Moral Majority, pro-life unit oppose O’Connor selection

Members of the Moral Majority and the nation’s largest anti-abortion group vowed Tuesday to seek to block the nomination of Judge Sandra Day O’Connor to the U.S. Supreme Court. Feminists, on the other hand, said her nomination was a “great victory.” At the core of the controversy is Judge O’Connor’s positions on abortion and the F.qual Rights Amendment while serving from 1969 to 1974 in the Arizona State Senate. Dr. Carolyn Gerster of Phoenix, internal-affairs chairman of the National Right to Life Committee, said her group will appeal to President Reagan to reconsider his nomination of Judge O’Connor, 51, of the Arizona Court of Appeals. “We are dismayed,” Dr. Gerster said. “We will work very, very hard to convince the president that he received erroneous information and ask him to withdraw her name.” Dr. Genter said that during a meeting with Reagan in January she was satisfied that a Supreme Court justice candidate’s position on abortion would be a “prime concern.” She said pro-life factions, which helped elect Reagan, feel betrayed , because he has not fulfilled a promise to appoint judges who ” “respect traditional human values and the sanctity of life.” In anticipation of Judge O’Connor’s appointment, Dr. Gerster on Sunday sent to Reagan a packet detailing the nominee’s voting record on abortion. Judge O’Connor’s nominatioi;1 also has been criticized by the Rev. Jerry Falwell, leader of the Moral Majority, which opposes the F.qual Rights Amendment and abortion. He said