WHAT A GORE PRESIDENCY WOULD LOOK LIKE

By Carol Tobias, NRL PAC Director

There are less than 200 days left of Bill Clinton's term. Are you excited that the long nightmare is about to end?

On January 20, 2001, we will awake to the swearing in of a new President. If that President is Al Gore, we know what that means.

How do we know? By what Al Gore won't do and by what Al Gore would do.

We know that Gore will not sign the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act. Gore will not sign the Child Custody Protection Act. We know he won't sign the Unborn Victims of Violence Act. Al Gore opposes the Hyde Amendment; he wants instead to use our tax dollars to pay for abortion.

Al Gore will not reinstate the Mexico City Policy. He prefers to use our tax dollars to promote abortion in other countries.

Gore will not appoint any justices to the Supreme Court who will reverse Roe. He has already stated clearly that a Supreme Court majority appointed in his administration will support a "woman's right to choose."

Al Gore will not do anything to stop assisted suicide. He has said that although he is personally opposed to assisted suicide, the decision should be left to the family and the doctor.

(Does that sound familiar? Notice - - he didn't include the patient in this permanent decision. See the story that begins on the back cover.)

Al Gore started out pretty good but as he began to ascend the political ladder he walked away from the babies. From 1977 to 1984, serving as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, he compiled an 84% pro-life voting record. The National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League (NARAL) concurred. It only gave him a 20% "pro-choice" rating.

In fact in 1984, Gore wrote to a constituent, "As you know, I have strongly opposed federal funding of abortions. In my opinion, it is wrong to spend federal funds for what is arguably the taking of a human life."

He continued, "It is my deep personal conviction that abortion is wrong. Let me assure you that I share your belief that innocent human life must be protected and I have an open mind on how to further this goal."

That same year, Gore voted for the Siljander Amendment, which would have included the unborn child as a "person" under the Civil Rights Act. But in 1984, Gore was elected to the Senate and his position quickly began to "evolve."

He voted against the Mexico City Policy. He voted to allow abortions to be performed on military bases. He voted against parental notification. By the time Bill Clinton tapped Gore to be his running mate in 1992, Gore had established a solidly pro- abortion voting record.

Gore supports Clinton's vetoes of the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act. He has been very involved in, and has very aggressively pushed for, funding of U.S. and U.N. programs that promote abortion in underdeveloped Third World countries.

He has attended and spoken at prominent events sponsored by NARAL.

In a speech last summer, Gore declared, "I will always, always defend a woman's right to choose. Every time Congress has tried to play politics with that fundamental, personal right, imposing gag rules and attaching anti-choice language to any bill they can think of, we have stood up to them and stopped them. If they try it again, we'll stop them again. And if they try it after the year 2000, with your help, I'll stop them. That hard-won right will be safe with me as your President."

To look at what a future world would look like with Al Gore as President, read the "What If?" story on page 4.

One other very important point. We know that the next President will be Al Gore or George W. Bush. It will not be a third party candidate.

A vote for a third party candidate, or not voting at all, is in effect a vote for Al Gore.

The inauguration of the next president will have consequences for decades. The lives of tens of millions of unborn children are at stake.

Bill Clinton leaves office in less than 200 days, but our country elects our next president just a little more than 100 days from now. The countdown has begun.