John Kerry Runs New Pro-Abortion TV Ad Blasting President Bush
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
April 19, 2004
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — Likely Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry has started running television ads blasting President Bush for his pro-life position — specifically his nomination of pro-life judges to various federal courts. The ads are timed to coincide with the national pro-abortion march on Saturday.
"The Supreme Court is just one vote away from outlawing a woman’s right to choose. George Bush will appoint anti-choice, anti-privacy justices. But you can stop him. Help elect John Kerry and join the fight to protect our right to choose," the ad says.
"I promise to take the fight to George Bush every single day," Kerry says, closing the ad.
Pro-life advocates say the ad doesn’t get past the first sentence before it gives viewers wrong information.
Kerry’s ad mimics the claims of doomsayers at national abortion advocacy groups, namely that the Supreme Court is one vote away from overturning abortion.
However, the current Supreme Court favors the central tenants of the landmark Roe v. Wade decision by a 6-3 margin, with a change of two members needed to give it a pro-life majority.
Douglas Johnson, legislative director for National Right to Life, says his group, "believes that Roe v. Wade was an act of judicial legislation and should be overturned. Therefore, it would be welcome news if in fact ‘only’ five justices supported Roe."
"Regrettably, however, it is not true," Johnson explains. "Six current justices have voted to affirm Roe v. Wade: Justices Breyer, Ginsburg, Kennedy, O’Connor, Souter, and Stevens. Only three of the current justices have ever voted to overturn or substantially scale back Roe: Justices Rehnquist, Scalia, and Thomas."
Calls to the Kerry campaign from LifeNews.com were not returned by press time.
Kerry has twice voted in favor of an amendment to the ban on partial-birth abortions urging the Supreme Court not to overturn the Roe decision.
The Kerry campaign is targeting the ads at strong Kerry supporters in an attempt to bring in donations.
According to an Associated Press report, the 30-second ad will run for two weeks on cable channels such as CNN, MSNBC, Lifetime and Bravo in heavily Democratic states such as New York, California, New Jersey, Washington state, and Wisconsin.
Related web sites:
John Kerry pro-abortion ad –
https://www.johnkerry.com/videos/player.php?video=041904_choicead
President Bush’s re-election campaign – https://www.georgewbush.com
