LETTERS: ABORTION IS NOT A POLITICAL ISSUE

To the editor:

In response to recent columns by local radical Jay Eastlick and national zealot Cal Thomas, I have a word of caution -- and I think common sense -- regarding the abortion issue. It's not a political issue, and it would be idiotic for Republicans to let it become one. It's obviously a personal issues for a lot of people, but certain facts remain: A good-sized majority of Americans favors abortion. It's legal. It's the law of the land via the Supreme Court. We have the most conservative court that we have had in decades, and it continues to support Roe v. Wade. In short, abortion law is set by the court, not by politicians, and nothing is going to change that.

Republicans and conservative Democrats and independents who attempt to make abortion the litmus test for political candidates, in particular those vying for the presidency in 1996, are playing to the Democrats' hands. Let's not be stupid. Democrats are already sitting on the sidelines chortling as they watch the GOP's hard right attempt to resurrect abortion as the defining issues of the party and the 1996 race. They would be applauding, except their are sitting on their hands lest they appear too exuberant.

I guess zealots have an argument if they want to hold senatorial candidates' feet to the fire since the Senate, and not the House, must advise and consent on high court nominations. And, of course, the president nominates justices if vacancies occur.

But those obsessed with this matter should keep in mind the fact that Presidents Bush and Reagan nominated the most conservative candidates they could get through the advise-and-consent process -- no easy task -- and abortion remains legal. Thus, the only question the pro-life forces should be asking of presidential aspirants is: Are you a conservative? Will you nominate conservative candidates for the high court, should the opportunity arise?

Which is all the candidate should say: I am a conservative. I will nominate conservative candidates. I will not hold their feet to the fire over the abortion question. It is not a political issue.

I suppose you could argue that federal funding for abortions is also an issue, and the U.S. support for worldwide population control is an issues, but these are merely distractions. The main question is whether one branch of the GOP is going to split the party worse than Ross Perot did in 1992. Leave abortion out of the 1996 race. It is a legal, not a moral or character, issue. If you must fight abortion, fight it through education or some other legal means, but leave it out of the political process.

BILL ZELLMER

Cape Girardeau