"On August 17, NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia announced their candidate endorsements for the upcoming election. Their major endorsements went straight down the Democratic Party line, save one: When it came to the gubernatorial race, NARAL declined to endorse the Dems’ man, Tim Kaine, who happens to be a devout Catholic.

“He embraces many of the restrictions on a woman’s right to choose that are opposed by NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia,” the announcement said. “We cannot therefore offer any endorsement in this year’s race for governor.”

The lieutenant governor and former Richmond mayor’s position on abortion is nuanced. He has a faith-based objection to abortion (same for the death penalty). Save for dire circumstances, he’s opposed to third-trimester abortions. However, he says that if elected he would not criminalize first-trimester abortions, and would uphold the current law. His views on the subject have even been compared in The American Prospect to those of George W. Bush.

In the Richmond Statehouse—which is known throughout the country as a wasteland for women’s reproductive rights, according to Planned Parenthood—Independent gubernatorial candidate Russ Potts is decidedly pro-choice. NARAL, however, declined to endorse Potts, though his views align with theirs, because he is chairman of the State Senate’s Education and Health Committee, and NARAL wants to keep it that way.

“Potts has served an extraordinarily important role where he is and it’s crucial that he stays [there],” says Ann O’Hanlon, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia.

O’Hanlon also points out that NARAL is behind Democratic lieutenant governor candidate Leslie Byrne 100 percent and “we expect people to vote the ticket.”

Yet, the inevitable concern is that Kaine’s ambivalence on this key topic, coupled with NARAL’s nonendorsement, will alienate the Democrats’ pro-choice base. Come Election Day, those swing voters could throw their hats in with the Potts camp.

“There are many constituents who wish that Kaine were able to take a stronger pro-choice stance,” says Sherry Kraft, co-chair of the Charlottesville Democratic Party. “It’s definitely a concern that’s out there.”

Kraft prefers to look at the glass as half-full, pointing out that Kaine supports family planning, birth control and sex-ed initiatives in the public schools. His Republican opponent Jerry Kilgore, by contrast, recently accepted the endorsements of the National Right to Life Committee and the Virginia Society for Human Life Political Action Committee, both of which believe life starts at conception and neither of which condones birth control.

The local Dems have not issued an official statement on the NARAL nonendorsement. But Kraft is considering organizing local party members closer to the election to pressure Kaine to articulate a stronger pro-choice position.

Joshua Scott, director of programs at UVA’s Center for Politics, agrees with Kraft’s assessment. He also says that while not getting NARAL’s endorsement doesn’t help matters, it isn’t everything.

“Media and candidates make more of endorsements than the general public,” says Scott. “It’s hard to say whether this gives the election to Kilgore. If Potts is able to pick up steam and if it looks like he’s in good standing come late September, he’s likely to benefit from a lot of pro-choice voters. However, if Potts fizzles out, those voters will probably vote for Kaine.”

Virginia has never had a Catholic governor. If Kaine is looking to reconcile his religious convictions with the political agenda of his party’s base, he might want to look to fellow Catholic Del. Mitch Van Yahres, who represents Charlottesville in the General Assembly.

“Van Yahres has an outstanding pro-choice voting record,” says Ben Greenberg, director of government relations of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia. “His votes reflect a true understanding of the reproductive rights issues.”

Scott, however, notes that the key difference between the two politicians is that Charlottesville is famously liberal; the entire state is famously not liberal. It’s expected that Van Yahres would support abortion rights. Kaine, says Scott, must walk a finer line, and his religious opposition to abortion could help him appear more moderate in Virginia’s more conservative areas.

Regardless, says Greenberg, “the individual who sits as governor will be vitally important in stemming the tide” that’s rising against reproductive freedoms in the Statehouse." (Nell Boeschenstein, C-ville, August 30, 2005)

Editor's Note: For more, see Sorting Out Candidate Views on Abortion, Candidates Muddy Own Messages and Tim Kaine on Reducing Abortions in Virginia.