Dissecting NARAL’s response to Tim Kaine

Yesterday in the Hot Headlines I linked up to the story about Virginia Governor (and DNC Chair) Tim Kaine’s signing into law a bill that would allow Virginia residents the option to have a state license plate that has the words “Choose Life” on it:

Tim Kaine, the Virginia governor and President Barack Obama’s hand-picked choice as the head of the Democratic National Committee, infuriated abortion-rights groups Monday by signing legislation that gives abortion foes a long-sought victory.

Kaine brushed off intense lobbying by abortion rights supporters in Richmond to sign a bill that allows Virginia motorists to advertise their anti-abortion views by sporting “Choose Life” specialty license plates.

The revenue from the specialty plates would go to crisis-pregnancy centers, which many abortion-rights backers believe proslyetize against abortion and encourage women to keep unwanted children.

Encouraging women to keep their children? Horrifying, I know. How did far left feminist groups react? NARAL/Pro-Choice America provides the perfect – and predictable – example:

Washington, DC – The leaders of NARAL Pro-Choice America and NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia expressed deep disappointment at Gov. Tim Kaine’s decision to sign into law a bill that funnels state money to anti-choice organizations, the so-called “crisis pregnancy centers.”

Kaine, who also serves as the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, has taken action that’s inconsistent with the strong pro-choice platform adopted by party leaders last August. This is the first piece of legislation involving a woman’s right to choose that Kaine considered since being elected chairman of the national party.

“It is unfortunate that, even after receiving thousands of messages from Virginians and pro-choice activists across the country, Gov. Kaine has opted to sign a bill that advances a divisive political ideology at the expense of women’s health,” said Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America. “This action reminds America’s pro-choice majority that we must hold elected officials in both political parties accountable when they take actions that are inconsistent with mainstream pro-choice values.”

Abortion supporter[I]nconsistent with mainstream pro-choice values”? These women are insane. Only hardcore Democrat feminists believe women shouldn’t be discouraged against having an abortion. Mainstreamers want women to have all the information at their disposal before they make their decision. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that, but of course to “women’s groups” like NARAL, it’s just another excuse to whip up a bunch of angry, bitter women into an frothing frenzy over an “issue” that really isn’t an issue at all. I’m sure it’s a great way to get their faithful followers to throw another check in the mail in support of NARAL’s agenda, but drumming up phony outrage like this does absolutely nothing to advance women’s rights.

You’ve also got to love the line about how Kaine allegedly “opted to sign a bill that advances a divisive political ideology at the expense of women’s health.” You’d think Kaine just told women to break the coat hangers back out the way radical lefist women’s groups are reacting to this. These license plates are (gasp!) optional, and the people who choose to get such a plate are probably already contributing money to pro-life causes in some way, anyway. Those who don’t want one don’t have to get one. That’s the beauty of it: being able to make a choice that, in this case, anyway, harms absolutely no one.

Democrat Kirsten Powers is a feminist, but not the kind that supports the scare tactics that come from the likes of NARAL and Planned Parenthood. Here’s a little of what she wrote about NARAL’s reaction:

What really seems to enrage NARAL and Planned Parenthood is when crisis pregnancy centers use ultra-sound devices, or other methods, to show women pictures of their fetuses. To say that this is a β€œscare tactic” would be like saying it is a β€œscare tactic” to show a man a picture of clogged arteries to try to get him to understand his health situation. Yes, it may scare him in a certain direction β€” or not β€” but it’s an informed decision.

If a woman is seven weeks pregnant and someone shows her this picture, what is wrong with that? How is that β€œscary”?

Women are not delicate little flowers who can’t handle information, despite what NARAL Pro Choice and Planned Parenthood tell us. They should have the option of having all the information presented to them before an abortion so they understand what they are doing.

I don’t think they should be forced to look at an ultrasound, but one should be offered.

Abortion-rights activists sneer about anti-abortion advocates ignoring science. But the reality is that science is not on the side of NARAL or their ilk, and they know that. That’s why they don’t want women looking at ultrasounds or hearing that what they call a β€œlittle clump of cells” has a heartbeat at 3 weeks. (I learned that at the β€œBodies” exhibit).

It was learning about that current science on fetal development that first shook my strong pro-choice beliefs. (I’m now where most Americans are: not advocating overturning Roe v. Wade, but in favor of limitations on abortion).

A few years ago, I was curious about crisis pregnancy centers (to be honest I had totally bought the negative propaganda about them) so I signed up for the counselor training at one in Manhattan.

I was ready to be outraged by their manipulation but in fact all they did was present information about the development of the fetus and advice on how to counsel women seeking abortion, with most of their focus on how to be loving to women seeking counseling after having an abortion.

Another key focus was on how to help women get health insurance if they wanted to keep the baby and finding parents to adopt the child if they wanted that option.

I don’t doubt that some of the crisis pregnancy centers are deceitful and engage in harmful practices. Such places should be shut down. But as a person who cares about women’s rights, I would be enormously pleased if the people who claim to be β€œpro-choice” would embrace a wider array of choices for women dealing with unwanted pregnancies, rather than trying to bully any organization offering abortion alternatives out of existence.

I wish that I could say that NARAL and groups like NARAL were a joke, but jokes are supposed to be funny, and the lies and deception pushed forth by them (for examples, read “The Ten Most Common Feminist Myths“) in an effort to advance their far left agenda, whether we’re talking about abortion or “evil” men are most definitely not humorous. They’re dangerous and have cost this country the lives of millions of unborn, and have fostered an attitude of fierce resentment and hostility towards males that have hurt the American family.

Just another day, another instance of hardcore “choice” groups operating with their eyes on advancing an agenda based on faulty – and in many cases outright false – information, while hoping that other American women will buy into what they say without question. And why not? It’s worked so many times before.

Flashback:

Comments are closed.