KISSIMMEE--The abortion controversy, which may fuel a battle at the Republican National Convention in August, is playing itself out on a smaller scale in Osceola County. The Osceola County Republican Executive Committee voted Thursday on whether to remove Kathy Wolf, a longtime antiabortion activist, as a member because of a history of arrests at abortion protests. She remained on the committee by one vote. Wolf said she believes her opposition to abortion is in keeping with the Republican Party platform, which calls for eliminating funds for groups that support abortion. "It is a Republican issue. Two presidents have won on this platform [anti-abortion]," Wolf said. Ronald Reagan and George Bush have espoused the antiabortion philosophy. But that stance, shared by Wolf and other conservatives, has brought them into conflict with other members of Osceola's Repulican Executive Committee. Each side claims to be in the majority in the local party. Committee chairwoman Jeanne Van Meter said a wave of conservative members has joined the party in recent years. "We had a great deal of change in 1988, when Pat Robertson came on the scene. He had a very strong organization," Van Meter said. When Robertson lost his presidential bid, his supporters joined in the Reagan-Bush camp, she said, increasing the number of conservatives in the party, locally and nationally. "A lot of us were born Republicans and grew up with general Republicanism: Let us do it, instead of government doing it," Van Meter said. She added that the new conservatives want government to take a more hands-on-role. "I'm a moderate," she said. Committee member William Snyder portrays himself as a conservative who believes conservatism is a hallmark of Republicanism. "You've got your liberals and you've got your conservatives. You've got your Christian, principalled people and those who are not," Snyder said. "I don't know exactly what the division is [numerically], but there's a division.

It's sort of tearing the party up in some ways." Frank Serpico, also a committee member, said he doesn't believe the clash has to cause a rift. "I feel the party has diversified as it's grown. I believe that most of the people are for moderation," Serpico said. And the party has grown considerably. An influx of dissatisfied Democrats has swollen Republican numbers. "There's just a mixture of philosophical beliefs," said Bruce Van Meter, Jeanne Van Meter's husband and a candidate for the Osceola County Commission. "A more liberal Republican would be inclined to disagree with the party platform [on abortion]." Snyder said some Republican candidates deviate from the party's anti-abortion plank and that there is a reason." "Some of them are afraid to adhere to the platform because they think they can't get elected on it," Snyder said. He says that is not the case, citing landslide victories in the elections of Reagan and Bush. But Bruce Van Meter sees the conservatives as "a vocal minority that's tearing apart the Republican Party." He said he believes the party's abortion platform needs to be modified. "The Republican Party has always been a party of personal rights," Van Meter said. He said he personally is against abortion, but that women should have the right to choose. Wolf--who has been arrested four times during anti-abortion activities--disagrees. "I believe if you're going to be a member of something, you have to believe in the whole thing. It's ludicrous that Republicans don't stand for their own platforms. I became a Republican because I believed in their moral principles," she said. Charges in Wolf's most recent arrest, in Buffalo, NY, were dismissed. The debate is not limited to Osceola County. In Orange County, the Republican Party has been rocked by more than two years of political infighting.

A bitter division between conservatives and moderates prompted the state to intervene last year and order the group to elect a new chairman. Marvin Couch, a member of Pat Robertson's Christian Coalition, was elected Jan. 28, 1991. That rift between party factions is evident on the national scene. Abortion proponents and opponents squared off at a recent platform hearing in Salt Lake City on family issues. At the close of the emotional hour long session, the platform committee acknowledged a dogmatic deadlock. The Republican National Convention in Houston this August threatens to hold more of the same. Still, local party members remain hopeful that difference can be worked out. "It takes people coming together and working for a solution," Bruce Van Meter said. Kathryn Wolf

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