WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 9, 2002 — Nearly two years ago, the John McCain campaign bus on which I was riding amid the vicious South Carolina primary campaign pulled into a Wendy's, just south of Columbia on Route 26.

A reporter of my acquaintance proceeded to inform me that normally she refused to eat at Wendy's, since the head of the company and its most visible symbol, Dave Thomas, was a notorious prolife activist.

I'm pretty sure she ate anyway, although I can't quite recall, since my vision was obscured by the spicy chicken sandwich I had buried my face in.

But with Thomas having died on Tuesday, her point bears revisiting.

Thomas was indeed a prolife activist. But, when it comes to fast-food entrepreneurs, there are prolife activists and there are prolife activists. The best-known is Tom Monaghan, the founder of Domino's Pizza, who donated tens of thousands of dollars to Operation Rescue, a truly scary hate group that stages noisy protests outside abortion clinics, and sometimes attempts to block women from gaining entry. The Web site of one affiliated group, Operation Rescue West, includes graphic photographs of aborted fetuses and hypes a book titled Their Blood Cries Out. Just the thing for mentally disturbed John Salvi wanna-bes. (Note: according to Domino's Web site, Monaghan retired in 1998, selling 93 percent of his ownership interest in the process.)

By contrast, Thomas's activism appeared to have been pretty much confined to encouraging women to consider adoption rather than abortion. Thomas, like Monaghan, was adopted; both men have said that had a lot to do with shaping them. But whereas Monaghan gravitated to extremist causes, Thomas started the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, which in 2000 gave some $900,000 to further the cause of adoption. And Thomas has never shied away from the tough cases, putting a special emphasis on kids stuck in foster care and disabled children.

Like my reporter-friend, I'm prochoice. But as long as abortion remains a safe, legal option for women, there's nothing wrong with working to make sure that they can choose adoption instead.

By all accounts, Dave Thomas was a good guy, as good as he came across in his boneheadedly folksy TV commercials. Dave never figured out how to make a decent French fry, but he lived a decent, useful life.