Top abortion-rights group begins ad drive [NARAL trying to "freshen its image"]

http://www.austin360.com/statesman/editions/today/news_23.html ^ | 1.5.02 | Jennifer Lee

[victim soul]

Naral Pro Choice America says abortion will be key issue in '04

WASHINGTON -- Leaders of the nation's largest abortion-rights group, saying they face the most hostile atmosphere for abortion in 30 years, are planning an extensive multimillion-dollar campaign to make abortion a critical issue in the 2004 presidential election.

The National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League is starting a television and print advertising drive in highly competitive states.

In addition, the organization is trying to freshen its image by changing its name to Naral Pro Choice America.

"Through our name change we are underscoring that our country is pro-choice," said Kate Michelman, president of the organization. "It is the right name for this moment in history."

David Garrow, a legal historian at Emory University who has studied the abortion debate, said the organization was using its new name to put a greater emphasis on choice as opposed to abortion.

"It's a free way of getting `pro-choice' into a news story, even if editors don't allow the words to be used in the reporter's voice," Garrow said.

Opponents say the change is a simply a marketing sleight of hand. "They want to isolate the rhetoric from the reality," said Ken Connor, president of the Family Research Council, a research group. "They want to talk about pro-choice, but it's not choosing between chocolate and vanilla. We are talking about the right to choose to kill an unborn child."

This is the organization's fourth name since it was established in 1969 as the National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws. It is the first time it has moved away from the acronym Naral.

The group became the National Abortion Rights Action League after a critical 1973 Supreme Court decision, Roe v. Wade, overturned many legal restrictions on abortion. Reproductive Rights was added to its name in 1993.

The organization's officials said 2004 would be a critical election for abortion rights, in large part because of the likelihood of vacancies on the Supreme Court, given the ages of the justices.

The organization is trying to rally abortion-rights supporters by asserting that if Bush stays in office until 2008, Roe v. Wade is likely to be overturned by the end of the decade.

Starting at the end of this month, the organization's advertising campaign will concentrate on two groups of women: the under-35 generation that has grown up after Roe v. Wade and suburban women who, though fiscally conservative, have been more progressive on social issues.

The organization says it will aim to educate younger voters who have taken access to abortions for granted.

"They don't know anyone who had to leave their state to get an abortion," said Harrison Hickman, a pollster for the organization.

Hickman said focus groups have shown that there was a sharp drop in understanding of the abortion issue among those who were children in 1973.

"For a lot of them, if you showed them a coat hanger, they don't know what it means," he said.

For older voters, the campaign will emphasize how much the balance of power in the federal government has shifted toward the anti-abortion forces, Naral officials said, noting that this was the first time since Roe v. Wade that both houses of Congress and the White House are controlled by Republicans.

The organization has identified between 15 and 20 states for its campaign, including Pennsylvania, Illinois, Florida, Michigan, Missouri, Wisconsin, Ohio, Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona, New Mexico, New York, New Hampshire and New Jersey.

Political analysts point to the recent victory of Ed Rendell in the Pennsylvania governor's race as an example of how a Democrat was able to use the issue of abortion to reach out to suburban Republican and independent female voters.

In addition, the organization says it will try to mobilize voters through petition drives and door-to-door visits.

To highlight the political agenda, the organization is inviting the Democratic presidential hopefuls to speak at its 30th anniversary Roe v. Wade commemoration dinner this month.

[victim soul]

You can't make a silk purse out of a cow's ear.

[friendly]

"Freshen the image" is an interesting term to describe an 8 and 1/2 month old live birth terminated abruptly with the baby murdered by crushing its screaming head. It appears that the abortion industry is losing "market share" as the number of "procedures" decline and public disgust mounts.

[Cicero]

Abortion will indeed be the primary issue in the 2004 election, just as it was in the 2002 election. As it happens, every candidate NARAL supported in 2002 went down to defeat. That says something important about the electorate, and it explains why NARAL needs to keep fudging and obfuscating.

Let's hope the same thing happens in 2004. I'm sure it will, if George Bush and Bill Frist do the right thing over the next two years.

[toenail]

"For a lot of them, if you showed them a coat hanger, they don't know what it means," he said.

Has anyone here seen a single documented case of a woman dying from a coat-hanger abortion? Ever?

[friendly]

Every candidate NARAL supported in 2002 went down to defeat..

Gonna take a lot of money on the part of Naral to overcome that track record. Outside of treason and trial lawyers, aborting third trimester babies is all the democrats stand for anymore. Do you think the 'rats can read polls and come to shy away from the murdering abortionist industry.

[mamarainsberry]

Support Joe Lieberman for President...just don't vote for him :)

[Reactionary]

"Hickman said focus groups have shown that there was a sharp drop in understanding of the abortion issue among those who were children in 1973."

"For a lot of them, if you showed them a coat hanger, they don't know what it means," he said."

I'm sure that the "sharp drop" in "understanding" must mean that fewer people are towing the liberal Stalinist line on the legalized murder of unborn children. How upsetting that must be! That must be the reason for them to "freshen" their image.

And as far as a coathanger having meaning? Compare it to the bloodbath they're using to freshen their degenerate image.

[LiteKeeper]

Doesn't matter what name they come up with, it will always be nothing more than Murder, Inc.

[victim soul]

Your quote needs a bump!!

"Doesn't matter what name they come up with, it will always be nothing more than Murder, Inc.

[jwalsh07]

You can spray Lysol on a pile of dung until the cows come home but it will still be cow dung when they arrive.

[flyervet]

As it happens, every candidate NARAL supported in 2002 went down to defeat.

What about Davis? Landrieu? Or all these people?

[flyervet]

Gonna take a lot of money on the part of Naral to overcome that track record. Outside of treason and trial lawyers, aborting third trimester babies is all the democrats stand for anymore. Do you think the 'rats can read polls and come to shy away from the murdering abortionist industry.

Actually, quite a high percentage of NARAL-endorsed candidates won.

[victim soul]

A Dark Day For Pro-Abortionists

CRISIS Magazine - e-Letter

November 8, 2002

It was surprising, even to me, how large a role the issue of abortion played in deciding some key elections. According to Pro-Life Infonet (www.prolifeinfo.org), eight of the top ten Senate races in the country went to pro-life candidates, and other pro-life incumbents managed to keep their seats as well. Two-thirds of the newly elected House officials are also pro-life.

Compare this to the results of candidates sponsored by EMILY's List -- a veritable who's who of pro-abortion politicians -- who lost 17 of the 22 candidates they sponsored. It wasn't a good year to be pro-choice.

Exit-polls conducted by sources such as Fox News confirmed that many voters had abortion on their minds when they went to the polls -- and the overwhelming majority of those voters were pro-life.

Case in point: In Missouri, 17 percent of voters said abortion was their number one concern, second only to the economy (21 percent), in voting for a senator. Of those 17 percent, 80 percent voted for pro-life candidate Jim Talent over incumbent pro-choice Senator Jean Carnahan. Some credit this important vote to Talent's upset win; the legislative director of National Right to Life said, "It would certainly be fair to say Sen. Carnahan was defeated on the pro-life issue."

Other states saw similar results. Fourteen percent of Minnesota voters said abortion was their top concern, the third-highest single issue named. Nine percent of the voters in Georgia felt the same way. Of these voters, the vast majority voted for pro-life candidates -- candidates that went on to big wins.

Hawaii and Nevada had crucial wins for life, too. Hawaii's previous governor was pushing a bill that would make them the second state to legalize assisted suicide. Instead, voters chose his challenger, Laura Lingle, who has promised to veto any such bill in the future. Voters in Nevada also said a decisive "no" to homosexual marriages, another win for the culture of life.

Catholics in particular made a strong showing at the polls. In Florida, 26% of the voters were Catholic, the highest single denomination voting. Many other key states in this election saw huge voter turnout from Catholics, and now these states have solid pro-life representatives.

[flyervet]

Gosh, with all the spinning, it's hard to hear the whistling in the dark.