Bush Urges Lawyers to Help Poor, Skirts Abortion Issue

President Bush challenged an audience of Roman Catholic lawyers Saturday to use their talents to help the poor, but he skirted the emotional issue of abortion and the legal questions surrounding the controversy.

In a luncheon address to the Catholic Lawyers Guild of the Archdiocese of Boston, Bush encouraged the legal profession to “carry justice to all our citizens, especially to those who know it least.”

But in a 15-minute, sermon-like speech, there was only a passing, indirect reference to abortion, a word he never uttered in the address. The Roman Catholic church strenuously opposes abortion, tolerating no dissent from the Vatican position.

Anti-Abortion Stance

Bush, who generally worships at an Episcopal church, has tightened his own opposition to abortion over the past decade, closing differences he originally had with abortion opponents before he and Ronald Reagan ran for President and vice president in 1980.

In his speech at the same Boston hotel where Gov. Michael S. Dukakis of Massachusetts prepared for the presidential campaign debates with Bush a year ago, the President said Saturday:

“With particular concern, we challenge you to even greater efforts toward the protection of human life. Use your talents, your energy and your professional resources to reaffirm the right to life as the most fundamental freedom.”

He made no other reference to abortion in the address.

That brief mention of the subject reflected the approach the White House has taken to an issue that has engendered renewed controversy since the Supreme Court decided in July to further restrict abortion rights.

Three days after his inauguration, he followed a tradition set by Reagan and addressed by telephone an annual anti-abortion rally in Washington, expressing his support for a constitutional amendment prohibiting abortion. However, the President since then has rarely made more than passing statements reminding audiences of his position.

And, while the Administration’s overall opposition to the 1973 Supreme Court ruling granting women the right to obtain abortions has not been in doubt, the White House has recently appeared less than anxious to take charge of the anti-abortion fight. On Friday, the Justice Department let pass a deadline for submitting legal briefs in a new challenge to the 1973 ruling without entering supporting papers.

Bush flew to Boston by Marine Corps helicopter from his vacation home in Kennebunkport, Me., to take part in an annual church-sponsored lawyers’ luncheon at the invitation of Cardinal Bernard F. Law of Boston, with whom he has struck up a friendship in recent years.

Visits With President

Law has visited Bush in Kennebunkport since last November’s election, and had lunch with him at the White House in the midst of the Middle East hostage crisis last month.

Dukakis was present for the speech, sitting one seat away from First Lady Barbara Bush. Robert Banks, the auxiliary bishop of Boston, sat between them. Bush greeted the governor warmly, with a smile and a handshake, upon arrival. At the start of his speech he said: “I’m delighted to see Gov. Mike Dukakis here today.”

A Challenge to Lawyers

Revisiting a theme he developed in the 1988 presidential campaign and has voiced in recent months--that of encouraging well-to-do Americans to make works of charity a part of their lives--Bush said in his speech:

“Somewhere, in your own community, there is a homeless family that needs food and clothing and shelter. And somewhere, in your own community, there is a scared little kid, tempted to buy crack or join a gang, a kid who needs the love and guidance of a Big Brother.”

Challenging the lawyers to lend their help in such situations, he said senior partners in law firms should consider the community service of their associates in hiring and promotion decisions.

“At the end of the day, let it be said about you--more than your record in court or the hours you’ve billed--this was the way in which you touched the life of someone in need,” the President said.

“As lawyers, as advocates, part of your task is to use your talents to speak for those unable to speak for themselves,” he said.