Abortion Emerging as Year’s No. 1 Issue in Many Local Elections Across the U.S. : Politics: Activists on both sides are amassing war chests and targeting key candidates over their stands on the question.

Running down Talcott Street in this Chicago suburb the other day, a female jogger paused just long enough to flash an obscene gesture as she passed the reelection headquarters of Republican State Rep. Penny Pullen.

Meanwhile, not far away, a group of about 50 demonstrators were singing Pullen’s praises as they held their weekly vigil outside a hospital that performs abortions.

“Of all the candidates I’ve ever known, she’s the one glowing light who hasn’t run from the issue,” said swimwear salesman Jim Finnegan, cradling in his arms a full-color poster depicting a human fetus alongside a red rose.

Pullen, the Illinois Legislature’s most vocal abortion foe, fires the passions of partisans on both sides of the controversial issue like few others in this state. Opponents of abortion see her as an unwavering hero in their crusade to ban a procedure they consider repugnant.

Abortion rights advocates view her as nothing less than a moralizing Neanderthal and have staked Rosemary Mulligan, Pullen’s Republican challenger in Tuesday’s Illinois primary, to thousands of dollars worth of cash and campaign assistance.

It is a scenario likely to be played over and over this year as the firestorm unleashed by a 1989 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that weakened abortion rights ripples through legislative halls and into the polling booths.

The Pullen-Mulligan contest is just the first in a growing list of local, state and federal electoral battles across the nation in the 1990 campaign season that could turn on the explosive issue of abortion. Activists on both sides are targeting key races for special attention.

The Washington-based National Abortion Rights Action League tossed down the gauntlet months ago when it publicly unveiled a roster of prominent political figures whose grasp on power was either shaky or whose demise, the group claimed, could cripple the anti-abortion movement.

The NARAL hit list ranges from Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) to Florida’s Republican Gov. Bob Martinez to Curt Pringle, a staunch abortion foe from Garden Grove elected to his Orange County Assembly seat by a razor-thin margin in 1988.

“Our major focuses in 1990 are the election battles across the country,” said Kate Michelman, NARAL’s executive director. “We must solidify the strength of the pro-choice constituency and prove that politicians are going to be held accountable. They can no longer duck the issue.”

Abortion rights forces claimed some early victories last year, tossing hundreds of thousands of dollars the way of sympathetic candidates who won off-year governor’s races in New Jersey and Virginia as well as a pair of highly publicized contests to fill state legislative vacancies in the San Diego area.

And under the gun of impending campaigns, some high-profile office seekers softened or reversed long-held anti-abortion positions. Among them, Neil Hartigan, the likely Democratic nominee in the Illinois governor’s race and Anthony J. Celebrezze, the top Democratic contender for the same job in Ohio.

Abortion opponents insist the hemorrhaging is beginning to stop as politicians who flip-flop take more and more flak for their lack of resolve. “I think they (abortion rights forces) succeeded in sucker-punching some candidates through making noise, but I think that’s pretty much run its course,” said David O’Steen, executive director of the National Right to Life Committee.

Leaders on both sides of the issue agree that the majority of voters in most races are not going to cast ballots solely because of abortion. But each side can boast dedicated cadres of activists who could make the difference in close contests.

Nowhere are the stakes higher than in races that could tip the balance of power or send strong warning signals to state lawmakers, who were given broad new powers to regulate abortions by last year’s Supreme Court ruling. The decision sparked a flood of restrictive legislative proposals across the nation. But, with an eye on the election calendar, lawmakers in most states have so far shied from dealing with most of the bills.

Abortion rights strategists think the defeat of a handful of outspoken abortion foes this year could scare cautious politicians out of backing restrictive bills in the future. On the other hand, the failure of such efforts could push fence-straddlers into the anti-abortion camp.

One key battleground is sure to be Pennsylvania, the only state since the Supreme Court decision to enact new legal controls to discourage abortion. A federal judge has at least temporarily blocked enforcement of the law, which among other things would require women to inform their spouses before aborting a pregnancy.

Supporters of abortion rights say they are putting together a $1-million war chest to use against at least seven influential anti-abortion political candidates including Gov. Robert P. Casey, a Democrat. Chief among those targeted is State Rep. Stephen Freind, a Republican from the Philadelphia suburbs who was the legislative architect of the abortion control bill.

Ellen Fisher, the 32-year-old political newcomer who is challenging Freind in the May 15 Republican primary, said Freind’s preoccupation with outlawing abortion shortchanged his constituents and violated traditional GOP dogma “to get government out of our lives.”

“This community deserves to talk about a lot more than abortion issues,” Fisher said. “ . . . Abortion is a major issue in this community mostly because he’s made it one.”

Denise Neary, director of development for the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation, predicted that heavy spending by abortion rights groups could create a backlash. “The question is can they buy an election?” Neary asked rhetorically. “I think that could have an adverse effect. I think there will be people who will be turned off by that.”

Abortion opponents would rely more on volunteer efforts to help their candidates and planned to spend far less than the other side, Neary said.

Back in Illinois, the next state to hold a major primary this year, abortion also has become an important factor in several legislative races. Thanks to Pullen’s notoriety, however, most of the public attention has focused on her battle with Mulligan, a 48-year-old paralegal who has never run for public office.

Both Pullen, 43, a 14-year veteran of the Illinois House, and Mulligan insist they are not one-issue candidates and agree that abortion takes a back seat in the minds of most voters in the heavily Republican 55th legislative district to more pressing local problems such as soaring property taxes, flood protection and excessive noise from nearby O’Hare airport.

Indeed, Pullen’s campaign literature barely mentions her role as the legislative leader in the fight to stop abortion. “She realizes the issue is a loser and she’s trying to low-key it,” Mulligan charges.

Pullen, on the other hand, says she’s not trying to run from her reputation but rather emphasize the broad range of her legislative interests. “I’m not running for national office, I’m running for state representative in this district,” she explained. “ . . . I’m into a lot more than many legislators. . . . I don’t think a single issue candidate can sell anywhere.”

Disclaimers aside, abortion is never very far from the surface. Pullen hasn’t had a primary challenge in 10 years. Part of the House minority leadership team, Pullen has raised more than $100,000 in contributions from a wide variety of business and individual sources. But many of the largest contributions have come from conservative groups and people closely associated with anti-abortion causes.

And if it weren’t for support from abortion rights forces, Mulligan wouldn’t have much of a campaign at all. As of last week, Personal PAC, a political action committee backing Illinois candidates who support abortion rights, had bankrolled more than $25,000 worth of campaign services for Mulligan, a figure representing more than half of all her campaign expenditures.

Researcher Tracy Shryer contributed to this story.