Anti-Abortion Candidates Targeted : Politics: Abortion rights forces hope to help defeat four San Diego County candidates.

Four San Diego County candidates are among 12 “Enemies of Choice” named by abortion rights forces Wednesday as their major targets for defeat in this year’s state and national elections.

Democratic State Sen. Wadie P. Deddeh, a candidate in the 50th Congressional District race, and three Republican state Assembly contenders--Connie Youngkin, Steve Baldwin and Dan Van Tieghem--were singled out by the California Abortion Rights Action League as anti-abortion candidates whom they hope to defeat.

“These anti-choice zealots are determined to ignore the desires of the pro-choice majority . . . in San Diego and the country,” said Robin Schneider, associate director of the abortion rights group’s Southern California office. “We’re putting (them) on notice that they will be held accountable on Election Day for their anti-choice views.”

With the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark 1973 decision that legalized abortion widely expected to be overturned by the current court, this year’s state and national elections will play a critical role in determining whether legislation protecting or curtailing abortion rights follows that decision, Schneider noted.

In trying to defeat the targeted candidates, the group plans to mount an aggressive grass-roots campaign aimed at mobilizing abortion rights forces, Schneider said. Direct financial contributions to pro-choice opponents of the targeted candidates is “not a priority,” she added, explaining that the group prefers to use its resources to “run our own campaign within their campaign.”

Deddeh, the only Democrat on the list, was criticized by the group for a consistent anti-abortion record that includes opposition to public funding for abortions for Medi-Cal recipients and support for legislation aimed at restricting teens’ access to legal abortions. One of Deddeh’s opponents in the 50th Congressional District Democratic primary, San Diego City Councilman Bob Filner, an abortion-rights advocate, received the group’s endorsement in that contest.

Youngkin, who is running in the 75th Assembly District race, is one of San Diego’s best known anti-abortion activists. Twice jailed for blocking clinics, she came within several hundred votes of upsetting pro-choice Assemblywoman Tricia Hunter (R-Bonita) in 1990.

Baldwin and Van Tieghem, candidates in the 77th and 78th Assembly districts respectively, also have high profiles within anti-abortion circles. A longtime conservative activist, Baldwin is a political consultant who has worked for right-wing initiatives and candidates, and Van Tieghem is the former regional director of the Christian Coalition, a religious fundamentalist organization that backs anti-abortion candidates.

In the three state legislative races, Schneider’s group endorsed Poway Mayor Jan Goldsmith in the 75th District GOP primary, former Chula Vista Mayor Greg Cox in the 77th District Republican primary and Democratic Assemblywoman Dede Alpert in the 78th District.