FORMER NARAL PRESIDENT NAMED AMBASSADOR TO NORWAY

By Dave Andrusko

Having broadly hinted months ago that the announcement of her appointment was only a formality, the Clinton/Gore Administration has now made it official. In a move sure to be wildly popular with the pro-abortion movement, former National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League (NARAL) president Robin Chandler Duke has been selected as our nation's new ambassador to Norway.

Duke's appointment offers yet another illustration of the debt owed by the Clinton/Gore administration to the Abortion Establishment. Al Gore, his wife Tipper Gore, and Hillary Rodham Clinton all spoke at NARAL's January 21, 1997, luncheon at which Duke was honored.

Tipper Gore presented Duke with NARAL's "Lifetime Achievement Award" while Hillary Clinton praised Duke in gushing terms. This is the famous luncheon at which Al Gore adamantly affirmed that the Clinton/Gore Administration would "never ever let anyone take that right [to abortion] away."

In return, her speech to that same luncheon, NARAL President Kate Michelman lavishly praised Al Gore and Robin Chandler Duke: "To Al Gore who has held fast against efforts to undo our gains-- who led the way in Cairo to make reproductive rights and health care a mission for all people the world over. To Robin Chandler Duke whose work on behalf of human rights and women's reproductive choice is noteworthy throughout the world."

While not known to the general public, Robin Chandler Duke is a consummate Washington insider who has been a major player in helping to export the abortion-dependent "population control" ideology abroad. As the director of the United States Committee for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Duke has worked tirelessly to rally financial and political support for UNFPA.

UNFPA has a long history of close association with China's repressive attempt to limit population growth. UNFPA has consistently and shamefully underplayed, (when it has not denied), the role that forced abortion plays in China's "one child per family" population control program.

"It should come as no surprise that the Clinton/Gore White House would appoint a pro-abortion activist to an ambassadorship," said Carol Long Tobias, director of National Right to Life PAC. "At the same time this administration has vigorously promoted abortion here in the United States, internationally, Clinton/Gore have also done everything they could to make abortion a worldwide 'human right.' "

Returning to Gore's keynote address at the 1997 NARAL luncheon, the Vice President was nothing if not forthright. To cheers and applause Gore pledged his undying support for abortion now and forever.

"America's women," he said, "have the right to choose and no one will ever steal that right away. The right to choose is fundamental, lodged in our Constitution, affirmed by our Supreme Court. And, on behalf of President Clinton, I vow to you here, and to all listening, that we will never ever let anyone take that right away."

Just as Duke's abortion connections are not well known to the public, equally shrouded is Al Gore's role as the Administration's point man in the crusade to subvert the pro-life laws and leanings of many foreign nations. For example, Gore headed the U.S. delegation to the International Conference on Population and Development held in Cairo in 1994, which worked feverishly to advance the cause of abortion.

This assertion is not idle speculation. Prior to the conference, the U.S. State Department sent an "action cable" dated March 16, 1994, to all diplomatic and consular posts. The cable stated:

The United States believes that access to safe, legal and voluntary abortion is a fundamental right of all women. The current text . . . [of the proposed Cairo conference declaration] is inadequate as it only addresses abortion in cases of rape or incest. . . . The United States delegation will also be working for stronger language on the importance of access to abortion services.

To Vice President Al Gore, there is never enough access to abortions, enough countries who practice it, or enough ways to weave it into the fabric of national and international culture. Under a President Gore, there would undoubtedly be Robin Chandler Duke clones throughout his administration.