Buchanan Event Highlights Rift in Antiabortion Ranks

Angela “Bay” Buchanan, chairwoman of her brother Patrick’s presidential campaign, sought Friday to rally support for keeping the current hard-line antiabortion plank in the Republican Party platform, but was obliged to acknowledge a potentially significant rift in the antiabortion ranks.

Ralph Reed, executive director of the Christian Coalition, the most powerful political force on the religious right, refused to join the Buchanan stand, although he said he continues to favor some version of an antiabortion plank.

Should Reed stick to his guns, his stand could open the way to some form of compromise on the issue, which has threatened to divide moderates and conservatives within the GOP. That would help Sen. Bob Dole (R-Kan.), the party’s presumptive nominee, avoid the sort of divisiveness at the August convention that would harm his image at the time when he is counting on giving his challenge to President Clinton a much needed boost.

The prospect of a compromise emerging was exactly the opposite of the show of strength against abortion that Bay Buchanan intended for the press conference she staged here. The appearance was also intended to draw attention to her brother’s candidacy, which has languished in obscurity since Dole clinched the nomination in March.

She expressed concern about recent statements from Govs. Pete Wilson, Christine Todd Whitman of New Jersey and George Pataki of New York that they would seek to modify the platform language on abortion. The current wording, calling for a constitutional amendment to ban all abortions, was initially adopted in 1980 when Ronald Reagan was first nominated for president.

Bay Buchanan prevailed on several leaders of antiabortion organizations to join her in opposing “any change whatsoever” in the platform language. Among those present were Gary Bauer, head of American Renewal, and Phyllis Schlafly, president of the Eagle Forum. But in response to a question, she admitted that Reed had turned her down.

“I just don’t want to convey the signal that we won’t allow a single comma, or the dotting of an ‘i’ or the crossing of a ‘t’ to be changed,” Reed said. “I, for example, think that it could be advisable to condemn President Clinton’s veto of the partial-birth abortion bill,” he added. “But if you take the position that you can’t change a single word, and you can’t insert anything, that rules that out.”

Reed said he would not comment on any other possible changes, but added: “Any retreat from the time-honored and noble position of the Republican Party in protecting innocent human life would be a mistake, and we would oppose it. We will address specific language when and if it is proposed.”

Reed’s position, which an aide said had been developed some time in the past, would allow for modifications in the plank that might satisfy the concerns of abortion-rights supporters within the party.

One possibility, often discussed, is language that would acknowledge the existence of different points of view on the abortion issue within the party. Another, and probably more controversial, option would be to modify the platform’s present advocacy of a “Human Life Amendment” to the Constitution to allow abortion in cases where the life of the mother is at stake, or where rape or incest are involved. Adding those exceptions would be consistent with Dole’s own position.

But Reed said Friday in an interview that the Christian Coalition would oppose such changes in the Republicans’ platform language--even though the coalition’s long-established policy has been to support an exception to legislative bans on abortion for cases in which the mother’s life is in danger. Reed also acknowledged that at times the coalition has gone along with an exception for victims of rape and incest “if it became absolutely necessary for a pro-life law to pass.”

But he stressed that the coalition would not extend the flexibility it applies to legislation to the GOP platform because “a platform is a statement of principles.”