NARAL Endorses Gore
Vice President Al Gore is being endorsed by the nation's top abortion-rights group, which has abandoned its neutrality in the Democratic presidential contest in hopes of ending questions about Gore's mixed record on abortion.
Kate Michelman, president of the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League, was appearing with Gore Tuesday afternoon at a Washington hotel to deliver the endorsement.
The backing will give Gore a boost on what's been one of his most vulnerable issues in the battle with former New Jersey Sen. Bill Bradley for the Democratic nomination.
Bradley, meanwhile, was addressing a Teamsters conference in Atlantic City, N.J., on Tuesday. While most national unions have endorsed Gore, the Teamsters have stayed neutral.
The abortion-rights endorsement for Gore marked the second time in a week that he picked up support from a group that had planned to stay neutral in the Democratic race. Gore got a similar nod last week from the Human Rights Campaign, a large gay rights group.
NARAL's endorsement came after a weekend of discussion, said spokeswoman Julie Piscitelli. "After two days of thoughtful discussion and deliberation by our board, they voted unanimously to endorse Gore," she said.
In the past, Michelman has said both Gore and Bradley are reliable supporters of abortion rights. "American women can count on either one of them," she said last year.
She also has expressed confidence in Gore's support for abortion rights now, even though he cast a series of anti-abortion votes when he was in Congress.
Bradley's campaign was disappointed by the news.
"It really sends a very bad message to officeholders about what they can expect to get from NARAL," said Rep. Diane DeGette, D-Colo., a Bradley supporter. "The message is, 'We're going to do whatever's politically expedient for us at the time.'"
Abortion often is an issue in Republican presidential primaries, with candidates trying to prove they are sufficiently against it. But rarely has the issue so sharply divided Democrats.
Gore has said he's always believed abortion should be legal, saying he only had reservations in the past about government paying for abortions for poor women in Medicaid.
But as details of his record emerged, he was forced to admit that his position has changed.
In 1987, he said in a letter to a constituent that abortion was "arguably the taking of a human life." And in 1984, he voted to define the word "person" under four existing civil rights laws to include "unborn children from the moment of conception."
Bradley has tried to capitalize on the issue. He ran a TV ad in New Hampshire calling himself the only presidential candidate who "has been pro-choice for everyone all the time."
Gore has responded with a slew of endosements from feminist leaders and women in Congress.