Pro-choicers already on the defensive

Until Montana Gov. Marc Racicot withdrew his name from consideration for the attorney general slot on Wednesday, NARAL and Planned Parenthood had targeted him as a threat to their cause, second only to Thompson.

Most important to the Planned Parenthood-NARAL agenda, however, is who will serve as Bush's health and human services secretary. The HHS secretary will regulate human embryo and stem cell research, administer Title X family planning funds -- which provide money for abortions as well as breast cancer screenings -- and will supervise the surgeon general and commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration.

"I think Governor Thompson is a first-rate guy," says Specter. "I've had a lot of dealings with him." Specter, who has defended pro-choice Gov. Tom Ridge, R-Pa., from efforts within conservative circles to block his nomination to any position in a Bush Cabinet, says that the same principle applies for pro-life nominees. "I would not use a litmus test for somebody who's pro-life," he says. "I'm certainly strongly advocating no litmus test for somebody who's pro-choice." Specter called such litmus tests "inappropriate."

Of secondary concern to the abortion-rights community is whether a Bush attorney general would enforce the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (FACE), passed in 1994.

It's a tough bind that they're in. While Michelman and Feldt argue that the "American people" are on their side, for the first time since Roe vs. Wade became the law of the land, all three branches of the federal government are, essentially, pro-life.

And, Feldt says, "groups like the Christian Coalition and very stridently anti-choice members of Congress were quiet during the election in order to help Bush soft-pedal the issue and get elected. They are coming to collect their due now."

Even if Thompson is nominated and sails through the confirmation process, as expected, Feldt says that abortion will rear its head as an issue for Bush early on. A ban on partial-birth abortion -- which passed the House and Senate with Democrat support but was vetoed by President Clinton -- might be one of the first bills he signs. And by Feb. 15, Bush will have to make a decision one way or another on the "gag" rule prohibiting federally paid physicians from mentioning abortion as an option, which Clinton overturned by executive order.

"Either one of them will give us the opportunity to put the issue in stark relief," she says. "We are prepared for whatever comes. We are hoping for the best, but we are prepared for the worst."

"We're still determining what to do," Michelman says. "The first step is to inform and sound the bell and say, 'These are the positions of these critical nominees.' What we do beyond that we have not decided yet."

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