If you're pro-choice, pray for Gregoire

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Monday, January 10, 2005

If you're pro-choice, pray for Gregoire

By SUSAN PAYNTER
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER COLUMNIST

Pro-choice leaders in this decidedly pro-choice state have been holding on to the gubernatorial recount roller coaster with white knuckles, crossed fingers and the breathless hope that Christine Gregoire's 129-vote lead will hold.

It really doesn't matter that he supports severe restrictions on a woman's right to abortion, candidate Dino Rossi assured them during the race -- on those few occasions when he could be pressed to discuss a subject he smoothly managed to largely avoid.

"I'm not running for Supreme Court," Rossi repeatedly said, selling himself as a moderate focused on jobs and business while nimbly sidestepping prickly social issues.

And, when it came to the issue of abortion, much of the media pretty much gave him a pass. "We did manage to get the message out to newspapers about his voting record on reproductive health, sex education and other issues," says Karen Cooper of NARAL Pro-Choice Washington." But she added that it was a message that didn't fit into TV sound bites.

With a woman's right to choose seemingly secured in this state by Initiative 120, why are pro-choice people worried that Rossi may prevail? After all, as he said, the governor doesn't directly affect choice anyway, does he?

Well, for one thing, the governor does control a powerful bully pulpit. And, once elected, the cloak of moderation can easily slip off to reveal a naked agenda.

Then there's veto power. And budget power. And the fact that Rossi still may be inches from plopping into the governor's chair at a chilling time for choice nationwide.

Consider a few recent signal events in the country:

Abstinence-only sex-ed programs, such as those Rossi supports, have come into favor and major funding during the era of the second President Bush. Congress allocated $170 million for programs that, by law, can't discuss any benefit of birth control or condoms. Not even in preventing the spread of sexually transmitted disease.

Fearing FCC anger, a public radio station in North Carolina recently told women's rights and health organizations they can't use the words "reproductive rights" in on-air announcements. It may be interpreted as advocating a political position, the station said. The words would have to be changed to "reproductive health."

On the other hand, the Ohio legislature just passed a law allowing "Choose Life" license plates to be issued to state drivers and the bill soon will be signed into law by -- ta-da -- the governor.

President Bush has selected outspoken abortion foe Dr. W. David Hager to head the Food and Drug Administration's Reproductive Health Drugs Advisory Committee -- a committee with 10 positions open and one that makes crucial decisions relating to drugs used in OB-GYN care, including abortion. In his medical practice and in a book he wrote, Hager advises women suffering from premenstrual syndrome to get relief from the Bible and from prayer.

On inauguration day groups seeking to overturn Roe v. Wade plan a celebration near the White House focused on their hopes for anti-choice appointments to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The same groups ended the year by picketing 20 Planned Parenthood locations, claiming that Planned Parenthood's holiday card greeting, "Choice on Earth," "mocked the birth of Christ" and perversely celebrated killing in a sacred season.

It's into this atmosphere that Rossi, the self-avowed moderate, stepped, an atmosphere in which the legal right to abortion has been eroded even in this state by shrinking access to safe terminations. "He's a wolf in sheep's clothing," and a "slick salesman," said Marcy Bloom of Seattle's Aradia Women's Health Center.

So slick that some of her own clinic staff actually wondered what Rossi's position on choice really was.

For the record, Rossi campaigned against Initiative 120. He voted to allow insurance companies to deny coverage for birth control. He voted against reproductive health care for low-income women. He voted against late-term abortions. And he was a secondary sponsor of a bill for federal money to support abstinence only sex-ed.

As governor, he could oppose legislation set on making sex-ed more comprehensive, Cooper of NARAL warns. In his budget, he could affect state matching funds for birth control for low-income women. At the very least, Rossi would not be the stalwart supporter of choice that pro-choice women had in Gov. Gary Locke and the one they hope to have in Gov. Christine Gregoire. "I'm excited and relieved beyond words," Bloom of Aradia Clinic said when Gregoire's election was certified last week.

But hold on tight ... the ride isn't over.

Susan Paynter's column appears Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Call her at 206-448-8392 or send e-mail to susanpaynter@seattlepi.com.

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