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WASHINGTON — California Rep. Nancy Pelosi chose to talk to abortion rights advocates in her first public speech as the new No. 2 House Democrat. 

Her support for legalized abortion clearly defines the differences between her, her Democratic predecessor and her Republican counterpart, Texas Rep. Tom DeLay. 

“I see a woman’s right to choose under assault in every branch of government,” Pelosi told 1,400 abortion rights supporters at a Washington dinner last month. 

A ceremonial swearing-in for the 61-year-old Democratic whip will be held Wednesday. But she has been on the job for three weeks, taking over the freshly painted and carpeted Capitol suite that belonged to Rep. David Bonior, D-Mich. Bonior relinquished his post to concentrate on his campaign for Michigan governor. 

Even though polls show voters are less concerned with social issues since Sept. 11, Pelosi believes support for abortion rights will win votes for Democrats, especially if she can demonstrate that Republican abortion opponents are also against federal programs for contraception and other family planning. 

She emphasized Republican opposition to prescription contraception coverage to federal employees in her talk to the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League. 

Bonior, who opposes abortion, never organized opposition to abortion rights legislation, but Pelosi “evens the playing field,” NARAL President Kate Michelman said. 

“With Bonior, women’s rights didn’t ascend to the highest level.” 

Pelosi, the first woman to reach such a high leadership position, will try to help Democrats win a majority in the House. She is hosting a fund-raising gala Wednesday featuring former Grateful Dead members Bob Weir and Mickey Hart, and rocker Steve Miller. 

With an entrenched Democratic following in San Francisco, she has more freedom to travel and raise money than Bonior, who represents a competitive district. She helped raise $4 million for Democratic candidates in 2000 and took in another $1 million last year. 

Her only misstep since her election as whip was her support for Rep. Gary Condit, D-Calif., who supported Pelosi. Other House Democrats grumbled that Pelosi was compromising her ideals by endorsing Condit, who has been ostracized by many Democrats because of his relationship with missing former federal intern Chandra Levy. 

Pelosi said she first endorsed Condit in March, two months before Levy disappeared. But she eventually withdrew the endorsement. 

There have been only a handful of non-controversial House votes since Congress returned from its holiday recess and Pelosi took over from Bonior. 

But her test as whip — the party’s chief vote-counter and arm-twister — will come. DeLay is regarded as highly effective. 

One early clash could be over changes in campaign finance laws, which Pelosi supports and DeLay opposes. 

Pelosi gave last week’s Democratic response to President Bush’s weekly radio address, telling listeners she has put together a group of Democratic lawmakers to counter efforts to kill campaign finance legislation that could be voted on as early as this spring. 

Pelosi is still getting used to her new role. 

Bush did not give her a nickname at their first meeting with congressional leadership last month. “But he was very gracious and welcoming,” Pelosi said. 

That meeting, though, gave Pelosi a glimpse of what she has accomplished. As she looked around the room, she saw four House members, four senators and the president — all men. 

“All I could think was, in 200 years a woman has never been in on this conversation,” she said. 

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On the Net: 

Pelosi: http://democraticwhip.house.gov/