The GOP's Silent Majority

Winding through the crowds in Washington, D.C., during April's pro-choice march, Jennifer Blei Stockman and dozens of fellow-travelers held up simple white signs on wooden sticks saying, "I'm a Pro-Choice Republican."

"People applauded us. They were so happy to see a Republican group there," said Stockman, a Connecticut resident. But then she admits, "We were the oxymoron of the March."

A pro-choice faction might seem, at first glance, fated for outcast status in a Republican Party that takes a hard line against abortion and women's right to choose. Undaunted, however, the group is now raising an even bolder banner and staking a greater claim on its rightful place in the GOP. Begun in 1999, when three regional groups with similar missions combined to form the Republican Pro-Choice Coalition, the group last month renamed itself Republican Majority for Choice, with the emphasis on "majority."

"We are the majority in the Republican Party; the silent majority. This is a way to make our message clear and to change the dialogue," said Stockman, national co-chair of Republican Majority for Choice. "Choice is one of the tenets within the Republican Party. We have school choice, retirement-savings choice. As a Republican, it's a contradiction not to be for individual choice."

But, given the contrary direction of national party leaders and a platform that is starkly anti-choice on reproductive rights, Stockman concedes, "We have a tough row to hoe."

The group, headquartered in Washington, D.C., with 10 national chapters, rolled out its new identity in anticipation of the Republican National Convention, Aug. 29-Sept. 2 in New York City.

Spurred by Poll Findings

The group claimed its "majority" position after conducting a May telephone poll of 1,006 individuals, including a representative sampling of 290 Republicans, about reproductive rights. Four out of five Republicans agreed that a "person must follow her own faith, personal beliefs, and conscience in private matters like abortion." Three-fifths said they would decline to take away the choice of others, even if they would not personally choose abortion. A majority, or 52 percent, of Republicans said Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court ruling that declared that states could not prohibit abortion in all circumstances, should not be overturned.

Bob Carpenter is vice president of American Viewpoint, the Alexandria, Va., firm that conducted the poll. "The numbers," he said, "show that there is consistent support for abortion rights within the Republican Party. People think it's a personal decision."

Those Democrats and independents who were polled supported women's right to choose by even greater margins. Nine out of 10 Democrats and 89 percent of independents agreed that a woman and not the government should make decisions about abortion.

What 'Pro-Choice' Really Means

Republicans and Democrats diverged on the use of "pro-choice" as a label or term with which they identify themselves.

Substantially fewer Republicans than Democrats defined themselves as "pro-choice" even when they articulated pro-choice values, responding that they believe women "should have the full range of reproductive choices such as abstinence, contraception, motherhood, adoption and abortion."

Slightly more than half of the Republicans and 84 percent of Democrats called themselves "pro-choice," although, 70 and 92 percent, respectively, support a full range of reproductive choices.

Kellie Rose, executive director of the Republican Majority for Choice, said that the "pro-choice" label is misinterpreted as meaning "pro-abortion" rather than reflecting the full range of reproductive choices, including abstinence, contraception, adoption, motherhood and safe, legal abortion. "People step back from the term 'pro-choice' as being too closely aligned with abortion alone or as taking an absolutist position," said Rose. In changing its name, the group is testing a slight variation, using "choice" to replace the "pro-choice" moniker that it previously used.