Abortion Advocates Want to Testify During John Roberts Hearings 
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
August 18, 2005
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — Not content to stay on the political sidelines shouting their opposition to John Roberts’ nomination to the Supreme Court, the National Organization of Women (NOW), a leading abortion advocacy group, wants to testify during the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings slated for September 6.
The organization, which testified in 1981 in support of the nomination of which testified in 1981 in support of the nomination of outgoing pro-abortion Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, has formally requested to testify at has formally requested to testify at the Roberts hearings.
NOW President Kim Gandy sent a letter to Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican.
"After a thorough examination of the available record of the nominee, NOW has concluded that his confirmation represents a danger to many of the rights for which we have worked so hard," Gandy wrote in the letter. "To confirm John G. Roberts to fill the seat [O’Connor] held for 24 years would jeopardize [abortion rights]."
The request follow a contentious week for abortion advocates with Senate Democrats, newspapers across the country and abortion advocates blasting NARAL for an inaccurate commercial about Roberts claiming he supports abortion-related violence. The outcry against the misleading ad was so strong NARAL pulled it from the airwaves and a top spokesman resigned.
NARAL spokesman Ted Miller said the organization "continues to be part of the process, continues to raise questions about John Robert’s record Ted Miller said the organization "continues to be part of the process, continues to raise questions about John Robert’s record."
Miller did notindicate when a revised television ad oppoing Roberts would air.
After the judicial panel holds hearings on Roberts on September 6, it is expected to vote on the nomination on September 15. GOP officials have set September 26 as a tentative date for a full Senate debate and a final vote could occur that day or the next.
Sen. Patrick Leahy, the top Democrat on the judicial panel, said he didn’t think Democrats would be ready to vote by then, but the White House wants Roberts confirmed before the Supreme Court begins its next term in October.
