MILFORD, N.H. — Vice President Al Gore retracted his 13-year-old statement equating abortion to "the taking of a human life" as he scrambled Saturday to keep the issue, a traditional stumbling block for Republicans, from tripping him up against Democrat Bill Bradley.
"Yes, my position has changed," Gore said. "I strongly support a woman's right to choose and if (Bradley) disputes that, then he is making a mistake."
Bradley began airing a new television ad in the state Saturday in which the former New Jersey senator calls himself the only presidential candidate who "has been pro-choice for everyone all the time."
Campaigning in Manchester, Bradley said, "I was pro-choice from the day I entered politics. . . . It's not an issue you can dance around. "
The topic clearly was on Gore's mind as he answered reporters' questions about his own congressional record while strolling through Milford's snowy town square.
Gore, who represented Tennessee in the House from 1977-85 and the Senate from 1985-93, was asked if he still believes, as he wrote a constituent in 1987, that abortion "is the taking of a human life."
He was quick to note he had qualified that statement: "I didn't write that. I didn't. I used the word 'arguably,' and yes, my position has changed. I would not use that phrasing today."
Gore said the only abortion matter with which he had wrestled in the past was whether public money should help pay for abortions for poor women — the Medicaid funding for abortions he says he now supports.
"I've always supported keeping abortion legal, and I've always been attacked by the anti-choice groups for that position since the beginning of my career," Gore said.
In fact, the National Right to Life Committee gave Gore an 84 percent approval rating for anti-abortion votes he cast while in the House.
By contrast, the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League rated Gore's House career decidedly "anti-choice."
Nancy Greaney, a Gore supporter and former teacher from Bedford, was surprised to learn of Gore's past votes but said, "I'd never hold them against him."
"I think people's opinions and beliefs evolve," Greaney said.
Bradley had cornered Gore in debate on Wednesday, pressing him to concede his inconsistency on abortion rights. In the days since, the vice president has faced more questions about his record.
Bradley orchestrated the debate question and follow-up TV commercial in a drive to undercut Gore's support among women and reverse his own slip in polls in time for Tuesday's first-in-the-nation primary.
A front page article Friday in The Boston Globe, the newspaper with the biggest New Hampshire circulation, questioned the veracity of Gore's statement in debate that he "had always been for a woman's right to choose." Asked Friday afternoon about the morning paper's story, Gore, a former journalist and avid news reader, said he had not seen it.
A woman caller to New Hampshire public radio the same day told Gore on-air: "I understand if you've changed your position in your career but ... I don't know how I can support your candidacy if you're dishonest about such an important subject and especially on national television."
The Gore campaign responded by producing a testimonial from feminist Gloria Steinem and signatures from 42 members of Congress in an "open letter" stating what Gore once had counted on being obvious in this election: "Al Gore is pro-choice."
That letter was e-mailed to hundreds of political reporters and passed around a state Democratic party dinner Friday night. It was followed by a list of 300 New Hampshire women pledging their support for Gore, in part, because of his commitment to women's health and abortion rights.
Gore spokesman Chris Lehane called the sudden flurry of paper "an effort to help the press," and said Gore would continue to focus on issues such as Medicaid, Medicare and education, where he differs widely with Bradley.