GOP Divided on Abortion ‘Litmus Test’

Two key antiabortion Republicans said Monday they are against the call for an abortion “litmus test” for GOP candidates, even as a Republican governor announced his support.

Rep. Henry J. Hyde (R-Ill.), a longtime leader of antiabortion forces in Congress, and Rep. Charles T. Canady (R-Fla.), the chief House sponsor of the ban on a type of late-term abortion, said Monday that withholding national party support from GOP candidates who don’t oppose the procedure “would be a serious tactical error, and very unhelpful to our cause.”

“In politics, you win by addition, and we need every Republican vote we can muster to maintain our majority in the House and Senate,” Hyde wrote to Republican National Committee Chairman James Nicholson.

“The single most important thing we can do to protect the unborn is to maintain our majority!” Hyde said.

Joining proponents of the “litmus test” Monday was Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating, vice chairman of the Republican Governors Assn.

The measure, scheduled for debate at the RNC’s winter meeting this week in Palm Springs, exposes a GOP weakness: The party is closely aligned with abortion foes, yet includes elected officials who support abortion rights.

Keating, an antiabortion Roman Catholic, said the measure is the right thing to do politically and morally.

“Surely none but the most extremist pro-infanticide advocates will oppose [a ban on] partial-birth abortion,” he said in an interview with the Associated Press.

The first-term governor is running for reelection with an eye toward a possible bid for the White House in 2000.