NARAL Selects Pro-Abortion Montana Official Nancy Keenan as President 
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
November 19, 2004
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — One of the leading pro-abortion groups in the country has selected a former Montana elected official as its next president. NARAL’s choice comes at a time when the organization is preparing for key battles over as many as three of four Supreme Court appointments in the coming years.
NARAL announced on Friday that it has selected Nancy Keenan, from a pool of 300 applicants, as its new president.
Keenan, a former three-term Montana State Superintendent of Public Instruction and former state legislator, replaces longtime president Kate Michelman and picks up the top spot from Elizabeth Cavendish, who served as interim president while the group searched for a new leader.
"The stakes have never been higher. Every branch of the federal government is dominated by powerful opponents of choice," Keenan said. "President Bush is poised to make nominations to the Supreme Court that could overturn Roe v. Wade."
In an interview with the Washington Post, Keenan called the pro-abortion view "an American value and that it is shared by women and men across the country."
Aside from the upcoming Supreme Court battles, Keenan said he primary job would be to rally young women in favor of abortion. She has her work cut out for her, as polls have shown women to be pro-life and increasingly unconcerned about keeping abortion legal.
Keenan was chosen from a poll of 300 applicants and leading abortion advocates applauded the choice.
California Representative Nancy Pelosi, the pro-abortion House Minority Leader, said Keenan would "make an outstanding president of NARAL."
"I look forward to working with her and NARAL," Pelosi said.
As a Catholic, Keenan made news in Montana with her strident pro-abortion views.
She found herself rebuked by a Catholic bishop after speaking at a rally backing abortion and there was talk of her being excommunicated from the church.
"It was a very personal experience for me having been born and raised Catholic," she told the Post. "It was very, very big."
Keenan will assume her role on December 1 and Cavendish will stay on for a time to help with the transition. Michelman stepped down as the group’s president in May.
