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Gallagher backs mandatory wait for abortion

TALLAHASSEE - Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Gallagher proposed Monday to lead a fight for a mandatory 24-hour waiting period for women seeking an abortion.

Gallagher said he wanted a statutory waiting period "to give women a chance to access information in regard to the abortion that they have applied for."

Gallagher said 23 other states have a waiting period, and Florida should too.

Gallagher's statement moved him significantly to the right in hopes of gaining support of conservative Republican voters. Once a supporter of abortion rights, he now is an ardent abortion opponent.

Gallagher was unsuccessful in two previous bids for governor, in 1986 and 1994. In his last race, he said the issue of abortion should be between a woman and her physician.

"Government should stay out of that particular relationship," he said during a 1994 debate in Orlando sponsored by the Florida Federation of Republican Women.

"It's wrong to play politics with women's lives," Stephanie Grutman, executive director of the Florida Alliance of Planned Parenthood, said Monday. "Tom was prochoice 10 years ago, and now he's self-proclaimed antichoice? I'm not sure what he'll do should he be elected."

Grutman noted that a parental notification law the Legislature passed and Gov. Jeb Bush signed in the spring already imposes a 48-hour wait for unmarried girls 17 and younger who seek abortions.

Gallagher's chief GOP opponent in next year's primary race, Attorney General Charlie Crist, is opposed to abortion, although he voted against a 24-hour waiting period for all women in 1995 when he served in the state Senate.

"I believe the people of Florida deserve a healthy debate on all issues," Crist said Monday, adding that he is disappointed he has not heard from Gallagher's camp about his invitation in June to schedule public debates.

The Democratic gubernatorial candidates - state Sen. Rod Smith of Alachua, U.S. Rep. Jim Davis of Tampa and former Tallahassee Mayor Scott Maddox, who also chaired the state Democratic Party for two years - all support a woman's right to choose abortion.

Gallagher defended his switch Monday. "This isn't a matter of getting right and getting left," he said. "It's a matter of stating what policies are important."

The state's 61-year-old chief financial officer introduced a "family policy group" that included state Rep. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala, to advise him on issues.

His goals include amending the state Constitution to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman, denying public funding to libraries that fail to install Internet filters to prohibit viewing of pornography, stopping retailers from selling adult videos to minors, and increasing the money spent to encourage adoptions.

Gallagher, who was raised Catholic, married several years ago after nearly two decades as one of the capital's most renowned bachelors. His supporters say he has settled down and embraced his responsibilities as a husband and father.

Gallagher claimed he has always been conservative.

"I get labeled by other people," he said. "I've never labeled myself."

Bush, who is prohibited by law from seeking a third consecutive term, thinks both Republican candidates are qualified to succeed him.

"As long as they stay focused on the positive things, it'll work out," Bush said.

[Last modified September 27, 2005, 02:45:31]