13 Oct 2011 NARAL

Posted at 21:42h in GroupSnoop by

Introduction

NARAL Pro-Choice America (NARAL) is one of the largest abortion advocates in the world. NARAL believes that there should be no restrictions on a woman’s ability to kill her unborn baby. NARAL opposes parental notification laws (even in the case of extremely young girls),[1] spousal notification laws,[2] late-term abortion bans[3] and short-term waiting periods.[4] NARAL encourages donations to Democratic candidates at the local and federal level.

NARAL is comprised of three separate organizations: a non-profit, a political action committee, and a 501(c)(4) arm. NARAL’s PAC lobbies for “pro-choice” candidates. NARAL produces advertisements and literature that smear pro-life candidates. NARAL believes that abortion is a fundamental right and that taxpayers should fund the procedure.[5]

History / Mission

Pro-choice activists founded the National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws (NARAL) in 1969.[6] In 2003, NARAL changed its name to NARAL Pro-Choice America.[7] NARAL supports government funding of abortion providers in the United States and abroad.[8] NARAL also supports ending the life of a child who survives an abortion and is living outside of his/her mother.[9]

NARAL disparages those that it disagrees with by calling them “anti-choice” instead of the commonly accepted terminology of “pro-life.”[10]

Work

On its website, NARAL describes its work,[11] saying:

We lobby Congress to convince your elected representatives to support your right to choose.

We organize women and men to make sure that lawmakers hear from the pro-choice people they represent.

We connect what happens in Congress or in the states to how it affects your ability to make private decisions, like choosing legal abortion.

We work with our state affiliates to advance ideas that are good for women’s freedom. We fight back against the bad ideas that threaten our privacy.

NARAL Pro-Choice America uses the political process to elect lawmakers who share our pro-choice values and defeat candidates who don’t.

 

Lobbying / Endorsements

NARAL is headquartered in Washington, D.C. NARAL’s PAC (NARAL Pro-Choice America PAC) endorses political candidates.

For the 2010 mid-term election, NARAL provided a voter guide in which it listed its political endorsements.[12]NARAL endorsed only pro-choice candidates and branded almost all Republicans as “anti-choice.”[13]

NARAL endorsed Barack Obama for president in 2008.[14] In the 2008 Democratic primary election, NARAL endorsed Obama over Hillary Clinton.[15] NARAL’s announcement came under fire from other pro-choice groups that supported Clinton.[16]

In his 2008 book The Obama Nation,[17] Dr. Jerome Corsi explains,

Obama has consistently refused to support legislation that would define an infant who survives a late-term induced-labor abortion as a human being with the right to live. He insists that no restriction must ever be placed on the right of a mother to decide to abort her child.

On March 30, 2001, Obama was the only Illinois senator who rose to speak against a bill that would have protected babies who survived late term labor-induced abortion. Obama rose to object that if the bill passed, and a nine-month-old fetus survived a late-term labor-induced abortion was deemed to be a person who had a right to live, then the law would “forbid abortions to take place.” Obama further explained the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment does not allow somebody to kill a child, so if the law deemed a child who survived a late-term labor-induced abortion had a right to live, “then this would be an anti-abortion statute.”

Like Obama, NARAL believes that even after a baby is delivered and alive outside the mother, the baby’s life can be ended.[18] In this way, NARAL’s endorsement of Obama over Clinton in the 2008 presidential race was logical.

Misleading Smear Tactics

In 2005, NARAL ran a television advertisement intended to tarnish Supreme Court nominee John Roberts.[19]Using graphic imagery, the ad said that Roberts supported violent extremists who bomb abortion clinics.[20] In reality, Roberts, while serving as a deputy solicitor general in the George H.W. Bush Administration, argued that a specific 19th century statute aimed at the Ku Klux Klan was not applicable to individuals who protest abortion clinics.[21] The Supreme Court agreed by a 6 to 3 vote in the case, Bray v. Alexandria Women’s Health Clinic, 506 U.S. 263 (1993).

The ad was so far attenuated from the truth that other pro-choice advocates denounced NARAL’s lies. Pro-choice Senator Arlen Specter chastised NARAL, saying the ad was “blatantly untrue and unfair”[22] and that NARAL “undercuts its credibility and injures the pro-choice cause.”[23] In response to the backlash, NARAL pulled the ad but refused to apologize, instead claiming the ad was “accurate” and that viewers “misconstrued” the message.[24]

Contact Information

NARAL Pro-Choice America and NARAL Pro-Choice America Foundation
1156 15th Street, NW Suite 700
Washington, DC 20005
Main number: 202.973.3000
Main fax: 202.973.3096
Website: http://www.prochoiceamerica.org/

Leadership (as of August 2011)

Nancy Keenan, President (2009 Compensation: $265,338)
Jennifer Ray, Chief Operating Officer (2009 Compensation: $172,435)
John Botts, Chief Financial Officer (2009 Compensation: $169,119)

The National Center For Public Policy Research publishes GroupSnoop. The National Center is a non-profit communications and research foundation that supports free-market and pro-Constitution approaches to today’s policy problems. The National Center is supported by the voluntary gifts of over 100,000 individual recent supporters, receiving less than one percent of its revenue from corporate sources. Contributions to the National Center are tax-deductible and greatly appreciated!

For more information about the National Center For Public Policy Research, please visit our website, or read our blog. To sign up for our email list, go here.

To make suggestions, corrections or to give feedback, please email us.

  1. ^ “Young Women’s Access,” NARAL Pro-Choice America, available at http://www.prochoiceamerica.org/what-is-choice/abortion/abortion-young-womens-access.htmlas of August 24, 2011.
  2. ^ “The Safety of Legal Abortion and the Hazards of Illegal Abortion,” NARAL Pro-Choice America, January 1, 2011, available at http://www.prochoiceamerica.org/media/fact-sheets/abortion-distorting-science-safety-legal-abortion.pdfas of August 24, 2011.
  3. ^ “Bans on Abortions After 12 Weeks,” NARAL Pro-Choice America, available at http://www.prochoiceamerica.org/what-is-choice/abortion/abortion-bans.htmlas of August 24, 2011.
  4. ^ “The Safety of Legal Abortion and the Hazards of Illegal Abortion,” NARAL Pro-Choice America, January 1, 2011, available at http://www.prochoiceamerica.org/media/fact-sheets/abortion-distorting-science-safety-legal-abortion.pdf as of August 24, 2011.
  5. ^ “Discriminatory Restrictions on Abortion Funding Threaten Women’s Health,” NARAL Pro-Choice America, January 1, 2011, available at http://www.prochoiceamerica.org/media/fact-sheets/abortion-funding-restrictions.pdf as of August 24, 2011.
  6. ^ “History of NARAL Pro-Choice America,” available at http://www.prochoiceamerica.org/assets/files/about-naral-history.pdfas of August 24, 2011.
  7. ^ “History of NARAL Pro-Choice America,” available at http://www.prochoiceamerica.org/assets/files/about-naral-history.pdfas of August 24, 2011.
  8. ^ “Global Gag Rule: A Flawed Policy That Sacrifices Women’s Lives,” NARAL Pro-Choice America, January 1, 2011, available at http://www.prochoiceamerica.org/media/fact-sheets/abortion-funding-global-gag.pdfas of August 24, 2011.
  9. ^ “Bill to Protect Born-Alive Infants Draws Fire From NARAL, But Support from Key Committee,” NRLC Federal Legislative Office, July 31, 2000, available at http://www.nrlc.org/federal/born_alive_infants/bornaliveinfantsdrawsfire.htm as of August 24, 2011.
  10. ^ “What is Choice?” NARAL Pro-Choice America, available at http://www.prochoiceamerica.org/what-is-choice/ as of August 17, 2011. (“The Supreme Court legalized abortion with its decision in Roe v. Wadein 1973. Anti-choice groups have been attacking the right to choose ever since. Their ultimate goal is to outlaw abortion again.”)
  11. ^ “About Us,” NARAL Pro-Choice America, available at http://www.prochoiceamerica.org/about-us/ as of August 24, 2011.
  12. ^ “Pro-Choice Voter Guide,” NARAL Pro-Choice America, available at http://www.prochoiceamerica.org/elections/pro-choice-voter-guide/as of September 8, 2011.
  13. ^ “Pro-Choice Voter Guide,” NARAL Pro-Choice America, available at http://www.prochoiceamerica.org/elections/pro-choice-voter-guide/ as of September 8, 2011.
  14. ^ Nancy Keenan, “Why NARAL Pro-Choice America Endorsed Barack Obama,” Huffington Post, May 14, 2008, available at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nancy-keenan/why-naral-pro-choice-amer_b_101708.htmlas of August 24, 2011. (Note that Nancy Keenan is the President of NARAL).
  15. ^ Nancy Keenan, “Why NARAL Pro-Choice America Endorsed Barack Obama,” Huffington Post, May 14, 2008, available at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nancy-keenan/why-naral-pro-choice-amer_b_101708.htmlas of August 24, 2011. (Note that Nancy Keenan is the President of NARAL).
  16. ^ Nancy Keenan, “Why NARAL Pro-Choice America Endorsed Barack Obama,” Huffington Post, May 14, 2008, available at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nancy-keenan/why-naral-pro-choice-amer_b_101708.html as of August 24, 2011. (Note that Nancy Keenan is the President of NARAL).
  17. ^ Dr, Jerome Corsi, “The Obama Nation,” Pocket Star, p.238 August 1, 2008.
  18. ^ “Bill to Protect Born-Alive Infants Draws Fire From NARAL, But Support from Key Committee,” NRLC Federal Legislative Office, July 31, 2000, available at http://www.nrlc.org/federal/born_alive_infants/bornaliveinfantsdrawsfire.htm as of August 24, 2011.
  19. ^ Dan Balz, “Abortion Rights Group Withdraws Anti-Roberts Ad,” The Washington Post, August 12, 2005, available at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/11/AR2005081102257.html?referrer=email&referrer=email as of August 24, 2011.
  20. ^ Dan Balz, “Abortion Rights Group Withdraws Anti-Roberts Ad,” The Washington Post, August 12, 2005, available at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/11/AR2005081102257.html?referrer=email&referrer=emailas of August 24, 2011.
  21. ^ Dan Balz, “Abortion Rights Group Withdraws Anti-Roberts Ad,” The Washington Post, August 12, 2005, available at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/11/AR2005081102257.html?referrer=email&referrer=email as of August 24, 2011.
  22. ^ Dan Balz, “Abortion Rights Group Withdraws Anti-Roberts Ad,” The Washington Post, August 12, 2005, available at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/11/AR2005081102257.html?referrer=email&referrer=emailas of August 24, 2011.
  23. ^ Dan Balz, “Abortion Rights Group Withdraws Anti-Roberts Ad,” The Washington Post, August 12, 2005, available at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/11/AR2005081102257.html?referrer=email&referrer=emailas of August 24, 2011.
  24. ^ Dan Balz, “Abortion Rights Group Withdraws Anti-Roberts Ad,” The Washington Post, August 12, 2005, available at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/11/AR2005081102257.html?referrer=email&referrer=email as of August 24, 2011.


The National Center for Public Policy Research is a communications and research foundation supportive of a strong national defense and dedicated to providing free market solutions to today’s public policy problems. We believe that the principles of a free market, individual liberty and personal responsibility provide the greatest hope for meeting the challenges facing America in the 21st century.