A Democratic candidate for governor, Eliot Spitzer, yesterday promised to sign a bill that would allow pharmacists to dispense “morning after” conception-preventing pills to women and girls without prescriptions.

“New York needs open access to emergency contraception,” Mr. Spitzer told Planned Parenthood Advocates of New York after it endorsed the two-term attorney general.

“Better access could cut abortions in half,” he said of the emergency contraception. “If elected governor, I would sign it into law.”

In August, Governor Pataki, a Republican, vetoed the bill approved by the Republican-led Senate and Democrat-led Assembly. Mr. Pataki, who supports abortion rights, had said he wanted minors to see a physician first. He also said he wanted to limit the number of pills dispensed and to prohibit men from getting the pills to encourage unprotected sex.

Critics of Pataki’s veto claimed he was playing to conservative national GOP leaders and to voters in Iowa and New Hampshire, key primary states for his possible 2008 presidential campaign.

Advocates of the bill say emergency contraception blocks conception and avoids abortions, while critics say it is a form of abortion.

The bill would allow women to avoid a wait for a doctor’s appointment to get the medication, which must be used within 72 hours of sex.

Republican candidates for governor, John Faso and Patrick Manning, both said they would have vetoed the bill.

“I thought the bill was too broad and needed protection against use by minors,” said Mr. Faso. “I favor some type of parental notification.” He said he is also concerned about the health effects of repeated use of the pills.

Mr. Manning, an assemblyman from Dutchess County, said: “There is a big difference between providing assistance to someone who has been raped, an emergency situation, and someone who is 13 years old receiving it over the counter without parental notification and without being seen by a doctor.”

A spokesman for a Republican candidate, William Weld, declined comment.

The political group allied with Planned Parenthood clinics said they made their first endorsement for governor in 15 years because Mr. Spitzer was unequivocal on the sort of divisive reproductive issues that can con tort politicians.

“He has a clear and consistent stand that reproductive rights must be maintained through legal protections and legislative advocacy,” an employee of Planned Parenthood Advocates, JoAnn Smith said. “We know where he stands.”

Earlier this month, Mr. Spitzer promised to “do everything in my power” to preserve women’s access to abortion in accepting the endorsement of NARAL Pro-Choice New York.

Yesterday he said he also supports funding to help expand health clinics’ hours and locations and greater “age appropriate” education for women and teenagers about abstinence, sex, unwanted pregnancies, and the threat of sexually transmitted diseases.

He said he doesn’t support a law that would require parental notification when a minor seeks an abortion.

“It’s time to let science and medicine, not politics and rhetoric, to lead us to good, sound policy,” Mr. Spitzer said.

An override of Mr. Pataki’s veto on the contraception bill hasn’t happened. The measure passed narrowly in the Senate and two-thirds of the Senate and Assembly must agree to override a veto.