Kansas City, Mo. ? Looking to influence a presidential race that could alter the U.S. Supreme Court and smoldering over late-term abortions in Kansas, hundreds of anti-abortion activists prepared Wednesday for a national convention in the heartland.

The Washington-based National Right to Life Committee expected more than 1,000 people to attend its three-day event in Kansas City, which starts today. It planned a Friday morning forum for Republican presidential candidates.

The only major contender with confirmed plans to attend was former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who’s facing questions about what an aide called Romney’s conversion to the anti-abortion cause several years ago. Also expected to participate was Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback, a strong abortion opponent.

While abortion opponents are still considered an important group in the Republican Party, an Associated Press-Ipsos poll last week showed former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, an abortion-rights supporter, still with a lead among Republicans. And with a raft of early primaries and caucuses, the contest is likely to be settled well before the committee’s 2008 convention.

“We’re still at the point where we’re waiting for the American public to get a chance to know these candidates,” Wanda Franz, the committee’s president, said during a pre-convention interview. “It’s just too early to know who the front-runners are going to be next year.”

Kline to speak

Meanwhile, abortion opponents are watching an ongoing legal and political dispute over Dr. George Tiller, whose Wichita clinic is among the few in the U.S. performing late-term abortions. Former Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline, an anti-abortion Republican, is scheduled to speak to the convention tonight.

In December, Kline filed 30 misdemeanor criminal charges against Tiller, alleging the doctor performed illegal late-term abortions, but the case was dismissed for jurisdictional reasons. Attorney General Paul Morrison, an abortion rights Democrat who unseated Kline, is conducting his own investigation, but abortion opponents don’t trust Morrison to pursue the doctor aggressively.

“The fact that this investigation is coming to a head right now, and this convention is here, is a matter of amazing divine providence,” said Jenn Giroux, who formed the Ohio anti-abortion group Women Influencing the Nation. “I think it’s going to be on everybody’s mind.”

The Right to Life convention comes as Republicans wait for former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson to enter their presidential race and shake up the top tier of candidates. Last week’s poll showed Thompson as the third most-preferred candidate, ahead of Romney but behind Giuliani and McCain.

Supreme Court ruling

Abortion opponents were pleased in April when the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of a federal law banning a procedure critics call partial-birth abortion, even without an exception for preserving a woman’s health. Now, they’re anticipating that the next new justice could create a majority willing to overturn the historic 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing some abortions across the nation.

“But they have to get that appointment from a Republican presidential nominee,” said David Rodhe, a Duke University professor. “They first of all would ask themselves, ‘What would we gain by nominating Giuliani?”‘

Still, Cecile Richards, the president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, called Giuliani’s front-runner status “a tremendously important development.” Planned Parenthood not only criticizes President Bush for his strong opposition to abortion but what it views as his administration’s attacks on access to birth control and comprehensive sex education.

“The Supreme Court’s important, but quite honestly there are other issues that are quite important to us,” Richards said.

Currying favor?

Attending the convention will give Romney a chance to educate activists about the former governor’s views, resulting from a conversion in late 2004 while studying legislation on embryonic cloning, Romney aide Eric Fehrnstrom said.

“Governor Romney follows a long line of converts – George Herbert Walker Bush, Henry Hyde and Ronald Reagan to name a few,” Fehrnstrom said, listing the former Illinois congressman with the two presidents. “Each of them has made meaningful contributions to the pro-life cause.”

But Richards accused Romney of doing “a complete flip-flop” from where he has been all his life” to “curry favor with the extreme right in the party.”

And McCain’s campaign circulated a video clip showing the then-Massachusetts governor reiterating his vow to uphold the state’s abortion-rights laws in May 2005. McCain spokesman Danny Diaz said the Arizona senator’s record on the issue is consistent.

“Time and time again, Senator McCain has stood on the side of life,” Diaz said. “It’s critically important because it also leads to the question: What kind of judges one would appoint?”

As for Thompson, Franz said, “Everything leads us to believe he would be a pro-life candidate. He is definitely someone whose candidacy is very appealing to us, along with many others.”