In a bid to push the Massachusetts delegation to this summer's Republican Convention toward a pro-choice stance on abortion rights, Gov. William F. Weld '66 pledged Monday to oust delegates who oppose abortion rights, the Associated Press (AP) reported yesterday.

Weld said he would dismiss antiabortion rights delegates on the technicality that they originally endorsed candidates other than likely Republican presidential nominee Sen. Robert J. Dole (R-Kan.). Massachusetts election law requires that delegates promise to support the nominee.

But Janis Berry, the Republican State Committee's legal counsel, said that Weld's approach does not have a legal basis.

"If they say, 'I am committed to voting for Dole on the first ballot,' and do that, the fact that in the past they may have expressed a preference for another candidate in the past does not make them in violation of the law," Berry told the AP.

But Weld disputed the illegality of such a dismissal.

"It's not a stretch," Weld said. "Those people were publicly supporting other candidates, and under the rules, if they're not openly pledged to Bob Dole, they can't be Dole delegates."

Weld himself, who originally endorsed California Gov. Pete Wilson before switching his support to Dole when Wilson left the race, is guaranteed a place in the delegation because of his position as governor.

Noting that the majority of Massachusetts voters support abortion rights, as he himself does, Weld said he believes the state delegation should reflect the views of its constituency.

Weld, who fought to stop the Republican Party from opposing abortion rights in its convention platform in 1992, was shocked a week ago by the large number of abortion-rights opponents among the 1996 delegation.

Party insiders say anti-abortion delegates constitute a majority of the state's 30 delegates.

The delegation's swing toward the right on the abortion issue represented a concerted effort by abortion opponents to elect their own at last week's Republican caucuses. Weld's adversaries blamed the anti-abortion victory on the governor's inattention to the caucuses, according to the AP.

In order to force a majority of abortion-rights supporters on the delegation, Weld said he plans to meet next Tuesday with Dole's state chair, Massachusetts Treasurer Joe Malone, to persuade Malone to file the charges.

Malone, while skeptical of the utility of the measure, indicated through a spokesperson that he is willing to discuss the question with Weld.

AP wire dispatches contributed to the reporting of this story.