AL GORE SELECTS PRO-ABORTION LIEBERMAN AS RUNNING MATE

By Carol Tobias
NRL PAC Director

In his August 17 speech accepting the Democratic Party's presidential nomination, Vice President Al Gore again reinforced his record as a fierce defender of abortion.

"And let there be no doubt," he boomed, "I will protect and defend a woman's right to choose. The last thing this country needs is a Supreme Court that overturns Roe v. Wade."

Gore's remarks were a kind of exclamation point to his selection, prior to the convention, of pro-abortion Connecticut Senator Joseph Lieberman to be his vice presidential running mate. (See editorial, page 2.)

At speaking and fundraising events following the convention, Gore has continued to raise the abortion issue. A frequent topic is the High Court.

At a Seattle event in August, Gore said, "Some argue it doesn't matter who appoints the next Supreme Court justices."

He predicted the next president will nominate up to four justices and emphasized again his support for abortion.

Nothing could better illustrated his enthusiasm for abortion than Gore's choice of Lieberman. Lieberman offers the usual " personally opposed" line on abortion but his public voting record is one of utter dedication to abortion.

For example, Lieberman has voted for partial-birth abortion, an abortion procedure that his Democratic colleague from New York, Daniel Moynihan, who usually votes in favor of abortion, described as "infanticide."

Lieberman also does not want to allow taxpayers to be "personally opposed": he has consistently voted in favor of tax funding of abortion on demand.

If anything, it gets worse. In 1993, Lieberman was a co-sponsor of the so-called "Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA)," which would have established a federal statutory "abortion right" even broader than Roe v. Wade. FOCA would have invalidated virtually all state regulations of abortion, even Pennsylvania's 24-hour waiting period, which had been upheld by the Supreme Court in 1992.

Lieberman has consistently voted to authorize funding of unlimited abortion under Medicaid and other federal health programs. In 1993, during consideration of the Clinton health care proposal, Lieberman explicitly endorsed inclusion of abortion in the "standard benefits package" that all Americans would have been required to purchase under that proposal.

Many reports have stated as fact that Senator Lieberman supports parental notification before an abortion is performed on a minor girl. That is not true. While early in his Senate career, Lieberman did write a constituent that he would "support a requirement that parents of a minor be notified before an abortion is performed," he has consistently voted against parental notification.

With Al Gore and Joe Lieberman receiving the Democratic nominations, Americans have before them two tickets with very clear contrasts in positions.

George W. Bush and Dick Cheney support the ban on partial-birth abortions and support legal protection for unborn children. George Bush and Dick Cheney oppose using tax dollars to pay for abortion. George Bush and Dick Cheney believe parents should be involved if their minor daughter is pregnant and considering an abortion.

Al Gore and Joe Lieberman oppose the ban on partial-birth abortions and oppose legal protection for unborn children. Al Gore and Joe Lieberman support using tax dollars to pay for abortion. Al Gore and Joe Lieberman believe parents do not have the right to be informed that their minor daughter is pregnant and considering an abortion.

On January 20, 2001, a new president and vice president will be sworn in. Will these new office holders be men who will work to restore protection for unborn children or be men who believe the lives of unborn children are of no value and can be discarded at will?