The Religious Consultation
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Wall Street Journal (US), August 5, 2005 Women's Groups Try To Rally for Court Fight Their Influence Diminished, Abortion-Rights
Advocates Scramble Against Bush Nominee The divisive 1991 confirmation hearings of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, involving charges of sexual harassment, launched 1992's Year of the Woman. That election's windfall brought four new women to the U.S. Senate and 20 to the House -- and turned women's rights groups into a force to be reckoned with. Now another Supreme Court appointment battle looms, with abortion rights a likely central issue. But internal squabbles, declining membership and complacency during the Clinton years have left most women's rights groups in weakened shape for the clash over Judge John G. Roberts Jr. The National Organization for Women's political donations shriveled to $44,000 in 2004 from $327,000 in 1992. Planned Parenthood Federation of America Inc., facing a revolt among affiliates in part because of the politicization of the group, ousted its president in January and hasn't taken a position on the Roberts nomination. NARAL Pro-Choice America's new president was still on an introductory tour to affiliates and donors around the country when the Supreme Court fight started. The influence of women's groups inside Congress also has eroded. Most Democrats in the Senate "Gang of 14" -- moderates who could prevent a Democratic filibuster -- weren't endorsed by NARAL because they didn't solidly back abortion rights or opposed them. "I do worry about our strength as a movement," says Kate Michelman, NARAL's former president. "What we do in this battle will establish the foundation and create the conditions not only for this one but also for the future." Abortion-rights groups like NARAL oppose President Bush's nominee, who in a 1990 Supreme Court brief prepared for the Bush administration advocated overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling. More recently, Judge Roberts has moderated his language, but abortion-rights advocates remain wary. The troubled state of women's rights groups is shared by many of their traditional allies. Big Labor is falling apart as unions defect from what they claim is a wasteful and antiquated AFL-CIO. Civil-rights groups are fighting a conservative pushback on affirmative action and other issues. And the NAACP, the nation's leading African-American organization, is under investigation by the Internal Revenue Service. The challenge for Judge Roberts's opponents is exacerbated by Democrats' reconsideration of how to position themselves with a more conservative electorate. Abortion was among the issues that some political analysts said drove church-going voters to President Bush in last year's election. Now, Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean, an abortion-rights supporter, is urging his party's messengers to speak more about faith and religion and to downplay issues such as abortion. Meanwhile, an array of conservative organizations is stronger than ever. They spent the Clinton years recruiting members and electing lawmakers, particularly to the Senate. High School Bible clubs flourished and anti-abortion organizations established footholds in colleges and universities across the country. The groups helped create a generation of women more receptive to restricting access to abortions and, because of broader access to birth control, less sympathetic to women with unwanted pregnancies, recent polls and focus groups have found. The question is whether the Roberts nomination will have the same galvanizing effect as Justice Thomas's. Polls indicate that a majority of young adults, and the general public, oppose overturning Roe v. Wade -- an opening women's rights groups are trying to turn to their advantage. "Bush has been our number-one membership recruiter," says Kim Gandy, president of NOW, which held dozens of protests the day after Judge Roberts was nominated. NARAL sent emails to 800,000 activists urging them to begin petition drives and contact their senators to express opposition to the nomination. Both groups, and others, added their lawyers to a coalition that is mining Judge Roberts's record for clues on how he might rule on the high court. They also are coordinating with Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee to ensure the nominee is questioned on abortion rights during his hearings next month. NARAL's new president, Nancy Keenan, witnessed the conservative movement's growing influence during the 1990s when she refereed battles over school curriculum while serving as Montana's school superintendent. When she visited Washington, D.C., back then, she warned liberal allies "there is something afoot in the West; something seems orchestrated and calculated," she recalls. But they remained focused on lobbying the Clinton administration for looser restrictions on abortion funding and other long-thwarted priorities. Ms. Keenan is revitalizing a program that expands NARAL's mission to protect access to birth control as well as abortion and includes a state-based recruitment drive. The project is critical, she says, because that network of advocates could become the first line of defense if the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade and sends the issue back to state legislatures. But while operations in Minnesota, New York and
California remain strong, organizing has been
painstaking work in states where conservatives
made big electoral and legislative gains. |