NARAL President: Abortion the Foundation ‘On Which Everything Else is Built’

Want to frame one the most nihilistic and anti-religious political stances into a pro-family and relatable one? Let The Washington Post show you how! 

In Sunday’s “Style” section, reporter Ellen McCarthy did a glowing profile [1] of NARAL President Ilyse Hogue. McCarthy presented Hogue as a relatable, working and expecting (36 weeks pregnant) mother. She opened with Hogue’s “swollen ankles and sleepless nights” and hammered home that Hogue was not the usual type to take on leadership at NARAL, one of the most vocal and extreme pro-abortion groups in the country. 

To do that of course, McCarthy had to present Hogue as politically moderate – conveniently glossing over her extensive work in left-wing advocacy. 

McCarthy framed Hogue as a newcomer to the political scene, who hadn’t been “a card-carrying member of any feminist organizations,” and for whom abortion “hadn’t become one of her central issues.”  “When NARAL called and asked me to throw my hat in the ring, it was a little bit like, ‘Do you have the right number?’” 

The aw-shucks shtick is ridiculous. Hogue is no less radical than her predecessor, Nancy Keenan. Hogue has an extensive background [2] in left-wing advocacy groups, and held senior positions at Move On. org, and Media Matters [3]. Not to mention that Hogue’s currently a contributor to the ultra-left-wing blog, The Nation [2].

Painting a veteran of some of the shriller left-wing outfits into a reasonable centrist is a fool’s errand, but McCarthy did her best by demonizing “antiabortion advocates” swooning over Hogue’s calm in the face of the pro-life community’s reaction to her pregnancy announcement (one pro-lifer allegedly asked if her baby “was real”.) And she couldn’t resist getting a little pro-abortion boiler-plate in, courtesy Hogue’s associate Rene Redwood, who explained, “The majority of abortions are opted for by women who have children already. It says that it’s a family issue. Her being pregnant with twins and still being quite vocal up until when she gives birth — it’s the reality of many American homes.” (emphasis added) 

McCarthy, of course, didn’t blink at giving infanticide the same moral weight as buying a second car. Nor did she balk when Hogue called abortion “a foundational issue upon which everything else is built.” Really. Hard to believe the Republic got by for nearly 200 years without guaranteeing the legal “right” to kill unborn children. 

But it’s too much to expect a Washington Post hack scrutinize the statements of the lefties they adore. McCarthy’s puff piece even included a mention of the stupid abortion comments made by conservative candidates Todd Akin and Richard Mourdock in 2012 – just in case readers forgot who the enemy is.