Confronting an Issue of Conscience

The man in the audience rose from his seat and told Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren he was throwing him “a curveball.” It turned out to be a hanging curve, a fat pitch Lungren had seen before. He swung and connected with the audience.

What was his position “on choice?” the man asked, using the common language of abortion debaters. “That’s not a curveball at all,” Lungren replied, “because I’ve never changed my position. I’ve been pro-life all my life. And I’m not going to change it now for political convenience.”

The Los Angeles Town Hall audience interrupted the Republican politician with applause, one of only two times it did Tuesday during a luncheon speech and Q-and-A session. (The other time was when he called on society “to restore the principle of personal responsibility and accountability.”)

Lungren, a devout Catholic, ideological conservative and 1998 candidate for governor, has been addressing the abortion issue the only way that makes sense politically when two-thirds of the voters basically disagree with him. He talks about conviction and principle, letting people know, without necessarily saying so, that for him being antiabortion is a matter of religion. His hope is that the public will respect his character and give him wide latitude on the issue.

The consensus of political pros is that two obstacles in particular could trip up Lungren’s run for governor. One is the political pendulum--the fact that Republicans have held the governor’s office since 1983 and voters may think it’s now a Democrat’s turn. The other is abortion, a delicate and emotional issue, especially for many women.

A Times exit poll of California voters last November found that 55% of Republican women favored the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 decision establishing abortion rights; only 37% were opposed. Most significantly, of the GOP women supporting abortion rights, 44% voted for the Democratic president over the Republican nominee.

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The man in the audience was Tim Reuben, 42, a Beverly Hills attorney who favors abortion rights. Lungren aides suspected him of being a Democratic plant. But, in fact, Reuben afterward commended the AG’s handling of his “curveball,” telling reporters: “He responded about as well as someone with his view could. At least, he’s not changing his point of view.”

Lungren didn’t win Reuben’s vote, but he achieved some respect.

During lunch, Reuben and another man had discussed the potential political impact of abortion on the governor’s race. The second man opposes abortion and afterward said of Lungren’s reply: “It’s the best answer I’ve ever heard.”

What Lungren also said was: “I’ve never established a litmus test. And I would hope those on the left don’t establish a reverse litmus test either. . . . I respect those who disagree with me.”

But he wasn’t at all apologetic: “If you want to know the truth, I do not believe abortion in large numbers [is] a tremendous accomplishment in this country. I think it’s a tragedy. And I think most Americans, whether they call themselves pro-choice or pro-life, believe that to be the case, too.”

He stayed away, however, from all the graphic language used by many antiabortion politicians.

At one luncheon table, a woman offered $5 to anyone who would dare ask Lungren about abortion. There were no takers. Everybody held back until Reuben asked on the final question.

“This is an issue that’s kind of tough to deal with,” Lungren acknowledged. “A lot of people don’t want to talk about it, but I’d rather have it discussed in the political environment than on the street.”

It’s a tough issue, he noted, because in America “we believe that two things are important--privacy and life.”

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I suspect that when Lungren or any candidate gets queried about abortion, what the questioner really is asking is whether there’s an agenda. Voters who favor abortion rights may be willing to give an antiabortion candidate some space--if they can be convinced that the pol later won’t encroach on their space.

But at least one comment in Lungren’s Town Hall response may trouble abortion-rights advocates. It was that most people oppose “spending taxpayers’ dollars” on abortion. The implication was that he would oppose Medi-Cal funding of abortions, reversing Gov. Pete Wilson’s policy.

Lungren probably should insert into his standard stump response what I heard him tell a small group of Republicans two months ago in Madera: “I think I have the burden of persuading others to my position, as opposed to imposing my position.”

By taking such a stance, the candidate might keep an abortion curveball from ever becoming a strikeout pitch.