Kerry Talking a Fine Line on Abortion

As the Democratic faithful assemble in Boston today for what is being heralded as a historic show of party unity, abortion rights advocates have been privately raising concerns with the Kerry campaign that the candidate has been publicly distancing himself from their cause.

Even as those advocates, one of Sen. John F. Kerry’s most stalwart constituencies, trumpet his steadfast support for legal abortions and access to reproductive healthcare, they have been fretting that he has emphasized his personal opposition to abortion.

As a Catholic, Kerry has maintained he is against abortion, while consistently backing the right to have one. But since he secured his party’s nomination, Kerry has talked about his own discomfort with the procedure, adding that he believes life begins at conception.

“I think his campaign has misjudged the degree to which women nationwide really know his record,” said Kim Gandy, president of the National Organization for Women. “Many of us have talked to the campaign and made it clear that we know that his history on this issue is very strong. But if he doesn’t make sure that women everywhere understand it, he’s taking a huge risk with our future.”

The anxiety comes as Kerry has moved to the right in his bid to woo swing voters and independents. During a trip through the Midwest this month, where he wielded a shotgun for some trapshooting and spoke of his love of hunting, the Massachusetts senator said he represented “conservative values.”

Indeed, until now, the candidate has benefited from the fact that various factions of the Democratic Party have refrained from publicly criticizing him because of their desire to defeat President Bush. In May, when Kerry suggested that he would be open to appointing abortion opponents as judges to lower courts, virtually all abortion rights advocates were silent.

But privately, some of Kerry’s longtime supporters are frustrated with his language, and said they had repeatedly registered their concerns with the candidate’s top advisors.

Some say they are worried that by downplaying his political record, Kerry may be losing an opportunity to energize abortion rights backers.

“He certainly is not going to lose votes among women who know his record,” Gandy said. “What is at risk, I think, is the lost devotion. When an individual feels a candidate is really speaking to her or him, that person is much more likely to knock on doors, work phones and drag their friends to the polls.”

She and others argue that abortion is a powerful issue not only for staunch Democrats, but for single women, a potentially powerful bloc. More than 21 million, almost half the single women eligible to vote, did not cast ballots in the last presidential election, and Democrats are trying to tap into that group.

Eleanor Smeal, president of the Feminist Majority, said she was afraid Kerry’s rhetoric could be confusing those voters.

“I get worried that some people might not understand how strong he is on the issues,” she said. “And it’s hard for people outside the campaign to clarify that.”

After Kerry told an Iowa newspaper in early July that he believed life began at conception, Gloria Feldt, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said she fielded “steaming e-mails from people who were quite distressed.”

Feldt said she was convinced that Kerry remained a supporter of abortion rights. But she said that he needed to tout his record more frequently -- and that abortion rights supporters needed to keep prodding the candidate and his advisors to do so.

“Until he hears from us, he won’t get it,” she said.

Kerry spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter maintained that the senator enjoyed broad support among abortion rights supporters, and added that he had made it clear he would keep his religious beliefs separate from his actions as a public official. She said Kerry would refer to his voting record on abortion rights when the topic was relevant.

“He’s obviously committed to protecting a woman’s right to choose,” she said. “Look at his track record. But he’s talking about issues that are affecting people every day.”

In a recent interview with the Los Angeles Times, Kerry said he hoped to appeal to “people on the right,” adding he was confident the Democratic rank-and-file would stick by him even if he was not speaking to their issues.

Not all abortion rights advocates have been rankled by Kerry’s recent comments.

Elizabeth Cavendish, interim president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, said she was “untroubled” that Kerry had expressed his personal discomfort with abortion.

“I think it’s a sign of strong leadership that John Kerry understands the difference between his personal moral convictions and government policies,” Cavendish said. “He has an unbroken record, and that’s what really counts.”

In 2003, NARAL gave Kerry a perfect score based on his voting record that year. The senator voted against the criminalization of partial-birth abortion. Yet he missed 11 of 14 abortion-related votes in the Senate in 2003, including a measure that would have allowed women in the military to obtain privately funded abortions in military hospitals overseas. Kerry also was absent when the Senate voted on a measure involving U.S. funding for international organizations that provide abortions to women abroad, or counsel them on the procedure.

Still, abortion has emerged as one of the thorniest issues facing the senator as he makes his bid for voters in the middle of the political spectrum. Some Catholic leaders have argued that he and other politicians who support abortion rights should not receive Communion. Meanwhile, Kerry has struggled at times to make clear how he reconciles his personal views with his political record.

In an interview with ABC’s Peter Jennings last week, Kerry offered a convoluted explanation for why he did not consider early term abortion murder, even though he believed life began at conception.

“It’s not the form of life that takes personhood in the terms that we have judged it to be in the past,” he said. “It’s the beginning of life.”

Times staff writer Robert Schiff contributed to this report.