Orange County Weekly: Aborting Their Own

[question everything]

July 8 - 14, 2005

Aborting Their Own

OC conservatives say a San Diego publisher has hijacked the anti-abortion movement

by GUSTAVO ARELLANO


(snip)

The Parents’ Right to Know and Child Protection Initiative would require parental notification whenever a minor seeks an abortion. But many conservatives say the measure’s chief backer, a reclusive San Diego publisher, hijacked the state anti-abortion movement, marginalized prominent activists and used his personal fortune to bankroll what they say is a flawed initiative. In the end, they say, the measure will almost certainly pass—and then die in the courts.

They say they’ll vote for the Parents’ Right to Know initiative, but they won’t canvass for it, won’t give money, won’t endorse it from church pulpits. Nothing.

What’s more, they say, the measure will ruin years of hard work to keep minors from seeking abortions. At the center of the imbroglio is Jim Holman, owner and publisher of the San Diego Reader, one of the largest alternative weeklies in the country... In the fall of 2003, anti-abortion activists hired him to direct signature gathering for the Parental Notification Initiative (PNI), the prototype for the Parents’ Right to Know Initiative.


(snip)

Early on, Holman lined up powerful supporters. In February 2004, three ultra-orthodox Catholic newspapers—Los Angeles Lay Catholic Mission, San Diego News Notes and San Francisco Faith—urged conservatives to reject the Parental Notification Initiative. Claiming “fatal flaws” in the PNI’s wording would make it unenforceable and create an “open invitation” to ACLU lawsuits, the papers instructed readers to “plead” with their bishops to support Holman’s initiative “and not . . . the fatally flawed PNI now in circulation.” Subsequent issues of the newspapers included stories explaining Holman’s initiative, how to volunteer for the campaign and even copies of the petition to sign and mail.

(snip)

While Holman gave no money to the PNI, he has almost single-handedly funded Life on the Ballot. According to campaign-finance records, the orthodox Catholic contributed just over $1.22 million to Life on the Ballot—about 72 percent of the PAC’s total income. Holman also gave $300,000 to Bader and Associates, a Newport Beach-based signature-gathering company, to help Life on the Ballot.

(snip)

http://www.ocweekly.com/ink/05/44/news-arellano.php

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[DanCa]

1. For the love of god

Dont catholic churches teach anything else these days? Geez I miss latin mass.

[bliss_eternal]

2. So, to over simplify is this GOOD for pro-choice in CA?

Given the fact that they have stated they won't do anything to help this guy's campaign along, as they feel he has ruined all their years of hard work.

Or is this wishful thinking on my part?