Washington, D.C. – Concerned Women for America (CWA) hopes NARAL Pro-Choice America’s agreement to pull its spurious television ad after a flurry of criticism signifies the beginning of a debate based on truth rather than on political grandstanding as we anticipate the upcoming Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on Supreme Court nominee John Roberts.
The ad trumpeted accusations – roundly condemned as false – that Supreme Court nominee John Roberts supported abortion-clinic bombers because of his work defending peaceful protests on a 1991 Supreme Court case, Bray v. Alexandria Women’s Health Clinic.
“While NARAL responded to sharp criticism from both ends of the political spectrum by pulling the ad, we are concerned that they are not really dropping their deceptive attack on John Roberts for his successful defense of constitutional rights,” said Wendy Wright, CWA’s senior policy director. “Already, NARAL has announced that the replacement ad will refer to Roberts’ involvement in the Bray case and we fear that it will repeat the same false claim in a repackaged format.”
In the Bray case, the Supreme Court concurred with Roberts’ argument in a 6-3 decision that abortion advocates miscast peaceful sit-ins as a violation of the 1871 Ku Klux Klan Act. Operation Rescue, the pro-life group involved in the Bray case, had over 72,000 arrests and not one conviction for a violent offense.
“Under NARAL’s reasoning, the National Organization for Women’s recent blockade and attempt to intimidate the FDA on a reproductive matter is a violation of federal civil rights law,” said Wright. “NARAL’s misguided claim that pro-life activists are violent is finally being exposed for the lie that it is.”
