Lisa Lerer, described as “a national political correspondent for The New York Times who covers campaigns, elections and political power”, wrote an article today describing NARAL Pro-Choice America’s latest attempt to better position itself politically by changing its name yet again:
Reproductive Freedom for All is the fourth name change for the organisation, which began in 1969 as the National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws. After Roe was decided in 1973, it became the National Abortion Rights Action League. Reproductive Rights was added to the name in 1993. Then, in 2003, the group became NARAL Pro-Choice America, a change that coincided with a multimillion-dollar effort to make abortion a central issue in the 2004 presidential election.
Whatever its name now, we know that over the years it has spent a boatload of money trying to figure out how to cloak what it does – aborting helpless babies – in obscurity. Lerer begins
NARAL Pro-Choice America, one of the nation’s largest abortion rights advocacy groups, announced Wednesday that it has changed its name, a move that illustrates the changing politics of the issue after the Supreme Court overturned federal abortion rights.
For decades, abortion rights activists framed their mission as a fight for health care and women’s rights. NARAL’s new name – Reproductive Freedom for All – is intended to align the group’s goals with a different argument: In the post-Roe era, the fight for abortion access is a fight for basic freedoms.
Its president believes that “pro-choice” is “particularly outdated” in a post-Roe era.
“Pro-choice does not resonate with the moderate, younger and male voters who have become more engaged since the Supreme Court ended the nationwide right to abortion last year, said Mini Timmaraju, NARAL’s president. The group’s old name, she said, also failed to reflect the work of black and Hispanic women, who have long been at the forefront of the fight for abortion access.
“NARAL is incredibly resonant in the political world, but we’re not necessarily in the business of just winning political opinion among elected officials and policymakers anymore,” Ms. Timmaraju told Lerer. “We’re now in a much bigger battle for the heart and soul of the American people, and these are people who are brand new to the abortion debate.”
In addition to the name change, Lerer explains,
the group plans to increase its focus on state organising and take a broader approach, joining causes such as ending the Senate filibuster, supporting voting rights and expanding the Supreme Court.
A few observations.
The change to Reproductive Freedom for All is an admission that the previous name not only failed, but signalled the truth of what it actually promotes: the killing of unborn babies. With an even less honest admission of its stock and trade, the abortion lobby hopes that the public will focus on “freedom for all”.
Lerer astutely observes
The abortion rights movement has shifted its message from talking about abortion as health care to casting the legality of the procedure as an American freedom. It’s a message NARAL has been pushing since 2018, when an internal research project found the argument to be the most persuasive.
So, after spending millions upon millions of dollars promoting the slogan “abortion as health care,” NARAL has understood that the persuasive power of this mantra has largely run its course. Expanding the size of the Supreme Court and eliminating the filibuster are blunt instruments that pro-abortionists hide behind “casting the legality of the procedure as an American freedom”.
Whether they call themselves the National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws, the National Abortion Rights Action League, NARAL Pro-Choice America, or Reproductive Freedom for All, their goal remains the same: to facilitate and expand the deaths of millions of unborn children.
Daniel Miller is responsible for nearly all of National Right to Life News' political writing.
With the election of Donald Trump to the U.S. presidency, Daniel Miller developed a deep obsession with U.S. politics that has never let go of the political scientist. Whether it's the election of Joe Biden, the midterm elections in Congress, the abortion rights debate in the Supreme Court or the mudslinging in the primaries - Daniel Miller is happy to stay up late for you.
Daniel was born and raised in New York. After living in China, working for a news agency and another stint at a major news network, he now lives in Arizona with his two daughters.
