‘92 REPUBLICAN CONVENTION : Rigid Anti-Abortion Platform Plank OKd : Policy: Activists opposed to GOP stand wear pink satin armbands in convention hall as a protest. Issue clearly will continue to divide party.

HOUSTON —  The Republican Convention on Monday adopted a stringent, anti-abortion platform plank that disgruntled abortion rights advocates predicted would hurt President Bush’s prospects for reelection in November.

“It’s a terrible mistake,” said Rep. Bill Green (R-N.Y.), referring to the platform plank. “It can hurt the ticket. It can hurt party candidates all down the line.”

To register their objections, abortion rights advocates wore pink satin armbands that were clearly visible in all parts of the convention hall as the party platform was passed by voice vote. But a small chorus of “no” votes was quickly drowned out by the cheers of victorious conservatives, who had succeeded in retaining the party’s 1988 anti-abortion plank.

Conservatives minimized the political impact of the decision. “We have won three landslides on that platform,” said Rep. Robert S. Walker (R-Pa.). “We’ll soon see the issue of abortion become secondary in importance to the economy and world leadership.”

Still, the vote did not lay the matter to rest.

Abortion rights delegates vowed to return to the 1996 Republican convention with the strength to reverse the party’s stand on the issue. And, in the meantime, it was clear that abortion would continue to divide the party.

Responding to charges that the platform might deprive him of victory, Bush said in an interview on Monday that he is still “unashamedly pro-life.”

But unlike Bush’s personal view, which allows for abortion in cases of rape, incest or a threat to the life of the mother, the Republican Party platform would permit no exceptions. It proclaims that “the unborn child has a fundamental individual right to life which cannot be infringed” under any circumstances and calls for the appointment of judges who hold that view.

Republicans in favor of abortion rights insist that an overwhelming majority of GOP rank-and-file members side with them on the issue. According to some polls, as many as 71% of the Republican Party favors a woman’s right to chose whether she will have an abortion.

The platform vote was a disappointing defeat for those activists who had tried to mount a petition campaign to get sufficient signatures to bring the matter up for a roll-call vote. They were overwhelmed by a highly organized defensive effort by Bush-Quayle operatives who wanted to avoid an embarrassing floor fight.

Massachusetts Gov. William F. Weld, who favors abortion rights, said that the delegates on his side of the issue obtained the necessary signatures in only four delegations--Massachusetts, New Mexico, Maine and the Virgin Islands. They were two delegations short of what was needed to bring the matter before the convention.

According to a senior campaign official, the Bush-Quayle team closely monitored a dozen delegations and snuffed out budding rebellions in several of them, including the California delegation.

In a closed-door California caucus Sunday, a number of delegates were persuaded by state Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren to withdraw their names from an abortion rights petition. The move followed a televised appeal by Gov. Pete Wilson from Sacramento.

Mary Matalin, deputy campaign manager for Bush, addressed the Connecticut delegation when she learned that they were inclined to sign the petitions. Her speech apparently persuaded the delegates to abandon the protest.

In addition, abortion rights advocates were barred from carrying any placards into the convention hall.

Sen. John Seymour (R-Calif.), who had urged the platform committee to compromise on the abortion issue by dropping all references to it, said he was unhappy with the outcome but satisfied that “there is much, much more in our party’s platform that unites us.”

Weld said that the abortion rights advocates were persuaded to drop their effort in the interest of party unity. “We decided at 10:15 this morning to get on with the business of reelecting George Bush,” he said.

Phyllis Schlafly, head of the Republican National Coalition for Life, said that Bush has no choice but to stick with the 1988 position on abortion if he wants to hold on to those Democratic swing voters known as Reagan Democrats. In addition, she said, it would have been political suicide for the party to reverse its position on the issue at this late date.

“It is clear that turncoats lose,” Schlafly said.

But abortion rights advocates such as Green argued that the political climate in the country has changed dramatically since the last election in 1988 and that efforts by the Supreme Court to chip away at abortion rights have made it a more potent election issue.

Showing the increasing determination of the abortion rights advocates to reverse the party’s position, Mary Dent Crisp, chairwoman of a Republican abortion rights organization, declared that 1992 would be the “last pro-life platform” for the Republican Party.

“We intend to make sure that the 1996 Republican presidential nominee talks and acts with compassion for all the women of America,” she said.

Pennsylvania delegate William H. Lamb said that First Lady Barbara Bush was responsible for encouraging the abortion rights effort among the delegates. Last week, Mrs. Bush expressed the view that abortion should not be mentioned in the platform.

“That opened up the floodgates,” Lamb said.

Elsewhere in Houston, about 40 anti-abortion activists were arrested Monday after they staged a sit-in at a Houston clinic. The arrests were by far the largest since abortion opponents began demonstrating at local clinics a week ago in anticipation of the convention.

Members of Rescue America and the Lambs of Christ gathered at Houston’s West Loop Clinic and tried to push their way through a human barricade of abortion rights advocates. Some of them forced their way through the line and linked arms in front of a door.

Police used orange stretchers to carry the protesters away.

The Divisions Over Abortion

In light of recent Supreme Court rulings, the question of abortion is receiving far greater attention in this presidential election. The Republican platform, which up until 1976 did not address the abortion issue, now urges an amendment to the Constitution to outlaw abortions under all circumstances. “Republicans for Choice” and “National Republican Coalition for Choice”, two abortion rights groups, are hoping for a convention floor fight to repeal the anti-abortion language. In an apparent effort to unify the party, the platform ends with, “We respect the honest differences of opinion of those Republicans who debate our positions on important issues and look forward to working with them toward Republican victories in November.”

Support Abortion Rights

California Gov. Pete Wilson is a strong advocate of abortion rights, but urged his delegation not to trigger a divisive and emotional’ floor fight at the convention.

Secretary of Labor Lynn Martin, an abortion rights supporter, will deliver Bush’s nomination speech on Wednesday night.

Against Abortion

President George Bush supported abortion rights until 1980, when he switched sides after Ronald Reagan picked Bush as his running mate. Bush has vetoed seven bills that would have eased restrictions and funding for abortions.

Vice President Dan Quayle has consistently been opposed to abortion, but stirred up controversy when he said he would be supportive of his teen-aged daughter if she were to have an abortion.

In the Middle

Deputy campaign manager Mary Matalin has said the abortion question should be decided at a state level.

First Lady Barbara Bush has only recently spoken out about abortion telling the press that the topic should be eliminated from the Republican Party’s platform, saying that decisions are personal. “I’m not being outspoken pro or con abortion. I’m saying . . . personal things should be left out, in my opinion, out of platforms and conventions.”

How GOP Voters Feel

The most recent Times Poll of registered Republicans nationwide found sizable support for a woman’s right to abortion: Favor abortion rights: 46% Oppose abortion rights: 39% Indifferent: 13% Don’t know: 2% Source: Times Poll taken Aug. 12-14 of 1,144 respondents nationwide. Margin of error on entire sample is plus or minus 3 percentage points.