This Beats a Sombrero Any Day

“Frankly, we haven’t decided yet.”

That is not the sort of phrase that most politicians would pick out for their scrapbooks. But for Pete Wilson those words may mark one of the small, defining moments in his leadership of California. If nothing else, they show the huge contrast between our new governor and his predecessor.

The phrase was used last week by Wilson in response to a question about Norplant, a new, long-term contraceptive device. The question went like this: Would he, Wilson, attempt to force the use of Norplant on drug-abusing mothers?

Keep in mind the context here. The governor had just announced a plan to make Norplant available to teen-agers, welfare moms, and others through state-sponsored programs. And he was already feeling a chill wind blowing from the conservative right. That plan, of course, involved only voluntary use. So Wilson was asked if he would go further. Would he coerce a welfare mother to use Norplant if, say, she had given birth to a crack baby?

That’s when Wilson uttered his phrase. “Frankly, we haven’t decided yet,” he said.

It was the implication that was important. Wilson was saying he just might do it. He was saying he had thought about it, was still thinking about it, and he just might.

By answering in that fashion, Wilson became a more interesting leader in several regards. He was demonstrating, as he has a couple times in the past, that the governor’s office can be the source of innovation and considerable surprise.

Who would have thought it, after the last eight years? Quick, tell me the last time George Deukmejian surprised you. Was it the day he put that sombrero on his head?

And do not forget it was George Deukmejian who sought to reduce the state’s family planning program to an advisory role only. The Duke thought birth control an unsavory enterprise for government.

So now comes Wilson with a birth control program so new that few doctors have been trained in its use. A program that can, for the first time, inhibit conception for five years running. The possibilities are intriguing.

Norplant was approved by the FDA only last November. It comes in the form of tiny rods that are implanted under the skin, where they secrete a hormone similar to that found in birth control pills. Norplant is safe, as far as anyone knows, highly reliable, and reversible.

It also has a huge advantage over other birth control methods: Once implanted, you can forget it for five years. No amount of neglect can prevent it from working.

That is why Norplant was so attractive to Visalia Judge Howard Broadman in January when he ordered a woman convicted of child abuse to have the device inserted. He could be sure that no new babies would be beaten for five years. That is also why Norplant is risky business for Wilson. Norplant is a drug with a reputation, a drug that comes with a connotation of coercion. Any program that makes use of it--especially if that program forces the device on some women--will carry a heavy load of Big Brotherism.

I’m not saying that a Norplant program is a bet-your-career decision for Wilson. If he stops with a voluntary approach, the controversy likely will never rise above the status of a stormlet.

But a coercive program could be a different matter. Wilson could find himself under the guns of both the left and the right simultaneously.

The left would rush to defend the rights of the drug-abusing moms while the right would wring their hands over the implied activism and the ever-titillating notion that the state was encouraging sex.

So what’s to win here for Wilson? A great deal, I think. Wilson understands that a new piece of technology has arrived that has changed the birth control equation. It offers the possibility of reducing, to some degree, the most expensive of all social ills: the annual arrival of thousands of unwanted, sometimes disabled children to parents who are unable to care for them.

In the past decade, California has inherited an army of these children. No one knows how they will be raised. In the case of the crack babies, no one knows if “raising” is a concept that applies.

A voluntary Norplant program will reduce the future size of that army. A coercive program will reduce its size even more.

Wilson knows that. He also knows he will be attacked for promoting Norplant. Will he shy away because he knows a political price will be paid? That remains to be seen.

This is a drama worth watching, so stay posted.

And that may be the best thing you can say about the new man in Sacramento.