CALIFORNIA ELECTIONS : Backing of Abortion Rights No Guarantee of Victory at Polls

After taking credit for two highly visible electoral wins last fall, abortion-rights advocates have suffered a string of defeats in legislative races that appear to show that favoring legal abortion does not automatically enhance a candidate’s chances for success in California.

Anti-abortion activists, in fact, contend that recent election results demonstrate that candidates who clearly communicate their opposition to abortion can pick up votes in Republican races and in some sectors of the Democratic Party.

Supporters of abortion rights acknowledge that the issue is not a “magic bullet” that by itself can defeat a candidate who has other advantages or elect a person burdened with other political baggage.

“It’s not a miracle issue,” said Robin Schneider, director of the Abortion Rights Action League’s Southern California office. “It is very important with a large number of voters. But it can’t just pull a candidate from the loser’s column into the winner’s column.”

The recent results have done nothing yet to alter the makeup of the Legislature, where abortion-rights advocates enjoy more clout than they have for years. State lawmakers are expected to approve a budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1 that for the first time in a decade will have no restrictions on the use of taxpayer dollars to pay for abortions for poor women.

But this year’s returns have shown that abortion-rights supporters may find it difficult to routinely duplicate the strength they demonstrated in special elections last year, when they were able to concentrate their firepower on one race at a time and focus the voters’ attention on abortion. In regular elections and with politicians running for statewide office, other issues, including the candidates’ gender, have proven to be just as important to voters as their stand on abortion.

In the June 5 California primary, abortion was a prominent issue in eight Assembly races. Anti-abortion candidates won seven of those races.

In the Republican race for lieutenant governor, abortion was the only major issue separating state Sens. Marian Bergeson and John Seymour, two little-known lawmakers from Orange County.

Bergeson stood firm on her long-held position opposing abortion. Seymour, however, abandoned his anti-abortion stand and decided to back a woman’s right to abortion and the concept of government funding for the procedure. Bergeson won with 55.2% of the vote.

This undercurrent was not visible, however, in the Democratic race for governor, where former San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein was perceived as the stronger defender of abortion rights and easily defeated Atty. Gen. John K. Van de Kamp, who pledged to support legal abortions even though he personally opposes the practice.

These skirmishes have set the stage for the November elections, when abortion rights will be highlighted in the races for lieutenant governor and attorney general, and a freshman Orange County assemblyman will try to keep his seat after being targeted for defeat by a national abortion-rights organization.

It has been nearly a year since the U.S. Supreme Court’s Webster decision opened the door for states to regulate abortion. That shift intensified interest in legislative elections and awakened activists on both sides of the issue who had seen little need for political activity since the court in 1973 stopped states from regulating abortions.

In California’s first special election after the July 3 Webster decision, Republican Tricia Hunter, a nurse from Bonita and an abortion-rights supporter, swept past several anti-abortion foes to win the 76th District Assembly seat. In December, Democrat Lucy Killea of San Diego won a special election in a Republican-dominated state Senate district after the Catholic bishop of San Diego banned her from receiving Communion because of her advocacy of abortion rights.

Nationwide, supporters of legalized abortion heralded the two contests as evidence that even conservative voters would elect candidates who back abortion when given a clear choice on the ballot.

But since Killea’s victory, the trend has turned.

In a special election to fill the 31st Senate District seat earlier this year, anti-abortion Republican Frank Hill won that party’s nomination over a well-financed abortion-rights advocate. Hill triumphed even though he was campaigning under the cloud of an FBI corruption investigation. He later won the runoff easily to capture the seat.

On June 5, abortion-rights groups targeted two incumbent assemblymen for defeat: Republican Gil Ferguson of Newport Beach and Democrat Pete Chacon of San Diego.

Ferguson’s opponent was Phyllis Badham, the daughter of a well-known former congressman. Chacon ran against Celia Ballesteros, a lawyer and former city councilwoman. Both challengers were able to raise and spend about as much money as the incumbents.

Although incumbent legislators generally are difficult to defeat, the results in these two races were just as lopsided as would have been expected had the abortion issue never been raised. Ferguson and Chacon both won by margins of more than 20%.

Elsewhere, anti-abortion Assembly members Cathie Wright (R-Simi Valley) and Dominic Cortese (D-San Jose) won easily against candidates who supported abortion rights.

Republican Paula Boland, who began the 38th District race in the San Fernando Valley as the least-known of three major candidates, and the only one to oppose abortion, was nominated. In the 58th District, Long Beach physician Seymour Alban ran a well-financed campaign that stressed his support for abortion rights. But he lost the GOP nomination to Huntington Beach Mayor Tom Mays, who opposes abortion.

In the 30th District in the San Joaquin Valley, anti-abortion Republican Gerald G. Hurt defeated Bob Whalen after a campaign in which the Fresno Bee said the “only public difference between the two was over the abortion issue.”

The only victory for abortion-rights supporters was the renomination of Assemblywoman Hunter. But Hunter just barely defeated under-financed challenger Connie Youngkin, a nurse who has spent time in jail for helping the anti-abortion group Operation Rescue blockade abortion clinics.

Brian Johnston, director of the National Right to Life Committee’s Western region, said the results are evidence that the anti-abortion side has recaptured the political momentum.

“When a pro-life candidate goes against a pro-abortion candidate and stands squarely on the issue, the pro-life candidate wins,” Johnston said.

Abortion rights advocates, however, point out that other factors played a role--the “gender vote,” for example. The Los Angeles Times Poll showed, for instance, that three out of every five Republican women who said they support keeping abortion legal voted for Bergeson, even though she opposes that position. The implication is that many women were motivated to vote for Bergeson simply because she is a woman.

Now both sides are looking toward the fall. Both candidates for governor, Republican U.S. Sen. Pete Wilson and Democrat Feinstein, support abortion rights. But Feinstein maintains that abortion rights can best be protected by a woman governor.

There are very distinct differences, however, in the abortion views of the lieutenant governor and attorney general candidates. Republican Bergeson will face Democratic Lt. Gov. Leo T. McCarthy, who supports abortion rights. For attorney general, voters will choose between Republican Dan Lungren, a former congressman who opposes abortion, and Democrat Arlo Smith, the San Francisco district attorney who supports abortion rights.

At the legislative level, the race likely to attract the most interest will be Garden Grove Republican Curt Pringle’s attempt to hold his Assembly seat against Democrat Tom Umberg. The National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL) has named Pringle one of its “NARAL Nine”--a group of politicians across the country targeted for defeat.

“Pringle is critical in our scheme,” said Schneider of the California Abortion Rights Action League. “We know it is important to threaten incumbents. But it’s also important to win against incumbents. If we can do that on the strength of the (abortion) issue, that ratchets up our political power.”