Despite his best efforts to portray the new Conservative Party as socially moderate, Stephen Harper is coming under attack on a range of divisive issues, from abortion to the death penalty.

At a news conference in Hamilton Thursday, reporters asked Harper to clarify his earlier statement that a government led by him would not table legislation to tighten Canada's abortion laws in its first term.

When he was pressed to reveal whether he would let such a law slip into Parliament by some other means, Harper was frank.

"Absolutely... I would generally continue the practice of allowing free votes on all private member's legislation," he said.

"The only time I might take a different view is if something ... dealt directly with our election commitments, in which case I would insist that we follow the party position."

Defending his party's position on abortion since Conservative health critic Rob Merrifield suggested women seeking abortions may be compelled to get counselling first, Harper's admission opens the door to critics trying to uncover a far-right agenda.

The former Alliance leader explained that the process of passing a private member's bill is so arduous he wouldn't expect such a law to pass anyway.

Gay marriage

But gay rights activist Laurie Arron says that's beside the point.

"People are going to mobilize a lot more as they realize that Mr. Harper is a real threat to equality," Arron told The Canadian Press after watching Harper's news conference.

In Arron's view, Canadians should be prepared for a Conservative government that would roll back gay rights and other hard-fought, controversial equality measures.

Later, as Arron and another activist, Bob Smyth, tried to question Harper on the issue at a campaign stop in Guelph, they were shouted down by Conservative supporters. Some of the supporters hit Smyth with their campaign signs and an elderly man punched him in the face. Police intervened.

Harper, who says he personally favours reserving marriage for heterosexual couples, has repeatedly vowed to take the issue back from the high court if he becomes prime minister.

On Wednesday, Harper told reporters he believes the Supreme Court of Canada would refer its decision on a new definition of marriage back to MPs, if he spoke his mind as prime minister.

"I am confident that if the Parliament expresses its views clearly on this -- which is something that Parliament refused to do under the Liberals... that the Supreme Court will understand that and respect Parliament's competency to deal with such a matter,'' Harper said.

Death penalty

Another hot-button social issue on which Harper's position has faced challenges from within his own party ranks is the death penalty.

When he introduced the Conservative law and order platform on Tuesday, Harper was careful to make the point his government would not propose death penalty legislation. But the next day, Hamilton Mountain Conservative candidate Tom Jackson said he would like to see capital punishment return to Canada.

"I personally do support capital punishment when beyond a shadow of a doubt and when all the evidence is in and for premeditated murder," Jackson said.

Though he said the view was his own -- not party policy -- Jackson was the third Conservative hopeful to contradict the party leader in recent weeks.

Last week, Harper's confidant and critic on language issues, Scott Reid, resigned for casting doubt on Harper's commitment to official bilingualism.

Riding a wave of popular anti-Liberal sentiment heading into the election, Harper has been executing a careful campaign designed to maximize control over the delivery of key messages.

Reporting from CTV's roving Election Express in Edmundston, N.B., Lisa LaFlamme says many are calling Harper "the invisible man" for his decision to run a low-key campaign.

"It's allowing all the press and pressure to focus on Paul Martin," she said.

To some degree, the strategy appears to be working. Now that Paul Martin has unveiled the major social policies of his party's election platform, however, Harper's easy going may be coming to an end.

According to LaFlamme, with pressure growing for Harper to detail where his party stands, even the highly-anticipated unveiling of the Conservatives' "Blue Book," scheduled for Saturday, is drawing a cynical reaction.

"It's interesting timing," LaFlamme said. "We know there's less television coverage, there are fewer Sunday papers to hype the platform. And of course the prime minister himself will be out of the country at Juno Beach for D-Day ceremonies."