WASHINGTON—President-elect George W. Bush aimed for diversity in his Cabinet, naming a Democrat and two libertarians to a team already notable for its high number of women and minorities.

But the cabinet is less diverse as regards abortion, which U.S. bishops have called a decisive issue in Catholic support for a lawmaker. Most cabinet picks seem to favor abortion—with the most notable exception being John Ashcroft, Bush's nominee for the crucial post of Attorney General.

Early on in the appointment process, the Republican National Coalition for Life called Bush's pro-life bona fides into question with a strongly worded critique of his first 10 picks.

“So far, with just one exception, the people named by Bush to Cabinet positions are either publicly supportive of a mother's right to kill her unborn baby or we have found no evidence that they are in any way pro-life,” the Dallas-based organization's president, Colleen Parro, said in a statement.

The pro-abortion picks Parro was referring to were Colin Powell (Secretary of State), Condolezza Rice (National Security Advisor), Andy Card (White House Chief of Staff), Paul O'Neill (Treasury Department), Don Evans (Commerce Secretary), Karen Hughes (Senior Advisor), Al Gonzales (White House General Counsel), Ann Veneman (Agriculture Secretary) and former New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman (Environmental Protection Agency).

The “one exception” cited by Parro was Mel Martinez, Bush's choice for Housing and Urban Development director. Martinez, a Cuban refugee, is a member of Legatus, an international organization that serves the spiritual needs of Catholic business leaders.

Parro pointed out that Bush's cabinet had drawn praise from Kate Michelman, president of the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League, who remarked on its “great diversity in terms of racial, ethnic and gender representation.”

“When Kate Michelman has something nice to say about the Cabinet appointments President-elect George W. Bush is making, it's time for the pro-life movement to sit up and take notice,” Parro said.

Applause for Ashcroft

But most pro-lifers remained patient, waiting to see who Bush would pick for positions more crucial to their cause. Bush subsequently nominated former Missouri Sen. John Ashcroft as Attorney General and Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson as Director of Heath and Human Services. Both had pro-life records.

While Ashcroft drew applause from pro-lifers of all stripes, Thompson's reception was mixed.

Ashcroft, a lifelong defender of the rights of the unborn, was given a 100% approval rating for his 1999 voting record by the National Right to Life Committee. He would provide a stark contrast to outgoing Attorney General Janet Reno, who has limited the freedom of pro-lifers to protest at abortion clinics and, in a recent gesture of abortion support, filed an amicus brief last year with the U.S. Supreme Court supporting Nebraska abortionist Leroy Carhart in his successful attempt to overturn that state's ban on partial-birth abortion.

The National Right to Life Committee also welcomed Bush's appointment of Thompson as Secretary of Health and Human Services, calling him “a pro-life governor over a period of 14 years” who has signed “numerous pro-life bills into law, including a ban on partial-birth abortions, a parental involvement law, an unborn victims of violence law and a woman's right-to-know law.”

But the American Life League responded to Thompson's appointment with strong disapproval.

A Dec. 28 statement from the Arlington, Va.-based lobbying organization, headlined “Tommy Thompson is not pro-life,” quoted comments Thompson made while governor in support of the University of Wisconsin doctor who pioneered the use of human embryos for stem-cell research.

The New Republic, a liberal, biweekly political journal, suggested the same in its Jan. 15 issue, noting that Thompson's past comments about stem-cell research indicate his potential for disappointing social conservatives.

Pro-Life Wisconsin director Peggy Hamill, who has watched Thompson closely for many years, said in a statement that her pro-life lobbying group was also “concerned” about his appointment.

“While the president-elect could have chosen someone much worse,” she said, “we've never viewed Tommy as a strong pro-lifer.”

Covert Pro-Life Strategy?

During the campaign, Bush did not highlight abortion as an election issue. Rather, he sent positive signals to pro-lifers in private meetings and in the occasional speech stretched out across his campaign. His apparent support for life, and Al Gore's strong pro-abortion agenda, were enough to convince most prolifers to vote for him.

Paul Gigot of The Wall Street Journal reported in a Sept. 29 that Bush had assured Crisis magazine editor and Catholic-vote liaison Deal Hudson of his pro-life commitments in a private meeting. And after meeting with Bush in May, Father Frank Pavone, director of Priests for Life, declared publicly that the Republican candidate was “pro-life.”

The full-throated support for Bush by the National Right to Life committee—even after his naming a predominantly pro-abortion cabinet—suggested that something of a gentleman's agreement was in place between a future Bush administration and the nation's largest pro-life lobbying organization.

Questioned about Bush's pro-life strategy before and after the presidential election, Bush's transition spokesman Scott McClellan told the Register the president-elect “is pro-life with the exception of rape, incest and life of the mother.” He added that Bush “has a proven record in Texas of working to reduce the number of abortions by streamlining the adoption process, promoting abstinence education and passing a strong parental notification bill.”

Responding to pro-life anxiety over abortion-backing cabinet appointments, McClellan noted that the president-elect, not his appointments, “set the agenda for his administration,” but quickly added that Bush is “pleased by the caliber of people and diversity that have agreed to serve in his cabinet.”

That a covert pro-life strategy is at play in Bush's cabinet appointments was suggested by Weekly Standard editor Fred Barnes in a Jan. 1-8 column entitled “A Pro-Life White House, But Very Quietly So.”

Barnes reported that several weeks before naming Powell as Secretary of State, Bush asked Powell to “follow [his] lead and eliminate any vestiges of the Clinton State Department's program to promote abortion around the world.”

Barnes said the private agreement between Bush and Powell “gives a pretty good idea” of how pro-life a Bush presidency will be.

“Bush will push the pro-life agenda in areas where it's politically feasible,” said Barnes. “But he won't be noisy about it.”

Bush spokesman McClellan said he would not comment on a private meeting.

“I reiterate,” he said, “that the president-elect's views are clear and consistent and his pro-life record is well-known.”