On February 25, as his "campaign reform"
bill was dying on the Senate floor, Senator John McCain (R-Az.) sent a three-page
form letter to each of the nation's Roman Catholic bishops, complaining
about NRLC's opposition to the bill.
In the letter, McCain spoke (in somewhat exaggerated terms) of his own
pro-life credentials, and then accused NRLC of using "inaccurate, indeed,
dishonest arguments" against his bill. However, he offered only one
specific example of a supposed distortion, claiming that NRLC has "persistently
refused to recognize that our legislation explicitly exempts their organization's
voter guides and scorecards" from its restrictions.
On March 5, NRLC responded with a seven-page "Open Letter from the
National Right to Life Committee to the Nation's Roman Catholic Bishops,"
signed by NRLC President Wanda Franz, Ph.D., Executive Director David N.
O'Steen, Ph.D., and Legislative Director Douglas Johnson.
"Ever since the Supreme Court handed down Roe v. Wade in 1973 there
have been many attempts by various political elites, including major elements
of the institutional news media, to declare that abortion is a 'settled'
issue," NRLC wrote. "But efforts to impose such a false 'consensus'
have failed in this nation - - in large part because groups like NRLC have
been free to transmit to the public very specific information about specific
politicians' positions and votes."
That freedom would be severely restricted by the McCain-Feingold bill and
other legislative proposals being considered in Congress and various state
legislatures, NRLC said, adding, "NRLC will continue to vigorously
oppose efforts by politicians to protect themselves from criticism under
the guise of protecting `the public' from `special interests.'. . . If we
fail, the American pro-life movement could find itself living under the
type of restrictions that for
so long shielded Britain's pro-abortion politicians from public accountability.
The harm to our cause would be devastating." (See
story on page 9.)
NRLC also noted that the so-called "exemption" referred to in
McCain's letter had been carefully worded to effectively ban the types of
congressional voting scorecards and voter guides published by issue-oriented
groups such as NRLC - - and moreover, that this "exemption" had
been removed from the bill, with McCain's support, by adoption of the Snowe-Jeffords
amendment on February 25 - - the same day McCain sent out his letter to
the bishops.
McCain's letter and NRLC's response are available at the NRLC website at
www.nrlc.org/campaign.html, or by request to the NRLC Federal Legislative
Office, 419-Seventh Street, N.W., Suite 500, Washington, D.C. 20004, (202)
626-8820, e-mail: Legfederal@aol.com.