Watching the Republican platform committee work its will on the abortion issue last week provided a fierce and vivid example of the power of political organization.
Over four days, the anti-abortion wing of George Bush`s party swept the table on the issue, changing not a word of the 1988 platform language, which called for a constitutional amendment to outlaw abortion and endorsed the naming of federal judges with well-documented anti-abortion beliefs.
”Total victory,” crowed long-time abortion foe Phyllis Schlafly. ”None of that litmus-test, big-tent garbage.”
After the platform was closed Thursday, Rep. Henry Hyde of Illinois introduced a non-binding resolution acknowledging ”honest differences of opinion.” It provided a scintilla of cover for the losers, though abortion-rights lobbyists claimed to be insulted.
Perhaps they should have been. Ralph Reed, aide to Pat Robertson`s Christian Coalition, likened the unity resolution to the U.S. Olympic basketball`s Dream Team ”taking the Czechoslovakian team out for a few beers.”
Republicans holding abortion-rights views insist their position is now the dominant view in the party, and there is polling evidence to sustain that argument.
An American Viewpoint survey conducted by Republican pollster Linda DiVall and released this month shows that a plurality of Republicans now consider themselves to be ”pro-choice.”
But if the emerging GOP majority on abortion intends to change the party line on a woman`s right to choose, they had better get about their business.
The platform committee was larded with social conservatives and evangelical Christians, most of whom had won seats on the panel in their home states. And the platform language on abortion was guarded by a pair of savvy Illinois pols-Schlafly and Hyde.
Despite weeks of buildup in the media about a GOP brawl over abortion, this fight was a one-punch affair, with only one side punching.
Early last week, Sen. John Seymour of California, now in the race of his life against former San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein in a strong abortion- rights state, showed up to talk a little moderation to the panel. After a brief tour, he cleared out without a hearing.
As he left, the Californian said that having grown up near the railroad yards, he understood when a freight train was coming.
After Seymour, none of the party`s abortion-rights luminaries from Washington and various statehouses went anywhere near the platform gang.
The business of being overwhelmed was left to a pair of activists, Ann Stone of Republicans for Choice and former party co-chair Mary Dent Crisp, who heads the National Republican Coalition for Choice. They were long on indignation and press conferences, but they had few votes.
On the one occasion the committee held a roll-call vote on a motion to strike all abortion language in the platform, the abortion-rights camp lost 84-16.
The debate, such as it was, turned out to be a pretty straightfoward affair. The abortion-rights forces saw themselves as part of a crusade, while their opponents focused on counting noses and keeping score.
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At one point, Schlafly was asked what she thought of anti-abortion activists from Operation Rescue being arrested at Houston abortion clinics.
”Those demonstrations are outside the hall,” she said. ”I`m inside the hall.”