Dillon said the Nassau County Legislature moved too hastily in April when it unanimously approved the measure, which he criticized for failing to detail what information clergy should report.

It also singled out clergy and should have included other professionals, including those who work with children, as well as abortion providers who might be familiar with cases of rape and statutory rape, Dillon said.

But Presiding Officer Judy Jacobs (D-Woodbury) defended the law, which she said legislators backed because state law does not require clergy to report such cases. An effort to include clergy in a state law stalled in Albany in the last legislative session, she said.

Dillon's proposal drew criticism from abortion rights advocates who said it would steer teenage girls away from sound health care by eroding patient confidentiality. And Jacobs said Dillon's inclusion of abortion providers in the reporting requirement was an attempt to cloak his aggressive anti-abortion stance.

"If he hasn't crossed the line, he's come dangerously close," she said.

Dillon has run on the Right to Life Party line and proudly displays an anti-abortion poster in his office. But yesterday during a press conference in his Mineola office, he said his personal feelings didn't influence his position.

Dillon's proposed amendments were introduced in the legislature by Minority Leader Peter Schmitt (R-Massapequa), who said he filed a bill on Dillon's behalf at the district attorney's request.

He said he supported the earlier bill with the understanding that state lawmakers would eventually approve a law that includes clergy.

"The bill that was put forth in April was an attempt by the county legislature to step into a vacuum created by a lack of action on the state," he said. "The state hasn't acted."