Leading Pro-Abortion Group 
Changes Name, Launches Ad Campaign

January 9, 2003—Washington, DC:  Leaders of the nation's largest pro-abortion group, saying they face the most hostile atmosphere for abortion in 30 years thanks to the pro-life policies of President Bush, 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. 

Pro-life advocates 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. "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 pro-abortion 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 the critical 1973 Supreme Court decision, Roe v. Wade, legalized unlimited abortion. Reproductive Rights was added to its name in 1993 in an attempt to establish abortion internationally as a "reproductive right."

The organization's officials said 2004 would be a critical election for abortion, 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 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 referring to the now-disproven claim that tens of thousands of women died from illegal or self-induced abortions.

For older voters, the campaign will emphasize how much the balance of power in the federal government has shifted toward the pro-life movement, 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 pro-life advocates. 

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. 

In addition, the pro-abortion 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.