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WOMEN'S RIGHTS. While Ford supports the Equal Rights Amendment, Reagan opposes it as encouraging "sex and sexual differences [to be] treated as casually and amorally as dogs and other beasts treat them." He also has highly exaggerated fears that the amendment would lead to sexually integrated rest rooms, the drafting of women into Army combat units and wholesale rewriting of the laws on divorce, child support and rape—to the detriment of women's rights. He opposes abortion on demand as "a subtle but nonetheless effective move to dehumanize babies."
GUN CONTROL. He rejects all proposed restrictions on gun ownership, asking rhetorically, "Take away the arms of the citizenry and where is its defense against not only criminals but also its defense against the possible despotism of Government?"
His views are usually expressed in generalities, but they have served Reagan well and won him much attention. As an announced candidate, he will have to be more specific. How would he persuade a Democratic Congress to give up cherished domestic programs and encourage the states and cities to raise taxes enough to take over? Would he abandon detente? And how could he do that without returning to the cold war? His answers will be of great import to Republicans, who now must decide whether he represents a conservative wave of the future or is just another Barry Goldwater calling on the party to mount a hopeless crusade against the 20th century.