Pro-Life Groups Make Last Push to Defeat Pro-Abortion Obama Pick David Ogden
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
March 11, 2009
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — Pro-life groups are making a last-minute push to ask the Senate to vote against David Ogden, President Barack Obama’s pro-abortion nominee for deputy attorney general. The Family Research Council is hoping to get more senators to vote no when they decide his nomination tomorrow.
FRC president Tony Perkins told LifeNews.com that Ogden represents such a "profound threat to American families" that it will include the vote on its annual scorecard of Congressional votes.
That would be the first time FRC has included a nomination vote on its scorecard.
"We will include the vote on David Ogden’s nomination in our annual Vote Scorecard which tracks votes in Congress critical to the family," he said. "We will make every effort to inform the American people how each of their two Senators voted on this far left nomination."
Although Ogden is considered a "far left" nominee from the pro-life perspective, his abortion position makes it fit right into the Obama administration.
Ogden has come under fire for denying the physical and mental health problems that plague women who have abortions.
Ogden wrote and filed an amicus brief on behalf of the American Psychological Association for the Supreme Court’s seminal decision in Casey v. Planned Parenthood.
In it, Ogden argued, "Abortion rarely causes or exacerbates psychological or emotional problems. When women do experience regret, depression, or guilt, such feelings are mild and diminish rapidly without adversely affecting general functioning."
Ogden has gone further by arguing against parental notification and saying, because "there is no qualitative … difference between minors … and adults," there is no reason for the parents of a young girl to know if she is having an abortion.
During his hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee, pro-life Sen. John Kyl, an Arizona Republican, challenged Ogden on those pro-abortion views, calling them "very left leaning and unorthodox positions."
Ogden defended his views saying he is "quite proud of his record" but adding that he was serving the interests of private clients at the time. He claimed he would "put the interests of the United States and the rule of law above any other" consideration.
"Ogden has built a career on representing views and companies that most Americans find repulsive," Perkins concludes.
"In his career he has argued against parents being notified that their 14-year old girl had an abortion," he complained. "Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, Mr. Ogden has argued that women who have had abortions suffer no detrimental consequences."
Colleen Parro, the head of the Republican National Committee for Life, also urges a no vote on the Ogden nomination.
"Ogden is well-known for his radically pro-abortion position," she told LifeNews.com. "In fact, David Ogden is so pro-abortion that he began his career as a law clerk to Justice Harry Blackmun, the Supreme Court Justice who wrote the majority opinion in Roe v. Wade."
"Your pro-life Senators want you to weigh in on this issue," she said. "They need encouragement from their constituents to vote against these radical Obama nominees. Senate liberals are trying to push these nominees through at warp speed so that their controversial pasts fly under the radar."
ACTION: You can find contact information for any member of the Senate by going to https://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
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