CT NOW RUNS AWAY FROM ROE V. WADE
February 3rd, 2006 by Peter
There is a fascinating discrepancy between what the CT National Organization for Women said about Justice Alito in a press release on Feb. 1st and what CT NOW’s Executive Director said in a Fox 61 panel discussion last night. And that discrepancy shows that the pro-life side is winning.
In its press release, CT NOW accuses Sen. Lieberman of having “turned his back on women” by not supporting a filibuster of Justice Alito’s confirmation:
Senator Lieberman pointed out that he had studied Samuel Alito’s record carefully and so he was aware of the threat Alito poses to a woman’s most basic constitutional right: to control her own body and decide whether or not to bear a child…”What could be a more ‘extraordinary circumstance’ than when a woman’s right to make her own reproductive health decisions is seriously threatened? [emphasis added]”
So “a woman’s most basic constitutional right,” the Supreme Court-imposed legalization of abortion, is “seriously threatened” by the confirmation of Justice Alito, according to CT NOW’s press release.
And yet, during last night’s taping of the Fox 61 panel discussion, the central theme of CT NOW Executive Director Kathleen Sloan’s comments was that Roe v. Wade was “beside the point.” When I responded by saying that Roe v. Wade was, in fact, the most important element of the confirmation and the reason why there was so much passion on both sides, Ms. Sloan could not change the subject fast enough.
This moment marks a watershed in the battle over public opinion regarding Roe v. Wade. It would have been unthinkable in, say, 1992 for a NOW spokesman to publicly describe Roe v. Wade as “beside the point.”
Of course, the NOW press release reveals what they really think. But the press release will be noted and cheered only in such odd places as CT’s left-wing blogs. When speaking to a larger audience, such as Fox 61’s viewers, even NOW is forced to downplay Roe v. Wade.
Last year, NARAL was publicly shamed into withdrawing an ad falsely implying that Chief Justice Roberts supported violence against abortionists. Last night, a CT NOW official felt it necessary to downplay the significance of Roe v. Wade. These things would not have happened 15 years ago. They are signs that, little by little, the pro-life movement is winning.
