Constitutional Law

Groups Pushing Social Issues For Fall Elections

Poll after poll may say the economy is the top concern for most American voters, but social conservative organizations are determined to re-focus voters on marriage and reproductive rights. Social conservative leaders and groups, such as Chuck Colson, James Dobson, the Family Research Council (FRC) and the American Family Association are feverishly organizing their supporters around hot-button issues, primarily gay rights and reproductive freedom. The New York Times reports that constitutional amendments banning gay marriage in Arizona, California and Florida will be put to voters in November. Also, voters in California, Colorado and South Dakota will consider ballot initiatives limiting reproductive rights.

Even before the California Supreme Court ruled in favor of same-sex marriage this spring, the Family Research Council, working with other social conservative groups, had been raising money and gathering names for a ballot initiative that would bar gay marriage in California. Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council told the Times that his group would continue to be active throughout the fall to propel the initiative, called Proposition 8, to victory. Focus on the Family Action, the political arm of James Dobson’s sprawling religious ministry in Colorado Springs, is also actively involved in pushing a South Dakota ballot initiative called “Measure 11” that would ban abortion except in cases of rape, incest or threats to a woman’s health. The Times reports, that if passed, it would give the state one of the strictest bans in the nation.  

Full post as published by ACS Blog on August 12, 2008 (boomark / email).