Judge O’Connor Agrees with Reagan on Abortion

WASHINGTON – Ending the first round of her campaign to win approval as the Supreme Court’s first woman justice, Sandra O’Connor said Friday that her views on abortion are the same as President Reagan’s.

The Arizona Court of Appeals judge met with staunch anti-abortion Sens. John East, R-N.C., and Gordon Humphrey, R-N.H., who asked her about published reports that her abortion views were comparable to Reagan’s. “She said, ‘Yes,’ ” Humphrey told reporters. But East said he was “reserving the right” to make his decision until after the confirmation hearings be- , fore the Senate Judiciary Committee, of which he is a member. The : panel is expected to take up her nomination in September. • “I did not ask her her personal .. views on abortion,” East said after a 30-minute meeting with Judge • O’Connor. Asked whether he questioned her ,. about her legal viewpoint on the 1973 Supreme Cciurt• decision giving women the right to an abortion during the first- six months of pregnancy, East replied, “No, I did ‘ not. “It’s not the litmus test,” he said of the abortion ruling. East has said he could not support , any Supreme Court nominee who r agreed with the 1973 decision, which ‘. baa become the precedent for other abortion rulings. East said Friday that a Supreme Court nominee who thought the 1973 decision was “good constitutional law” would have “grave problems” in the confirmation process. He said the abortion issue would : be “one of a host of things” that could be used to explore