EDITORIAL – Pro-choice groups try to influence voters

The Bush administration’s pro-life policies have led Planned Parenthood Federation of America… The Bush administration’s pro-life policies have led Planned Parenthood Federation of America Inc. to, for the first time, begin a major attempt to elect pro-abortion-rights candidates to Congress and the presidency this election season.

Planned Parenthood intends to spend $10 million with the goal of influencing 1 million people to vote for pro-choice candidates.

Along with Planned Parenthood, Emily’s List and NARAL Pro-Choice America are also planning to spend millions of dollars to push people to elect pro-choice candidates.

This wave of decisions by pro-choice groups to influence voters is the result of the current administration’s awful handling of abortion rights.

Ever since President Bush installed two anti-abortion judges in the Supreme Court and, when in 2007 Gonzales vs. Planned Parenthood upheld the federal abortion ban passed by Congress and signed by President Bush, pro-choice advocates have been struggling to make their voices heard.

Planned Parenthood may also be responding to the fact that many candidates either steer clear of the topic of abortion or linger in the neutral gray.

Often times, simply saying, “I believe in a woman’s right to choose” is enough of a stance to put an end to more questions.

If Planned Parenthood endorses a candidate, however, it will obviously make his or her stance on abortion clearer – a factor that could influence undecided voters.

An endorsement from Planned Parenthood could either help or hurt a candidate, depending on how open they want to be about their views on abortion.

But, at the same time, it distracts voters from the most important issues.

While it is reassuring that Planned Parenthood and other pro-choice organizations are responding to the Bush administration’s abysmal treatment of abortion rights, we have to look at the bigger picture.

The efforts by these groups seem to be driven by the assumption that abortion is the most important topic in American politics today, and it most definitely is not.

Furthermore, the efforts by these groups could be problematic because it will push abortion as a top-tier issue for discussion during the presidential campaign, possibly alienating more significant issues like education and social security.

Abortion is not a presidential issue.

There is not much a president can do to influence pro-life or pro-choice policies except veto legislation or install Supreme Court justices who would uphold or defeat cases like Roe vs. Wade.

It is not yet clear how influential the pro-choice campaign will be for voters, especially because the groups will be contending with many conservative organizations that plan to spend money in hopes of electing pro-life candidates.

But the fierce competition between the two sides draws attention to the fact that Americans are and always will be divided on this issue – a clear indication that addressing this issue at the federal level is almost impossible.