Levy's stance on abortion riles Conservative Party chief
By ELIZABETH MOORE. One of the things State Conservative Party chairman Michael Long holds against Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy is the perfect score he received from the National Abortion Rights Action League.. But the Levy campaign says his position has "evolved" since he filled out that group's questionnaire as a county legislator in 1999. These days, Levy says, he's for abortion rights but against so-called "partial-birth" abortion, on which the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a ban three years ago.. Levy had told NARAL he was opposed to any ban, writing that he supported at the time the law allowing termination of pregnancies in the third trimester to protect the life or health of the mother.. Now NARAL is not happy with Levy either. "The issue of 'partial-birth' abortion spins on whether a woman's health is considered in decisions around late-term procedures," spokeswoman Samantha Levine said.. "We are concerned that Levy now supports an abortion ban even when a woman's health is in danger - a position at direct odds with NARAL Pro-Choice New York's values.". A Levy spokesman said that after studying the issue he now believes "health" should be defined more narrowly, excluding the mother's mental health from consideration.. Abortion is not a strict litmus test for the Conservatives, who supported former Rep. Rick Lazio despite his own abortion rights stance (with exceptions: he supports the "partial birth" ban, and opposes federal funding for abortions).. Unlike Levy, however, Lazio filled out no questionnaires for NARAL, that would come to vex Long.
