Abortion Foes Launch PR Campaign

by Katherine Stapp

More than a hundred vacancies remain to be filled on the federal bench and it is likely that President Bush will appoint at least one judge to the Supreme Court during his term.

Conservative Christian groups assembled under the aegis of the Center for Reclaiming America, best known for its attacks on gay rights, have launched a $2 million campaign to promote the selection of anti-abortion federal judges.

The September 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon have, for now, eclipsed the fight for control of the federal courts, analysts said, but the issue remains very much alive.

Anti-Islamic xenophobia in the wake of the attacks could help push the nation's cultural and political discourse to the right, closer to the ideology of Christian groups that oppose abortion, said Lee Cokorinos, research director of the New York-based Institute for Democracy Studies, which monitors religious and political groups.

Nominations to the federal courts are made by the White House but must be approved by a majority in the Democrat-controlled Senate, where both sides of the abortion rights issue believe the real ideological battle will be waged.

All appointments are for life terms, so their influence far outlasts the president who nominates them.

The campaign involves a television advertisement, so far limited to the Washington, DC area, that slams Roe v. Wade, the historic 1973 Supreme Court case that legalized most abortions under the umbrella of privacy rights. It is dubbed "Shake the Nation," for the 100 baby rattles that will be sent to senators along with a note urging them to "protect children from abortion."

Abortion rights activists also are pushing for what they have termed an open "litmus test" on the abortion views of potential judges, particularly nominees to the Supreme Court, which is narrowly split in favor of a woman's right to terminate her pregnancy.

During a September 6 television panel featuring Janet Folger, national director of the Center for Reclaiming America, and Patricia Ireland, the president of the pro-choice National Organization for Women, both women said that a nominee's views on the legality of abortion should be the determining factor in their confirmation.

The 24 groups behind "Shake the Nation" include some that are considered extreme by civil liberties groups such as People For the American Way.

There is the Traditional Values Coalition, whose founder, the Reverend Louis P. Sheldon, has warned that the popular 'Harry Potter' books by J.K. Rowling promote witchcraft.

There is the American Family Association, which urges the teaching of Creationism in public schools, and Focus on the Family's James Dobson, whose book "Dare to Discipline" recommends beating children with switches starting at the age of 18 months.

While these groups still face staunch opposition among liberal politicians and women's groups, they have more highly placed allies in the White House than ever before.

Attorney-General John Ashcroft, for example, has often been sympathetic to the right-wing causes espoused by the Center for Reclaiming America and others. In 1996, then a senator from Missouri, Ashcroft accepted a "Christian Statesman of the Year Award" from D. James Kennedy, a televangelist who founded the Center.

The group actively campaigned for Ashcroft during his contentious confirmation hearings, with a full-page advertisement in the newspaper USA Today and a signature drive.

Although he now insists that he has no plan to undermine abortion rights, in 1998 Ashcroft wrote, "If I had the opportunity to pass but a single law, I would fully recognize the constitutional right to life of every unborn child, and ban every abortion except for those medically necessary to save the life of the mother."

The attorney-general cannot single-handedly outlaw abortion. But he wields broad authority to enforce laws that protect women from anti-abortion protesters, and is involved in recommending potential judicial nominees to the White House.

The current President Bush's anti-abortion sentiments also are no secret. One of his first acts in power was to withhold funding from international health organizations deemed to advocate or provide abortions.

However, before and after the election, Bush played down his personal views and ducked questions on whether he would seek to overturn Roe v. Wade.

Nevertheless, there are indications the president harbors an active anti-abortion agenda. In February, he told a group of Catholic leaders that his new "faith-based initiative" -- which allows religious groups to bid for federal social services contracts -- "really ties into a larger cultural issue that we're working on."

"It begins to affect the 'life' issue," Bush said, apparently unaware that reporters were listening. "When you're talking about welcoming people of faith to help people who are disadvantaged ...the logical step is also those babies."

Three of the Supreme Court's nine judges are older than 70, and one -- liberal John Paul Stevens -- is 81. It is likely that at least one justice will retire before Bush's term ends in 2005.

Steve Benen, a spokesman for Americans United for Separation of Church of State, a group that works to protect freedom of -- and from -- religion, said it was impossible to gauge the immediate impact of "Shake the Nation."

"Whether or not this is going to be successful remains to be seen," Benen said. "We can only hope the Senate will judge prospective nominees on their merits -- not on a publicity stunt."

Cokorinos predicted that Bush would try to pre-empt a big struggle in the Senate by nominating candidates whose views on abortion were hazy but who clearly leaned to the right.

Whether this will be enough to satisfy Bush's most conservative supporters is uncertain, he said.

Patrick Leahy, the Democrat who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, has indicated that he "plans to toss out a few," but likely would pass most of the White House's candidates, Cokorinos said.