Gov. O’Neill No Longer a Pro-Choice Target

WASHINGTON —  A national abortion rights group Tuesday removed Connecticut Gov. William A. O’Neill from a list of top political targets, reversing a stand the group took just three days earlier.

The reversal by the National Abortion Rights Action League took O’Neill off a list that includes Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.), Florida Gov. Bob Martinez and six other elected officials as political targets because of their anti-abortion views.

“I have spoken with Gov. O’Neill’s office and I have received assurances that the governor is not planning any anti-choice initiatives,” NARAL leader Kate Michelman said.

“The governor has stated that regardless of his own personal views he believes individuals have a right to make their own decisions. As a result, NARAL is removing him from its list of elected officials targeted for defeat in 1990.”

O’Neill said he did not know how he got on the list in the first place, “but how I got off there became self-evident because the local people in the state of Connecticut knew I shouldn’t have been on there to begin with.”

Michelman added that her group will be watching all of the candidates in the 1990 race for Connecticut governor and may “consider involvement” as the campaign develops. O’Neill, a Democrat, has said he plans to seek reelection.

Meanwhile, the National Organization for Women launched a tour this week in Virginia to encourage women to vote for Democrat Douglas Wilder for governor because of the anti-abortion views of his Republican opponent.

Wilder, Virginia’s lieutenant governor, faces former Atty. Gen. Marshall Coleman on Nov. 7.