Quayle Appears to Soften His Stand on Abortion Ban : Politics: He backs Pennsylvania law that imposes curbs but upholds woman’s right to end pregnancy. A spokesman later modifies his remarks.

Vice President Dan Quayle on Sunday appeared to back away from his party’s call for an immediate constitutional ban on abortions, but an aide quickly modified his comments to make clear that Quayle still personally opposes abortion.

Appearing on ABC-TV’s “This Week With David Brinkley,” Quayle endorsed a Pennsylvania law that places restrictions on abortions but upholds a woman’s right to end a pregnancy.

The law calls for a 24-hour waiting period before an abortion and requires a teen-ager to notify her parents of her intent to have an abortion. As written, the law also mandated that a woman notify her husband, but the U.S. Supreme Court struck down that provision.

Quayle called the statute “a very logical approach to deal with a very sensitive, divisive issue.”

George Stephanopoulos, a spokesman for Democratic nominee Bill Clinton, accused Quayle of trying to be on both sides of the issue. “They’re trying to have it both ways,” Stephanopoulos said in Little Rock, Ark. “He seems to be running away from the Republican platform. . . .”

But Quayle spokesman David Beckwith said the vice president’s words should not be interpreted to mean that he supports a limited right to abortion.

“The vice president has said that he personally opposes abortion, but given that it is the law of the land, some restrictions are reasonable,” Beckwith said in an interview.

Quayle’s comments Sunday, which echoed remarks he has made over the last several weeks, appear designed to soften the absolutist positions adopted at the GOP convention last month on a number of delicate social issues.

In recent days he has said the Administration opposes discrimination against gays, softened his tone on abortion and sought to redefine his “family values” theme to embrace all kinds of families.

The platform adopted at the Republican National Convention calls for an immediate nationwide ban on abortion. Asked whether he supports that plank, Quayle wavered, saying only: “Oh, absolutely, we support the platform.”

But pressed on whether he wanted to ban abortion, he ducked.

“Well, no, the question is not that. . . . (The question is) how are we going to handle this situation? How are we going to handle the tragedy of abortion? . . . The way to handle it is the way Pennsylvania handled it, and it was a very good approach, done on a bipartisan basis, and that is a good place to start.”

Quayle also said that most gays and lesbians are homosexual by choice, not biology. “My viewpoint is it’s more of a choice than a biological situation. I know that . . . people would disagree on this, and we’ll have to leave it to the so-called experts.”

A recent study found biological differences between the brains of heterosexual and homosexual men.

Quayle went on to assert that homosexuality “is a wrong choice,” but he added that the Administration opposes discrimination.

However, he reiterated that gays should not be allowed to serve in the military.

Quayle also professed ignorance about a report that he had intervened on behalf of a convicted felon in 1988, urging the Department of Justice to transfer the man to a minimum-security prison from a medium-security institution.

Columnist Jack Anderson reported Sunday that Quayle, then a U.S. senator from Indiana, had intervened in the case of Stephen Goot, who had been convicted in March, 1988, of racketeering and conspiracy charges for his role in fixing drunk-driving tickets with a former local prosecutor.

Goot told Anderson that he was a former Quayle fund-raiser and political supporter. Just weeks after Goot was sentenced to 20 years in prison, Quayle sent an urgent letter asking that Goot be assigned to a minimum-security prison because of “concern for his personal safety.” The request was granted 12 days later, according to the Anderson account.

On television Sunday, Quayle said he had no recollection of the case and suggested the letter had been drafted by a staffer.

Beckwith said the Quayle staff could find no record of the letter but that he assumed Anderson’s report is accurate.

Staff writer David Lauter, in Arkansas, contributed to this story.