Kerry urges cooperation to reduce abortions

WASHINGTON -- Senator John F. Kerry yesterday called for a new national commitment to reduce the number of abortions, saying that both sides on the abortion debate can reach ``common ground" on the sharply divisive cultural issue that was prominent in his defeat in the 2004 presidential election.

In an intimate speech laced with references to his Catholic upbringing, Kerry chastised abortion-rights supporters and anti-abortion activists for the ``overly partisan" tone that has polarized the nation. Despite their intense opposition, Kerry said, there are areas of agreement -- such as tax credits for adoptive parents, more government aid for working mothers, and health insurance for everyone.

``Even as a supporter of Roe v. Wade, I am compelled to acknowledge that the language both sides use on this subject can be, unfortunately, misleading and unconstructive," Kerry, a Massachusetts Democrat, told an audience at Pepperdine University in Malibu, Calif. ``Instead of making enemies, we need to make progress."

The speech is Kerry's most extensive attempt to describe his religious views and define where he stands on so-called ``values issues" since President Bush defeated him for the presidency in 2004. Bush and the Republican Party used abortion, gay marriage, and other controversial social issues to motivate conservative voters to the polls against Kerry.

Throughout his career, Kerry has said he is personally opposed to abortion but would not impose his views on others. On the campaign trail in 2004, Kerry said he believed human life begins at conception but asserted that, if elected, he wouldn't appoint a Supreme Court justice who would ``undo a constitutional right" by overturning Roe.

Kerry said in a telephone interview yesterday that the speech is in the same vein as his past comments about the need to make abortion safe, legal, and ``rare." He said he wanted to exhort both sides of the abortion debate to recognize the sincerity of each other's beliefs and ``be more honest about the complexity of the moral decision here."

During the 2004 campaign, Bush often spoke of promoting a ``culture of life" to contrast himself with Kerry. Some Catholic archbishops, disturbed by Kerry's more liberal positions on abortion and stem cell research, questioned his right to take Communion and urged parishioners to vote against him.

According to the Pew Research Center, Bush, a Methodist, carried the Catholic vote by five percentage points, even though Kerry was the first Catholic presidential nominee of either party since John F. Kennedy in 1960. Exit polls in 2004 indicated that Bush swayed some voters by expressing his faith.

Kerry's close defeat caused some soul-searching among Democrats about religion and values in politics. The senator told his audience yesterday that the bruising campaign with Bush taught him that despite his reticence to talk publicly about faith, ``if I didn't fill in the picture myself, others would draw the caricature for me."

Kerry's speech follows similar statements by other prominent Democrats, most notably Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York. Both she and Kerry are considered contenders for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination.

Clinton rocked abortion-rights advocates -- typically loyal Democrats -- with a January 2005 speech in which she, like Kerry, called for common ground on the issue. Clinton also praised ``religious and moral values" that help girls wait before becoming sexually active.

Like Clinton's, Kerry's speech changed the emphasis on his position. At Pepperdine, Kerry endorsed new tax credits for adoptions, expanded federal childcare programs, universal health insurance, and a higher minimum wage to raise poor women's standard of living -- nothing that conflicts with Kerry's previous public statements on abortion.

Still, the speech was striking for a senator who has high marks from NARAL Pro-Choice America, a group that considers him committed to protecting abortion rights. Gary Bauer, president of the conservative American Values organization, said Kerry appears to be pandering to moderates after Bush and the Republicans lampooned him as an out-of-touch liberal. Bauer said Kerry's speech calling for fewer abortions is hard to take at face value, since in the Senate he opposed proposals designed to make abortions more difficult to obtain .

``I don't want to discourage anyone from giving a speech moving in my direction, but this is one of these issues where words aren't enough," said Bauer, a former GOP presidential candidate. ``Democrats realize that they've been alienating themselves from a lot of voters with their position on abortion."

But Nancy Keenan, NARAL president, noted that Kerry's record speaks for itself. ``As someone who consistently supported a woman's right to choose and has the voting record to prove it, Senator Kerry is acknowledging what NARAL Pro-Choice America has been saying for years: This decision is a personal one between a woman, her family, her doctor, and her God," Keenan said.

Besides the abortion issue, Kerry traced his religious journey .

``I wandered in the wilderness, went through a divorce, and struggled with questions about my direction," Kerry said. ``Then, suddenly and movingly, I had a revelation about the connection between the work I was doing as a public servant and my formative teachings."