Rep. Hyde Still Likes Controversy : Two decades in Congress fail to mellow him. Abortion debate embroils him in battle.

It had seemed a simple request, the sort of thing that lawmakers ask each other every day.

But for a young Illinois legislator with a gift for passionate oratory, it was an introduction to the cause for which his name would become nationally known. Some would tout him as a hero, responsible for saving millions of lives; others would blame him for adding untold misery to the lives of those who already suffer the most in America.

The legislator was Henry J. Hyde, and the year was 1968. A colleague in the Illinois House had asked him for his support on a bill that would make legal the then-criminal act of abortion.

He said he would consider it, a decision that led him to a book about abortion, Charles Rice’s “The Vanishing Right to Live.” It convinced him, instead, to vote against the bill.

Originally, he had planned to make his stand quietly, without drawing public attention to his view. Then, seeing that no one else was coming forward to speak against it, he took to the floor of the Legislature.

“The rest, as they say, is history,” chuckles Hyde, who today is a 69-year-old Republican congressman approaching the beginning of his third decade in the U.S. House. Still courting controversy, he recently became embroiled in an acrimonious battle over the so-called Hyde Amendment, the ban on federal funding for most abortions.

His 6-foot-5 stature and distinctive shock of lustrous white hair make him one of the chamber’s most recognizable figures.

Married and the father of four, Hyde was a Democrat, in the tradition of most Irish-Catholics, before switching parties in the early 1950s. In his office, he displays both a bust and a portrait of the 16th-Century Catholic martyr St. Thomas More.

Hyde has played a prominent role in many arenas, including defense and foreign policy. As a member of the congressional Iran-Contra committee in 1987, he was President Ronald Reagan’s most articulate defender. And his mix of wit and candor has made him a media favorite.

But he is best known for the amendment that carries his name. Since 1976, it has prohibited the use of federal Medicaid funds for abortion. At that time, Medicaid was paying for 300,000 abortions a year.

In a nod to the changing political climate surrounding the issue, Hyde and his colleagues in Congress this year modified the amendment to allow federal funding of abortion in rape and incest cases. They already had done so in cases where the woman’s life is threatened by the pregnancy.

Last week, the House again voted to retain the prohibition by a 255-178 margin that surprised many who had expected a closer vote.

Noting the annual rate of abortion, he said, “A million and a half abortions are quite enough. We live in a tidal wave of blood.”

Amid a bitter debate, a group of black lawmakers accused Hyde of sending a racist message with his suggestion that some abortion-rights advocates are seeking to wipe out the poor population and that their real agenda is to “refine the breed.”

A black congresswoman’s anger boiled over when Hyde answered the objections of his Illinois colleague, Rep. Cardiss Collins, by saying: “I will direct my friend to a few ministers who will tell her just what goes on in her community.”

Hyde was right: Black abortion opponents often have argued that abortion is a form of genocide. What angered the abortion-rights advocates was what they saw as a harshness and condescension in his words.

One Democratic aide explained: “Some of our people had never heard Hyde speak before. It’s just very disturbing for pro-choice women. People who have never heard him before are very, very, very deeply offended.”

He later apologized for his comments and had them erased from the Congressional Record.

Yet Hyde has won the respect, if not the affection, of many on the other side of the aisle.

Stung years ago when Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) accused him of caring for people until they were born, he has become a vigorous supporter of parental leave, funding for prenatal care and welfare for women, infants and children.

Often, that has put him at odds with his own party. But Hyde said that does not bother him. “I think I have to be consistent in my concern for life throughout the life span, especially those for whom I’m responsible, or partially responsible, for bringing into the world.”