Abortion gained new prominence in the race for governor yesterday after two pro-abortion rights Republican senators were defeated in Tuesday's primary by conservatives -- and Democrats quickly blamed Republican gubernatorial candidate Ellen R. Sauerbrey, calling her intolerant, radical and out of step.
The two defeated GOP senators -- minority leader F. Vernon Boozer of Baltimore County and John W. Derr of Frederick -- apparently suffered at the polls because of their Senate votes during this year's General Assembly session against a ban on a particular late-term abortion procedure.
"It's an interesting statement about the direction of the Sauerbrey-led Republican Party," said Gov. Parris N. Glendening, the Democratic incumbent.
"They took two of the most experienced legislators in either party and defeated them for taking responsible positions on gun violence and the right for a woman to choose," the governor said.
"I think it was very unfortunate to see this kind of intolerance from the leadership of their party."
Sauerbrey responded yesterday by saying she had been expecting an effort by Glendening to present her as "some sort of demon" just as she says he did in 1994.
"The citizens of Maryland are not going to buy it this time," she said.
Sauerbrey promised again to leave current Maryland law on abortion in place, a law that gives women freedom of choice.
Nevertheless, she said, she would ban the extremely rare procedure sometimes called "partial-birth abortion," a subject of controversy in Annapolis and Washington in recent years.
"No governor is going to make changes in the abortion law without the citizens having a voice," she said.
"As governor, I will respect the right of citizens to speak at referendum, and I will uphold the law they passed."
Glendening said the defeat of Derr and Boozer -- and the loss of Michael Steele of Prince George's County in the GOP primary for state comptroller -- suggests that Republicans are as narrowly focused geographically as they are philosophically.
Sauerbrey, her running mate Richard D. Bennett and the leading candidate for comptroller, Larry Epstein, are all from Baltimore County.
But some wondered whether abortion could be used effectively by the Democrats as a central issue in the gubernatorial campaign -- even as a way to build a sense of urgency into a Democratic campaign in search of a galvanizing theme.
