Pro-Abortion Groups Promote FOCA in Wake of Supreme Court Decision 
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
April 20, 2007
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — With a Supreme Court that is less likely to uphold Roe v. Wade following its decision that the national partial-birth abortion ban is constitutional, abortion advocates are looking to Congress to support an extensive bill that would enshrine abortion into law. They hope the fact that Democrats control Congress will aide their cause.
Abortion advocates first promoted the Freedom of Choice Act during the early part of the Clinton administration but gave up on it after Republicans took control of Congress because most of them were staunchly pro-life.
The FOCA bill would not only make legalized abortion the law of the land, pro-life advocates point out that it would invalidate many pro-life laws used at the state level to reduce abortions.
Following the high court’s decision, leading abortion advocates said they would put the bill back on the table.
"So how are we going to defeat this ban now that Bush’s appointees upheld it? Simple," NARAL’s president Nancy Keenan explained in an email to her supporters that LifeNews.com obtained.
"We’re starting an all-out campaign to support the Freedom of Choice Act. Here’s how it starts: The Freedom of Choice Act is legislation that would codify Roe v. Wade into law, and guarantee the right to choose for generations to come," she said.
The Feminists Majority Foundation agreed and emailed its donors saying "We must work to pass the Freedom of Choice Act, which will codify Roe so that it cannot be further assaulted."
Sen. Barbara Boxer, a California Democrat, and Rep. Jerrold Nadler, a New York Democrat, have both pledged to reintroduce FOCA in both chambers of Congress but pro-abortion Sen. Diane Feinstein admitted to the Associated Press that abortion activists likely don’t have the votes to move it forward.
"We’ve been losing fight after fight after fight," she said.
Kim Gandy, the head of NOW, agreed with Feinstein’s assessment about the Congressional attitude on abortion issues.
"It’s a Democratic Congress, but it’s not a pro-choice Congress," she said, adding that it was unlikely that pro-abortion forces could undo the partial-birth abortion ban or push the FOCA bill.
While abortion advocates talk about pushing FOCA, it appears they are more focused on the 2008 presidential election and appointing judges to further entrench Roe v. Wade.
