CALIFORNIA ELECTIONS LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR : McCarthy, Pointing to ’82 Questionnaire, Says Bergeson Flip-Flopped on Abortion

After months of labeling her opponent a flip-flopper on the issues, state Sen. Marian Bergeson, the Republican candidate for lieutenant governor, was accused of the same offense Monday when the incumbent, Democrat Leo T. McCarthy, questioned her claim of being a lifelong abortion-rights opponent.

McCarthy produced a questionnaire that Bergeson had filled out in 1982 for Orange County Planned Parenthood. It asked, among other things, whether the respondent supported abortion rights. Instead of checking the Yes or No box, Bergeson wrote, in part: “Certainly government is not in a position of being able to influence a woman with regard to her reproductive destiny, nor should it be. That is a private matter for the woman, hopefully working with her physician and her husband.”

Bergeson’s campaign said the statement did not refer to abortion but rather to other options such as adoption or keeping the child.

McCarthy, however, charged that the statement shows Bergeson to be a flip-flopper, something she has relentlessly accused him of being.

“The point is that she has made consistency on positions one of the centerpieces of her campaign,” said Roy Behr, McCarthy’s campaign manager. “This very clearly demonstrates that on an issue that she says is fundamental to her, she has not been consistent.”

Bergeson, who represents Newport Beach, was unavailable for comment. But her campaign manager, Ron Smith, insisted that she has always opposed abortion and would like to see it outlawed.

“I think they’re trying to find something to counter the fact that Leo McCarthy has flip-flopped on so many issues,” Smith said. “He’s just trying to muddy the water because in three paragraphs of a questionnaire eight years ago it’s not as clear as it should have been.”

Abortion has been a major issue for Bergeson since she launched her campaign for lieutenant governor last year.

Her opponent in the primary, state Sen. John Seymour (R-Anaheim), favors abortion rights and made it a major issue in the campaign. In the general election, Bergeson again faces a supporter of abortion rights in McCarthy, and she has had to downplay the difference between her opposition to abortion rights and gubernatorial candidate Pete Wilson’s support for such rights.

Instead of running from the issue, however, Bergeson has made it a demonstration of a rigid dedication to values and a refusal to change positions for political gain. At the same time, she accuses her opponents of doing the opposite.

Bergeson blasted McCarthy in August as a flip-flopper on abortion, citing several votes made when he was an assemblyman in the 1970s that opposed public funding for abortion. McCarthy said he struggled with dilemmas that face a practicing Catholic and a public policy maker before he resolved to support abortion rights in the early 1980s.

Orange County Planned Parenthood executive director Margie Fites Seigle confirmed the authenticity of the questionnaire McCarthy produced Monday. Seigle said it was given to all Orange County candidates for state office in 1982, when Bergeson was running for the Assembly.

On three questions regarding family planning and abortion rights, Bergeson offered a three-paragraph explanation instead of checking one of the boxes.

“If she were in favor of allowing abortion, she would have marked that question ‘Yes,’ ” Smith said.