Current mood:

political and stuff

FactCheck.org controversy!!
A few days ago an article on FactCheck.org criticized a recent advertisement from NARAL. The ad stated that SCOTUS nominee John Roberts supported a convicted abortion clinic bomber and excused violence against other americans, while showing images of bombed clinics and playing clips from interviews with victims of such attacks.

What the ad failed to mention, according to FactCheck.org, was that the "support" that Roberts gave the bomber had nothing to do with bombing clinics. What Roberts did was argue the position of the government in a court case that involved an anti-abortion group of which the bomber was a member. Roberts argued that federal antidiscrimination law did not apply to their blockades of clinics because they didn't discriminate -- they weren't letting anyone in regardless of gender or whatnot. Local trespassing, harassment, and assault laws still applied, of course. [Since then new laws have made it a federal offense to block access to a clinic, but they weren't in effect at the time]

Also, Roberts has never supported or excused the use of violence, and has spoken strongly against it.

A few days later, NARAL pulled the ad, in response to a lot of criticism from other pro-choice groups and individuals that they were getting about it. However, they managed to shoot out a very scathing response to Factcheck.org's article and demanded that FactCheck retract it because every statement in their ad was technically correct (well, they actually didn't say anything about the "excusing violence" remark -- of course, that remark didn't technically say it applied to Roberts.).

My opinion: As much as I don't like roberts, am 100% in support of abortion rights, and think clinic violence and harassment are despicable, I think NARAL is totally in the wrong here. To me, leaving things out of otherwise true statements in a way that leaves a false impression is tantamount to flat-out lying. "Technically correct" isn't even close to an excuse for such behavior. Furthermore, it really hurts the pro-choice movement, not to mention the efforts to keep Roberts out of the Supreme Court, to stoop to that level of political attack ad. I think NARAL should be ashamed, and should have unconditionally apologized for the ad. The fact that they so vehemently defended it in their letter to FactCheck.org makes me seriously think that they need a change of leadership.