The effort was seen at the time as another step toward broadening the organization's image as a more mainstream group with a moral commitment beyond eliminating abortion and promoting school prayer, which remain priorities.

Along with other Tennessee reproductive healthcare facilities, CHOICES faces state plans for a 2014 vote over a constitutional amendement which would eliminate abortion in Tennessee.

He tells audiences, "Everyone - pro-life or pro-choice - has the same goal, which is to eliminate abortion."

"We need to talk about many ways that we can work together, both pro-life and pro-choice people who share the goal of eliminating abortion," he said.

Both pro-life and pro-choice people believe very strongly that we need to eliminate abortion. . . . I and my wife, Cindy, are proud adoptive parents.

Much of the introspection in St. Louis, including an extraordinary valedictory by the departing national chairman, Richard N. Bond, focused on the need to eliminate abortion as a Republican litmus test.

He said such requirements had tended to be used as a back-door way to try to eliminate abortion.

During the 1990 Minnesota governor's race, one panel pressed the abortion issue by asking: "What are you, as a candidate, going to do to eliminate abortion as an issue?"

As we should have learned from history, we do not eliminate abortion by making it illegal.