Resolution to Call for Repeal of Abortion Gag Rules : Politics: McCarthy and Watson plan to ask the Legislature to support a bill that would overturn the order that federally funded clinics cannot give counseling advice on the matter.

Lt. Gov. Leo T. McCarthy and state Sen. Diane Watson said Saturday they will introduce a resolution that would put California in the forefront of efforts to overturn the federal rule that prompted last week’s U.S. Supreme Court decision banning abortion counseling in federally funded clinics.

“Our resolution . . . will send a strong message to the President: The state with 52 electoral votes opposes the gag rule and supports women’s right to privacy, women’s right to choose,” McCarthy said.

Calling the court’s decision “appalling,” McCarthy said the ruling in effect says that “an AIDS-infected woman who is pregnant or a 16-year-old impregnated by her father” can no longer receive abortion counseling.

The resolution says the state Legislature supports efforts in Congress to overturn a 1988 Reagan Administration rule that prohibits such counseling, McCarthy said at a news conference with Watson at the Planned Parenthood offices in Sherman Oaks.

The resolution, to be introduced when the Legislature reconvenes Tuesday, “will put the weight of the largest state in the nation squarely behind” federal legislation to overturn the rule, he said.

“It’s dangerously clear that the Supreme Court won’t be happy until abortions are only mentioned--and performed--in the dark back alleys of America,” McCarthy said.

Watson, a Los Angeles Democrat, said passage of a bill pending in Congress would nullify the Supreme Court ruling and that strong lobbying from citizens and lawmakers might persuade President Bush to sign such a bill. Both lawmakers praised Gov. Pete Wilson’s opposition to the ruling.

“It’s refreshing to know there is a governor we can now work with,” Watson said.