Monday, September 25, 2000
Abortion's not the primary issue, but it's divisive
By Kristina Goetz
The Cincinnati Enquirer
With the lines clearly drawn, presidential candidates Al Gore and George W. Bush haven't pushed their abortion agendas much. But the issue still resonates with Tristate voters.
Greater Cincinnati's conservative reputation and a high population of Catholics combine to make abortion an issue that many use to choose a presidential candidate.
While local voters on both sides of the abortion platform tend to weigh the issue heavily, it's not the only issue they look at and is oftentimes not the top issue.
Only 5 percent of Ohio voters who responded to the University of Cincinnati's July Ohio Poll listed abortion as the most important issue in the 2000 presidential election.
Health care was listed by 15 percent of those polled as the No. 1 issue, and 13 percent said education was their top choice.
Abortion has been of particular interest in Greater Cincinnati for years as the Queen City is known as the birthplace of the Right to Life movement.
It's also home to a clinic run by one of the most well-known abortion doctors in the United States, Dr. Martin Haskell. He filed a lawsuit challenging an Ohio law that would ban a late-term abortion procedure and make it a crime, with penalties of up to eight years in prison and a maximum fine of $15,000. A federal judge on Fridayrefused to allow the state's ban on the procedure to go into effect and said it is likely the new law is unconstitutional.
While the abortion issue doesn't dominate local political discussions, it has galvanized the two major political camps just as the issue has on the national level:
• Mr. Gore has vowed to protect the U.S. Supreme Court's 1973 Roe versus Wade decision that legalized abortion.
• Mr. Bush opposes abortion and has said he will sign a bill that would ban a type of late-term procedure that's often called partial-birth abortion.
Some Greater Cincinnati voters say politicians should never blur the line on the abortion issue. Others say they should look for more of a middle ground.
Dr. Michael J. Posey, pastor at St. Paul AME Zion Church in Covington, said he would rank a candidate's view on abortion fourth on his list of criteria in choosing a president. The 53-year-old minister is against abortion, but he said other issues are more important to him.
“That's definitely a hot button-type issue,” Dr. Posey said. “Personally, I'm more concerned about education. It's so related to welfare-to-work, and poverty and people's suffering.
“Abortion is important, but as far as what impacts people more, it's education, the character of the president and the economy.”
Supporters and opponents of abortion know the impact that each candidate could have on the issue as the next president may appoint several new Supreme Court justices.
Recent Supreme Court decisions have been close, including two recent 5-4 votes. One upheld the rights of patients to enter abortion clinics unimpeded by protesters. The other struck down a Nebraska law banning late-term abortions. Dr. John Willke, the Finneytown resident who founded the Right to Life Movement 30 years ago with his wife, said the abortion issue is as important or more important than it has ever been.
“The gulf between the two (presidential candidates) is dramatic,” he said. “There's no question where these men stand. No question.
“Now, the question is motivation. Will the good economics of our time, which normally trumps an election, continue to do so?”
One factor that might influence Catholic voters in Greater Cincinnati is a 1998 statement issued by the U.S. Catholic bishops. It emphasized the importance of voting on issues such as abortion, euthanasia and capital punishment.
“The arena for moral responsibility includes not only the halls of government, but the voting booth as well,” the statement reads. “Laws that permit abortion, euthanasia and assisted suicide are profoundly unjust, and we should work peacefully and tirelessly to oppose and change them.”
While she strongly believes that abortion should be kept legal and accessible, Sue Momeyer, CEO of Planned Parenthood of Southwest Ohio and Northern Kentucky, believes many politicians unfairly fixate on abortion when it comes to family planning options.
“The intensity waxes and wanes,” she said. “But the choice issue tends to resurface every time there is a national election. It's an important issue that people have strong feelings about.
“Unfortunately, there hasn't been much middle ground.”
Ms. Momeyer said she wishes candidates focused more on ways to prevent unintended pregnancies: family planning, contraceptives and sex education, for example.
“These are some ways that abortion, the need for it, could be lessened,” she said. “(But) that tends not to be where the politics are.”
For those Tristate voters who are not necessarily activists, abortion is still often a deciding factor in how they vote.
Erika Johns, an artist and part-time waitress at Kaldi's coffeehouse and restaurant on Cincinnati's Main Street, said she could never vote for a candidate who does not support access to abortion.
“Choice is up to the individual as a democracy should be,” she said. “I don't think any corporate, white man could tell any woman what she could do.
“Everybody has an individual path to take in their life and everything in life is one choice after another.”
But the main issues she's concerned about are cleaning up the environment, ending discrimination, and taking care of homeless and other indigent people.
That's why she's voting for Ralph Nader on the Green Party ticket.
Bill Wittkopp, an aircraft mechanic, takes the opposite view. The candidate he had supported was Republican Alan Keyes, who is no longer in the race. Along with the integrity of the candidate, and how that person interprets the Constitution, Mr. Wittkopp also will look at the abortion issue.
“It has such a critical, pivotal role in the moral fiber of our country right now,” he said. “The issue itself is basically the manifestation of a hidden moral problem.”
Abortion won't be the major issue for either Teresa Boggs, a bartender in Northside, or Emily Wirks, a UC student, though they have opposite views on abortion.
“(Abortion) is a factor, not just the biggest factor,” Ms. Boggs said.
Education and tax breaks for the middle class are important, too.
She's voting for Mr. Gore.
“He's been there for eight years and we aren't doing too bad,” she said.
Ms. Wirks is undecided. While she supports a law that would ban abortion, picking a candidate is tough, she said.
“I'm hopeful I can judge upon character as well,” she said. “It's very hard for me to choose a candidate because I'm very much turned off by politics with all the backstabbing and controversy.”
When she goes into the voting booth in November, she'll be contemplating the candidates' views on education, abortion and health care.
The selection of new Supreme Court justices could bring so many possibilities that Tristate voters say it's hard to predict what may happen on the abortion issue nationally.
“I wish I had a crystal ball,” Ms. Momeyer said. “The contest seems so close this year. It could be one of those issues that has more of an impact in a close election.”
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