22 Nov 2011
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Antiabortion Groups Meet For Technique Session Amid Criticisms From Some Advocates

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Strategists, academics, attorneys and Supreme Court experts from “established” antiabortion groups on Tuesday met in Washington, D.C., to discuss how to reduce the number of abortions, the Los Angeles Times reports. The groups — including Concerned Girls for America and Americans United for Life — considered calling for:

  • Laws requiring physicians to tell women more detail about how fetuses are terminated during abortions;

  • Physicians who perform abortions to be required to report demographic and medical information about their patients; and

  • State-funded public wellness campaigns that would tell women abortion could cause psychological trauma.
    “We’re looking at a whole gamut of ideas,” Daniel McConchie, vice president of Americans United for Life, stated, adding, “We’re very confident we’ll be able to pursue the next stages without a huge amount of dissention.” In accordance with the Times, the groups have not decided which campaigns or states they will focus on initially.

    Criticism From Antiabortion Advocates
    Some with the “biggest groups in the [antibortion] movement,” including Focus on the Family and the National Right to Life Committee, are being criticized by some antiabortion advocates for “turning a godly cause into a money-grubbing industry,” the Times reports (Simon, Los Angeles Times, 6/6).

    Focus on the Household founder James Dobson and many other antiabortion group leaders applauded the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in April to uphold a federal law (S 3) banning so-called “partial-birth” abortion. However, the heads of five small protestant and Roman Catholic groups in an open letter to Dobson published as advertisements on May 23 and May 30 in the Colorado Springs Gazette and the Washington Times, respectively, called the choice “wicked” and said Dobson is misleading Christians by praising it.

    Brian Rohrbough — president of Colorado Right to Life, who signed the letter — said, “All you have to do is read the ruling, and you will find that this will by no means save a single child since even though the justices say this one technique is mostly banned — not completely banned — there are lots of other techniques, and they even encourage abortionists to find less shocking means to kill late-term babies.” The heads of the American Life League, Operation Rescue/Operation Save America and Human Life International also signed the letter.

    Tom Minnery, vice president of Focus on the Household, said that Dobson hailed the Gonzales v. Carhart ruling “because [Focus on the Family] and most pro-lifers are sophisticated enough to know we’re not going to win a total victory all at once. We’re going to win piece by piece” (Kaiser Daily Women’s Wellness Policy Report, 6/4). In accordance with the Times, the advocates who are criticizing the large antiabortion groups have promised to “keep escalating their attacks.”

    Some abortion-rights advocates are concerned about the “splintering” of antiabortion groups but others say it is positive, the Times reports. “It may mean we’re fighting on more fronts,” Janet Crepps, senior staff attorney for the Center for Reproductive Rights, said. Cecile Richards, president with the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said, “Whenever your opponents squabble among themselves, it’s a good thing” (Los Angeles Times, 6/6).

    “Reprinted with permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You are able to view the whole Kaiser Everyday Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Everyday Wellness Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a totally free service with the Henry J. Kaiser Loved ones Foundation . ? 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Household Foundation. All rights reserved.

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