"PRESIDENT"AL GORE:

A FRIGHTENING PROSPECT

Editor's note. If you are like me, it often takes specific examples to really grasp how important something may be. The following is slightly modified version of a speech delivered at NRLC 2000 by NRL PAC Director Carol Tobias.

It takes the form of an imaginary press story that would run one year after "President" Al Gore took office. The "story" brilliantly illuminates what could transpire should pro-abortion Vice President Gore defeat pro-life Texas Gov. George W. Bush this November.

PRESIDENT GORE WINS KUDOS FROM ABORTION-RIGHTS SUPPORTERS

WorldWide News Service

January 20, 2002 - - It's been 29 years since the United States Supreme Court handed down its Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion. Although the battle among opponents and supporters of abortion had ups and downs for each side, analysts agree that the past year has been the most momentous in cementing a woman's right to choose into the very foundation of the national culture.

One year ago today, President Al Gore was sworn in as the 43rd president, following the second-closest presidential election in American history. A last-minute media offensive by abortion supporters provided Gore with a narrow victory over Texas Governor George W. Bush.

Having declared throughout the campaign that "protecting a woman's right to choose will be one of my top priorities," Gore has set in motion a series of appointments that NARAL President Kate Michelman describes as "historic."

"They illustrate what a President can do on his or her own to protect and promote a woman's right to choose," Michelman told World-Wide News Service.

Michelman especially praised the work of the Secretary of Health and Human Services, former California Senator Barbara Boxer, who has pushed vigorously for legislation to set up a national health plan that includes abortion as a basic benefit. In many ways, this national health plan echoes the legislation proposed by former President Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary Clinton. Every health plan would be required to provide abortion in the local service area as well as pay for this federally mandated service.

Much to the dismay of opponents of euthanasia, Boxer tapped Oregon Senator Ron Wyden, a chief proponent of assisted suicide in Congress, to serve as her special advisor to "promote death with dignity in the national health plan."

In the key position of head of the Food and Drug Administration, the Gore administration selected former California Congressman Henry Waxman. In announcing the appointment of this strong supporter of abortion, President Gore stated that "the women of this country have waited too long for RU 486." Gore said he has instructed Waxman that "making RU 486 readily and widely available must be at the top of his priority list." On the international front, abortion advocates have been extremely successful in forcing concessions from Third World countries. Working closely with leading pro-abortion figures in the United Nations, Secretary of State Ted Turner has made it very clear that in order for any under-developed nation to receive help from the United States or the United Nations, those countries would have to change their laws to include abortion as one of the reproductive choices available to all women in the country.

However, in what may well prove to be the most enduring abortion- related legacy of his Administration, Gore will soon be making his second appointment to the Supreme Court.

Within a week of Gore's inauguration last January, Justice John Paul Stevens, then 80 years old, announced his retirement. Gore's first appointment to the Court was Harvard law professor Laurence Tribe, who had opposed the nomination of Justice Clarence Thomas, and who had written an entire book defending the right to abortion.

Then, just last month, Chief Justice William Rehnquist announced that he would be stepping down at the end of the Court's session this summer. Gore has already stated his intention to replace Rehnquist as Chief Justice with Clinton appointee Stephen Breyer. Sources within the administration say that the leading contender for the open slot on the Court is Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy.

The small minority of Republicans in the Senate who support abortion joined with the Democrats in approving Professor Tribe easily. They are widely expected to approve their colleague Senator Kennedy, if he is indeed the nominee.

After losing several close Senate races in the 2000 elections and failing to capitalize on special elections which followed the nomination of various Gore appointees, Republicans and Democrats are split 50-50. Vice President Dianne Feinstein now finds herself often casting the tie-breaking vote.

WorldWide News Service has learned that Michelman will be announcing her retirement as president of NARAL in a matter of hours. Although it was never officially acknowledged, it is common knowledge that Michelman had been offered the position of Secretary of Health and Human Services but declined.

"With Al Gore in the White House, I don't need to be so heavily involved," Michelman says in her prepared statement. "President Gore is doing everything we want without being asked, so I'm going to spend the coming years relaxing and enjoying life."