Abortion Rights Group's Obama Endorsement Causes Democratic Rift

By Jonathan Allen, CQ Staff Thu May 15, 1:40 AM ET

A prominent abortion-rights group came under fire Wednesday night from more than two dozen congresswomen who support both abortion rights and the presidential campaign of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The campaign spending arm of the NARAL Pro-Choice America (formerly known as the National Abortion Rights Action League) endorsed Democratic frontrunner Sen. Barack Obama, prompting a furious rebuke from the lawmakers and EMILY's List, a political committee that backs women candidates who support abortion rights.

"This action by NARAL is a betrayal. If they can dump Hillary they can dump any of us," said Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif. "This is really personal."

Harman was one of 25 women, joined by New York Rep. Maurice D. Hinchey, who were listed as signatories on a letter to NARAL chief Nancy Keenan, that proclaimed them "stunned and deeply disappointed" that the endorsement came while Clinton is still running.

Earlier in the day, Keenan indicated that NARAL chose Obama over Clinton because she believes the Democratic nomination is his.

"Americans have been fortunate to have two fully pro-choice candidates in the race for the Democratic nomination. But only one can go forward to the general election," she wrote in her endorsement.

With just five contests left, Clinton cannot overcome Obama's lead in pledged delegates to the Democratic National Convention. And he also has more superdelegate endorsements than she does. But she won by a 41 percentage point margin in Tuesday's West Virginia primary and continues to make the case to superdelegates that she would be a stronger Democratic nominee in the general election.

Her supporters, both elected officials and voters, have taken umbrage at efforts to push her from the race or suggest she has no path to the nomination.

"As members of Congress who are on the front lines every day fighting to protect a woman's right to choose, we know the importance of building larger coalitions -- not dividing our friends," they wrote.

The endorsement also put NARAL at odds with EMILY's List, a powerful force in Democratic campaign finance circles that aligned with Clinton early. EMILY's List only endorses women candidates who support abortion rights."I think it is tremendously disrespectful to Sen. Clinton -- who held up the nomination of a FDA commissioner in order to force approval of Plan B and who spoke so eloquently during the Supreme Court nomination about the importance of protecting Roe vs. Wade -- to not give her the courtesy to finish the final three weeks of the primary process," EMILY's List President Ellen R. Malcolm said in a statement released Wednesday afternoon. "It certainly must be disconcerting for elected leaders who stand up for reproductive rights and expect the choice community will stand with them."

The fight between abortion-rights groups is remarkable both because there is little daylight between the candidates on abortion-related issues and because it so clearly illustrates the fierce infighting the campaign has caused between longtime allies.

Clinton and Obama have both received perfect marks on NARAL voting scorecards during their Senate careers.

Obama offended some anti-abortion activists -- but may have helped his case for NARAL's endorsement -- while campaigning in Pennsylvania earlier this year when he talked about the possibility that one of his young daughters could have an unintended pregnancy.

"If they make a mistake, I don't want them punished with a baby," he said.

The word "punished" may also have been a signal to NARAL, which frequently uses the term when describing measures aimed at restricting teens' access to abortions.

"The American public wants teen pregnancy prevented, not punished," Keenan said before a 2006 House vote on legislation designed to make it a federal crime to evade state parental notification and consent laws to transport a minor across state lines for an abortion.

She said on Wednesday that her move was intended to help bring together the Democratic Party: "We are confident that Barack Obama is the candidate of the future. Americans are tired of the divisive politics of the last eight years, and will unite behind Obama in the fall."

But Clinton's supporters said NARAL's endorsement, which came hours before former presidential candidate John Edwards threw his support to Obama, was perceived by some as an effort to knock Clinton from the race against her will.

The lawmakers who wrote to Keenan suggested that a move aimed at helping Obama could backfire on him and NARAL.

"On the heels of Hillary's extraordinary victory in West Virginia last night, your action is counterproductive to Democratic unity -- the unity we will need to win in November," they wrote.