NAPW Responds in the New York Times

The New York Times publishes NAPW Executive Director Lynn Paltrow's response to Melissa Henneberger's Op Ed entitled "Why Pro-Choice is a Bad Choice for Democrats".

To the Editor:

Melinda Henneberger notes that opponents of abortion
have made progress by making abortion a ''human rights
issue comparable to slavery.'' The real problem,
though, is that pro-choice advocates have defended
abortion rather than the women subjected to such
outrageous analogies.

Sixty-one percent of women who have abortions are
already mothers, and another 24 percent will go on to
become mothers. Eighty-five percent of all women bring
life into this world and provide the majority of care
for the lives of those around them. Individual
pregnant women, whether seeking to end a pregnancy or
to go to term, are certainly not the same as
governments that use state power to enslave particular
groups of people.

Failing to defend pregnant women -- mothers and
caregivers -- against such comparisons is what is bad
for pro-choice advocates, Democrats and Republicans
alike.

Lynn M. Paltrow

Executive Director

National Advocates for Pregnant Women

New York, June 22, 2007