Dole Seeks Tolerance On Abortion Says Gop Must Be Civil About Differences Of Opinion

While vowing to maintain the Republican Party’s anti-abortion principle, Bob Dole said Thursday he wants the GOP national platform to include a “declaration of tolerance” welcoming those who favor abortion rights.

“Our convention must reflect not only our strong pro-life convictions but also a decent regard for the opinions of those who disagree,” Dole declared. “This is not compromise; it is civility.”

The statement is the first time Dole has said flatly that he wants to change the existing Republican platform. But it was worded carefully in an effort to prevent - or at least limit - criticism from anti-abortion forces.

Dole did not say that language embracing those who disagree with the GOP on abortion should be inserted into the existing anti-abortion plank.

One question is whether the gesture will be enough to quash efforts by abortion-rights supporters within the GOP to remove the anti-abortion plank altogether. This group includes the governors of California, New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts.

Strongly reaffirming his own anti-abortion views, Dole noted that the party’s platform has had anti-abortion language since 1980, including a call for a constitutional amendment banning abortion. “In the 1996 platform, I will not seek or accept a retreat from those commitments,” he said.

However, Dole has said he favors exceptions in cases of rape and incest and when the mother’s life is endangered. He has said he will not vote for a constitutional amendment that doesn’t include those exclusions.

Dole and aides have anguished over whether to propose changes to the abortion plank - or to try to reintroduce the “big tent” language elsewhere in the platform. Dole himself has blamed the “gender gap” - President Clinton’s disproportional lead among women voters - on the GOP’s anti-abortion plank, among other things.

Even as he debated his options, Dole named Rep. Henry Hyde of Illinois, a longtime abortion opponent, to head the platform committee.

Dole’s statement was criticized immediately by veteran anti-abortion activist Phyllis Schlafly and her Republican National Coalition for Life.

But the National Right to Life Committee embraced Dole’s idea. “Our organization does not see this as retreat by Bob Dole,” said the group’s political director, Carol Long. “He wants Republicans who support abortion to still feel welcome in the party, and we agree with that.”