The Roe v. Wade Game

Democrat Tim Kaine's gubernatorial campaign is trying to push Jerry Kilgore, the GOP candidate, into saying whether he would sign a bill outlawing abortion in Virginia if a potentially reconfigured U.S. Supreme Court overturns the Roe v. Wade decision.

It all stems from Kilgore's comments during and after Saturday's debate at The Greenbrier resort. Kilgore said he couldn't answer such a question because, well, no one really knew what the Supremes would do and there are no abortion cases "in the pipeline."

It's "total speculation," he said to reporters after the debate.

Not good enough, say Kaine supporters. This afternoon, they organized a conference call with three Democratic state lawmakers--Dels. Kristen J. Amundson and Vivian E. Watts, both from Fairfax County, and Sen. Louise L. Lucas (Portsmouth) who wagged their metaphorical fingers at the Republican, for not saying "yes" or "no."

"The people of my district want to know ... what would his position be?" Lucas said.

"This issue in this campaign, particularly with the change in the court, is a very, very critical issue to women's health," Watts said.

But hold on, a sec here, Kilgore's camp said. Is there a real possibility that the next governor will have any chance to act on any changes to Roe?

"There is not a legitimate or plausible chance that the next governor will have to deal with it," said Tim Murtaugh, Kilgore's press secretary, seeking to characterize the Democrats' point as wildly unrealistic. "It's a potential case to come before a hypothetical court stocked with hypothetical justices who have yet to be nominated that has hypothetically bubbled up in some state somewhere."

The strategy appeared to be to draw out Kilgore to say that he would the state should outlaw abortions. The Republican has said that abortion should be allowed only in cases of rape or incest, or to save a mother's life. Democrats figure that they might have a powerful issue to rally behind --along with centrist Republicans -- depending on what Kilgore's answer might be.

On Saturday, Kaine said he opposes abortion but would not "criminalize a woman's health decisions." Sen. Russ Potts Jr. (R-Winchester), who is running for governor as an independent, has been a leading supporter of abortion rights in recent years.

By Chris Jenkins |  July 18, 2005; 4:46 PM ET  | Category:  Jerry Kilgore , Russ Potts , Tim Kaine
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