Wilson to Press Abortion Issue at GOP Convention

A convention-week battle over abortion, something Bob Dole has tried strenuously to avoid, nonetheless moved closer to reality Wednesday as both sides in the Republican Party’s bitter internal debate on the issue vowed to press efforts to change the party platform.

In an interview with The Times, Gov. Pete Wilson said he will go to the convention, which opens in San Diego in 11 days, seeking new language that would drop the party’s call for a constitutional amendment outlawing abortions and instead would highlight social policies intended to deter unwanted pregnancies.

Meanwhile, in Washington, Patrick J. Buchanan, who was Dole’s most successful challenger in the party primaries, insisted that he would not accept compromise language that Dole has proposed and would offer new wording of his own that would toughen the party’s antiabortion stand.

Dole had once thought he had put the abortion issue to rest with his proposal to add a “declaration of tolerance” to the platform. But as the convention nears--deliberations on the platform begin Monday--his campaign once more seems to be caught between increasingly bellicose factions on his left and his right.

That prospect deeply worries Republican strategists who said they fear that a nasty conflict within the party is increasingly becoming inevitable as other party officeholders come to view Dole as a likely loser.

“If this was a close election, they wouldn’t want to harm anything,” said one senior Republican strategist. “As people’s confidence in Dole’s ability to win the election wanes, there are some political realities that come in.”

For example, Wilson has been in close consultation with two allies--Govs. William F. Weld of Massachusetts and Christine Todd Whitman of New Jersey--both of whom come from states that have strong majorities supporting abortion rights. Weld is seeking election to the Senate this year and has a particularly strong incentive to bolster his standing with moderate voters, the GOP strategist noted. Whitman faces reelection next year.

On the other side of the debate, Buchanan has political imperatives of his own. Unless he continues to speak out for the party’s most conservative activists, the luster of his accomplishments in the 1996 primaries could fade away and he could forfeit what he sees as a chance to become the successor of Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan as the champion of conservatism.

Wilson, saying he hopes to find a compromise on the abortion issue, declined to say exactly what he would do if the platform committee fails to find a solution that meets his satisfaction.

“I think that’s a hypothetical question that is, to say the least, premature.”

But Weld, in an interview, said he was pressing ahead with plans for a fight on the issue on the convention floor. Under Republican rules, introducing an issue at the convention would require support from a majorities in six state delegations. Weld said “the chances of getting six are pretty good. That would mean a floor fight.

“I think it’s important for the party to have an airing on this issue. It could be if we get six or eight or 10 delegations that would create pressure for the platform committee to deal with it before it reaches the floor.”

A survey of delegates to the convention shows that just over a third favor eliminating the current call for a constitutional amendment to ban abortions. Roughly 45% favor keeping that language. That group is split on the issue of the declaration of tolerance that Dole supports.

A majority of the California delegation opposes the current platform, according to a Times survey of delegates earlier this summer.

Wilson’s plan is to introduce a platform plank that seeks to highlight common ground within the GOP on abortion-related issues such as policies to deter teen pregnancy. The proposal would drop the platform’s current call for a constitutional amendment to ban all abortions.

“If you are serious about stopping abortions, then, rather than rely on this amendment, which will never happen, then you ought to address the reasons that cause unwanted pregnancy,” Wilson said. “There are a lot of people . . . who are concerned about abortions and are willing to be realistic [about] something that will be far more effective in reducing the number of abortions. That is the common ground.”

Wilson’s proposed language would declare: “We believe that the decline in abortions we seek will be far better achieved by persuasion of individuals to choose--as a matter of individual conscience--behavior that will not produce unwanted pregnancies, than by governmental mandate and invasion of privacy.”

The language would also recognize “a deep belief in the traditional nuclear family” and “the honest convictions that divide us on the question of abortion.”

“We are a party confident enough in our beliefs to tolerate dissent,” it says.

The proposal Dole has put forward would keep the call for a constitutional ban and add language acknowledging that “members of our party have deeply held and sometimes differing views on issues of personal conscience like abortion and capital punishment.”

But that idea was rejected Wednesday by both Wilson and Buchanan.

Wilson said it does not go far enough toward acknowledging diverse views in the party.

Buchanan, in a Washington press conference, called Dole’s idea “not acceptable” because abortion “is a matter of right and wrong, it’s a matter of life and death.”

Buchanan said that if his own proposed language is not accepted, “we will make alterations in that [Dole’s] plank as a fallback position to make sure that abortion is not said to be simply a matter of personal choice. That would completely contradict the right-to-life plank.”

In addition to his language on abortion, Buchanan offered a 10-page manifesto covering a broad range of other issues. All embodied the economic nationalism and social conservatism that undergirded his presidential candidacy and brought him stunning early victories over better-financed rivals closer to the political establishment.

Referring to the “perceived dire straits” in which the GOP now finds itself, with Dole trailing President Clinton by 15 to 20 percentage points in many polls, Buchanan said that his proposal is “a charter for victory, because we believe it is the way the Republican Party can win.”

“The way to win is with boldness and audacity and with emphasizing the differences we have with President Clinton on the issues,” he said.

Buchanan’s proposals call for repeal of the both the 1990 and 1993 tax hikes--something Dole is expected to endorse in an economic policy speech on Monday. He also advocates an end to “one-sided trade deals,” the phasing out of foreign aid and doubling the Border Patrol over five years to curb illegal immigration.

While he is taking strong stands in issues, Buchanan is also trying to avoid appearing to be such a divisive figure that he would be tagged with the blame for Dole’s defeat if that is how the election turns out. Four years ago, many George Bush supporters blamed Buchanan’s provocative speech at the 1992 GOP convention for contributing to Bush’s defeat.

Thus he shrugged off the Dole campaign’s refusal to let him address the convention. “I didn’t get in this to get myself a speech at the convention; been there, done that. And what we are interested in is the character and shape of this Republican Party.

“We intend to go to that Republican convention as Republicans, and we hope to walk out as Republicans, but I can’t here and now give a blank check and tell these folks [the Dole campaign] they can do anything they want and we will get on board.”

Buchanan said his decision about whether he bolts the party or backs Dole will depend on the tone of the convention, the language of the platform and Dole’s choice of a running mate.

“If we get a pro-choice Rockefeller Republican as vice president, there will be no peace in the valley.”