Attorney general candidate Chris Koster switched to the abortion rights side last year when he dropped his Republican alliances and became a Democrat. But abortion rights activists haven’t exactly rolled out the welcome mat.

Thousands of abortion rights supporters are getting mailings this week, pointing out Koster’s past support for anti-abortion bills.

For example, he supported last year’s HB1055, which increased regulations of abortion clinics while loosening requirements for teaching contraception as part of school sex education classes.

The mailing also cites his votes to impose civil penalties on clergy members who assist teenagers in seeking abortions and his sponsorship of legislation barring state-subsidized groups from providing information on birth control.

“He’s voted for everything we’ve been against,” said Pamela Sumners, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Missouri. “You don’t get a pass on that, just because all of a sudden you say, ‘I’m with you.’”

The mailing says that Koster “calls himself a moderate now that he’s running for attorney general. But there is nothing moderate about his record on choice.”

Sumners said the mailings went to about 15,000 members and supporters. In a campaign finance report filed yesterday, NARAL’s political action committee reported making an independent expenditure of $2,850 against Koster.

The organization has issued a co-endorsement of Koster’s primary opponents, Reps. Margaret Donnelly and Jeff Harris. Sumners said both have 100 percent NARAL voting records.

“Margaret Donnelly and Jeff Harris have a record of leadership and sponsorship on our issues,” Sumners said.

When Koster switched his party allegiances last summer, he said: “From this point on, I’m going to support the structure of Roe,” the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing most abortions. “And I’m going to work for policies that will reduce the unintended pregnancies in this state.”

Koster added that he “had never felt comfortable” with the Legislature’s “heavy-handed” approval of new laws that make abortion less accessible in the state.

Sumners said: “We’re always happy for a road-to-Damascus conversion, but there hasn’t been sufficient time pass to allow us to assess whether that is sincere or whether when opportunism knocks, Chris Koster answers.”