Abortion has become key political issue, Rev. Falwell says

LITILE ROCK, Ark. – The Rev. Jerry Falwell said Sunday he believes Moral Majority and other anti-abortion groups have made abortion a national issue that will become part of every election. In a few years, Falwell said that he hopes a candidate “couldn’t run for dogcatcher, much less president, without being pro-life.” Falwell was in Arkansas to preach in Vilonia at the home church of the state president of Moral Majority, the group Falwell founded. He conducted a news conference after his private twin-engine jet landed at the Little Rock airport. Falwell greeted about a dozen protesters who stood on the airport ramp carrying signs that read “So-called pro-life is anti-woman” and “ERA Yes; Reagan No.” “You don’t like Mr. Reagan?” Falwell asked the group. “He’s a nice guy.” The protesters retorted that Reagan opposed equal rights for women. But Falwell said Reagan, like himself, opposed only the Equal Rights Amendment “because he doesn’t believe in homosexual marriage or women in combat.” Falwell said abortion has become “th~ sensitive, priority issue in the nation” through the efforts of conservatives. He said evidence of this was the intense questioning of Supreme Court nominee Sandra Day O’Connor, who repeatedly was asked to explain her views on abortion during her Senate confirmation hearings last week. Although Falwell said Moral Majority had remained neutral on the O’Connor appointment, he indicated he was relieved by Judge O’Connor’s apparent conservatisn “Everybody