it “is a life or death issue, and it’s rare to find people who are neutral on it.”

“I’m not certain abortion is going to play that big of a role,” she said. “I know the issue that surfaces far more often is drugs.”

A poll for the The Times Orange County Edition in January said 60% of Orange County residents would oppose a U.S. Supreme Court ban on abortion.

Of those who identified themselves as “conservatives,” 48% opposed a ban on abortion and 47% favored one. Of those who described themselves as “moderates,” 65% opposed a ban and 27% favored one. And among “liberals,” 75% opposed a ban while 17% favored one.

These results were in keeping with a Los Angeles Times Poll in March that indicated Californians favored the Supreme Court decision allowing abortions in the first three months of pregnancy by more than a 2-1 margin.

Times political writer Claudia Luther contributed to this report.