Obama Woos Abortion Foes With Platform Embracing Motherhood

By Kristin Jensen

Aug. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and his supporters are working to win over voters who want to ban or reduce abortions with a call for measures to help women keep their babies.

The party's platform supports the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court ruling that made abortion legal and adds a twist, saying the party ``strongly'' backs a woman's decision to carry a pregnancy to term. The compromise language is the result of behind-the-scenes negotiations with abortion-rights groups and religious leaders on both sides of the issue.

The idea is to frame abortion as less of an either-or issue by discussing both the need to keep abortion legal and the desire to provide programs for expectant and new mothers. It may help Democrats woo evangelical Christians, a core Republican constituency that backed President George W. Bush by a margin of 77 percent in 2004.

``Voters that this will win over are those that are looking for an excuse to vote for Obama,'' said Joel Hunter, a Florida pastor who helped with the language and said he is a ``pro-life'' Republican. ``They just needed one signal that, if I vote for him, more babies can be saved than if we keep wrangling over whether Roe v. Wade is going to be overturned.''

Hunter, 60, is undecided about his vote, though he said the language in the platform ``is huge for me.''

`Unequivocally' Support

The section comprises three paragraphs of a 54-page document that will be approved at the party's nominating convention in Denver Aug. 25-28. To reassure abortion-rights groups, the first paragraph has stronger language than in past platforms, saying the Democrats ``strongly and unequivocally'' support Roe v. Wade and oppose efforts to ``weaken or undermine'' it.

The next paragraph, similar to past platforms, outlines the need for sex education and family-planning services that can reduce unintended pregnancies.

The final paragraph represents a departure: ``The Democratic Party also strongly supports a woman's decision to have a child by ensuring access to and availability of programs for pre- and post-natal health care, parenting skills, income support and caring adoption programs.''

Michael Yaki, 47, the platform director, said he spent days talking to people about the section to avoid fights when the platform committee began its meetings. ``If we had tried to do this on the fly, my concern was that it could turn into some very messy public event,'' he said.

Pro-Choice Support

Abortion-rights groups, which have been concerned about any weakening of Democratic support, accept the new language.

``There's no one who would choose an abortion over not ever having had that unwanted pregnancy to begin with,'' said Kim Gandy, president of the National Organization for Women.

Nancy Keenan, a platform-committee member and president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, said the issue would resonate with women when they learn about Republican candidate John McCain's record. The group is sending activists to the Arizona senator's events to ask about abortion because many women don't know McCain, 71, favors overturning Roe v. Wade, she said.

``Choice is an issue that will take votes away from John McCain,'' said Keenan, 56.

Some religious leaders agreed, though for different reasons.

`Spectrum'

``Most people are on a spectrum'' in their abortion views, said evangelical author Jim Wallis, who consulted on the platform. ``A lot of evangelicals and Catholics in particular will find room in this platform for their own convictions.''

Illinois Senator Obama, 47, rarely discusses the issue, and talking about it more may end up turning off some voters, said Brandice Canes-Wrone, a politics professor at Princeton University in New Jersey.

``Obama has to walk a tricky line,'' taking care not to ``alienate'' those who oppose or are ambivalent about abortion, she said.

Evangelical leaders said that to win over their flock, he would need a more dramatic change in position.

``For many, many evangelicals, that's a deal-breaker,'' said Rick Warren, 54, author of ``The Purpose Driven Life'' and pastor of the Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California, where both Obama and McCain will speak Aug. 16. ``I don't care how many other issues you're right on, but if you're wrong on that, they consider it a holocaust.''

Conservative activists also said support for reducing abortions isn't enough.

`Abortion on Demand'

``Obama is taking the exact same line that Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton took,'' said Gary Bauer, 62, a McCain supporter who is president of American Values, an Arlington, Virginia-based advocacy group. ``It would be really tragic if some young evangelicals unaware of history or civics would vote for a candidate that will guarantee that we will have abortion on demand for another 30 years.''

Religious leaders who consulted on the platform said they expect Republicans to use abortion as a ``wedge issue'' in the way they used gay marriage to turn out evangelical voters in 2004. That's why finding a middle ground was so important, said Reverend Tony Campolo, a platform committee member.

``This doesn't solve the problem, but it certainly moves in the right direction,'' said Campolo, 73. ``We're a diverse party, and we ought to have room ethically for each other.''

To contact the reporter on this story:
Kristin Jensen in Washington at 
kjensen@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: August 14, 2008 00:01 EDT

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