To the pro-abortion rights organizations that had grown used to having a friend in the White House, the decision was a rude awakening. "We weren't surprised, but we were certainly hoping that he would not take this action," said Gloria Feldt, president of Planned Parenthood.

"It's a terrible, terrible decision for anyone who thought that Bush's presidency would not be a threat to a woman's right to choose," said Elizabeth Cavendish, legal director of the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League.

Cavendish said that while she expects more attacks on the Roe decision from the Bush White House, the reinstatement of the global gag rule is an easy way to appease Bush's pro-life allies with the minimum of political risk. "It plays well with his hard right constituents, and it only affects women overseas," she said.

But Stacey Vogel, an anti-abortion crusader who traveled to Washington from Buffalo to participate in Monday's March for Life, was among those who remain unconvinced. She cited Bush's appointment of high-profile pro-choice Republicans to his Cabinet as proof that he probably doesn't have the moral muscle to lead the country into a future in which abortion is outlawed. "He wouldn't have hired Christine Todd Whitman or Colin Powell if he were really pro-life," she said.

As for John Ashcroft, the anti-abortion conservative Bush picked for attorney general, Vogel is hopeful about his possible reign at the Justice Department, but wasn't entirely convinced that he has the right attitude going in. "He's a good lawyer and a good prosecutor," Vogel said, "but he'll have to fight to get them to overturn Roe vs. Wade, and I don't know that he'll do that."

Brown instead looks to an even more trusted member of his team for the real story on his abortion views. "Laura Bush is following in her mother-in-law's footsteps," said Brown, noting that both Bush spouses support keeping Roe vs. Wade the law of the land. "It's proof that this administration plans to stay in the mushy middle on life."

Recent Stories