Harriet Miers Led Effort to Stop Attorney Group’s Pro-Abortion Position

National   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Oct 3, 2005   |   9:00AM   |   WASHINGTON, DC

Harriet Miers Led Effort to Stop Attorney Group’s Pro-Abortion Position Email this article
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
October 3, 2005

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — For those looking for an indication of the views Harriet Miers holds on the issue of abortion, they need look no further than her efforts as the head of the Texas Bar Association, the state attorney’s group. During her tenure, she actively fought the national group from taking a concrete position in favor of legalized abortion.

In 1993, Miers urged the American Bar Association to put the issue of abortion to a vote of its membership across the country instead of adopting a pro-abortion position at national leadership meetings.

Miers said the ABA should not "be trying to speak for the entire legal community" on an issue that "has brought on tremendous divisiveness" within the ABA, according to an Associated Press article.

"Our current position (in favor of abortion rights) has no meaning unless it is endorsed in fact by the membership," Miers said at the time.

Miers was one of a group of attorneys from Texas and other states that hoped the ABA would remain neutral on abortion instead of supporting it.

Despite her efforts, an ABA policy-making committee overwhelmingly rejected the efforts of the pro-life lawyers to keep it neutral and went ahead with the pro-abortion position it adopted in 1992.

Leonard Leo, a White House adviser on Supreme Court nominations told the Associated Press that the ABA abortion fight is one reason pro-life advocates should be happy with the nomination.

"As a leader of the bar, Harriet Miers was a fearless and very strong proponent of conservative legal views," he explained. "She led a campaign to have the American Bar Association end its practice of supporting abortion-on-demand and taxpayer-funded abortion."