Abortion rights group targets Koster
Attorney general candidate Chris Koster switched to the abortion rights side last year when he dropped his Republican alliances and became a Democrat. But abortion rights activists haven’t exactly rolled out the welcome mat.
Thousands of abortion rights supporters are getting mailings this week, pointing out Koster’s past support for anti-abortion bills.
For example, he supported last year’s HB1055, which increased regulations of abortion clinics while loosening requirements for teaching contraception as part of school sex education classes.
The mailing also cites his votes to impose civil penalties on clergy members who assist teenagers in seeking abortions and his sponsorship of legislation barring state-subsidized groups from providing information on birth control.
“He’s voted for everything we’ve been against,” said Pamela Sumners, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Missouri. “You don’t get a pass on that, just because all of a sudden you say, ‘I’m with you.’”
The mailing says that Koster “calls himself a moderate now that he’s running for attorney general. But there is nothing moderate about his record on choice.”
Sumners said the mailings went to about 15,000 members and supporters. In a campaign finance report filed yesterday, NARAL’s political action committee reported making an independent expenditure of $2,850 against Koster.
The organization has issued a co-endorsement of Koster’s primary opponents, Reps. Margaret Donnelly and Jeff Harris. Sumners said both have 100 percent NARAL voting records.
“Margaret Donnelly and Jeff Harris have a record of leadership and sponsorship on our issues,” Sumners said.
When Koster switched his party allegiances last summer, he said: “From this point on, I’m going to support the structure of Roe,” the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing most abortions. “And I’m going to work for policies that will reduce the unintended pregnancies in this state.”
Koster added that he “had never felt comfortable” with the Legislature’s “heavy-handed” approval of new laws that make abortion less accessible in the state.
Sumners said: “We’re always happy for a road-to-Damascus conversion, but there hasn’t been sufficient time pass to allow us to assess whether that is sincere or whether when opportunism knocks, Chris Koster answers.”
NARAL is a supporter of partial birth abortions. While I am a pro choice voter, this is an extreme group, i.e. bomb throwers types. The fact that they are supporting Donnelly and Harris, just shows how far to the left these two are.
Koster represents the middle to left of the party, not the extreme left. Unfortunately there are circumstances in which the ability to choose is best but NARAL’s position is way,way to the extreme.
Koster is the best choice for Attorney General. What this group endorses makes absolutley no difference to me. I will be voting for Koster.
As a Catholic, it is always difficult for me to vote Democrat, but I consistently do. I am pro choice (please no lectures as I understand the difficulty with my 2 positions), but there is no way I would ever vote for a candidate that is as extreme as NARAL.
Harris and Donnelly do not represent my views, they are both extreme on this topic and they make me sick. Partial birth abortion is not something anyone should support.
Chris Koster’s position is consistent with most people that I know. We do not promote, we do not want it to happen, we do everything in our power as parents so that it never occurs, if it it does ever happen, it is an extremely painful difficult decision.
I could go on and on but to be clear, NARAL supporting Harris and Donnelly is a huge negative to me.
I will be voting for Koster because his views on this are similar to mine, NARAL’s are NOT.
Whose views are Koster’s consistent with? Certainly not his own. Whichever side of the issue you’re on, why would you want to vote for a candidate whose views on something as important as abortion rights flip flop with the direction of the wind?
Jacqueline, of all my friends and relatives that are catholic, 80+ percent of them vote almost exclusively Democrat at election time. When they are inside the church at Mass, they act like they are not left-leaning.
This discussion is so bizarre. Pro-choice organizations work tirelessly to reduce the need for abortions. Both Margaret Donnelly and Jeff Harris understand that medically accurate and factual sex ed reduces unplanned pregnancies.
It is pretty obvious when you look at the average size of ALL families these days - conservative to liberal, Republican to Democrat - that the vast majority of couples are using some form of birth control. Koster even sponsored legislation forbidding organizations to provide women with unplanned pregnancies much-needed info on birth control.
And totally separate from the NARAL issue: No true Democrat would ever vote for a person who just recently voted to eliminate healthcare for thousands of Missourians. Koster did. Don’t be fooled.
Koster told the Post-Dispatch’s editorial board he would still be a Republican if there was room for a moderate. He is still a Republican!
Are Harris and Donnelly happy that they got this co-endorsement? In a city like St. Louis, which is so Catholic, having the blessing of NARAL seems like a huge negative.
While I know many, many pro life Catholics, I also know many pro choice Catholics’s. Koster went to Our Lady of Lourdes and Saint Louis U High. His views are obviously well thought out and seem to be right down the middle of what I see everyday in my Catholic congregation.
Harris and Donnelly are extreme. Partial birth abortions are something which needs to be stopped. Their support of this disgusts me and so many others.
I will be voting for Koster.
Okay Jeanne, let’s play the Catholic card. Anyone remember when SLU wouldn’t let Koster speak on the campus? Oh those were the days when all Catholics flocked to support Koster. Here’s the video in case you forgot: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2lYjoJ2cI8
The posts here from mark koster are shameless. That’s why I won’t be voting for Koster. His entire campaign is a charade.
Kate, you’re right, Koster does represent the middle to left of the party. Unfortunately, that’s the middle to left of the Republican party, not the Democratic party.
Mitch- you are right on. This desperate attempt to focus this discussion on partial birth abortion, a phrase that did not exist until conservatives needed something to rally around, is just to try to change the subject away from what an impostor Koster is.
Margaret Donnelly has accomplished much in her career as a lawyer and elected official to help real people. Jeff Harris has demonstrated his compassion for others too. All that Koster has demonstrated is that he is an opportunist.
Jeff Harris, Margaret Donnelly and NARAL EACH SUPPORT PARIAL BIRTH ABORTIONS.
I agree that nobody in the pro life or pro choice community want more abortions.
But NARAL, Harris and Donnelly are extreme. Harris and Donnelly need to be voted out of office. Their views are as extreme as NARAL’s.
Koster is the only moderate Democrat running and the only candidate qualified to be Attorney General.
“The Mission of NARAL Pro-Choice Missouri is to develop and sustain a constituency that uses the political process to guarantee every women the right to make personal decisions regarding the full range of reproductive choices, including preventing unintended pregnancy, bearing healthy children, and choosing legal abortion.”
Sounds like a group engaging people in the political process to protect constitional rights rather than extremists. Legislation of the past several years, with restriction after restriction, seems more extreme.
NARAL, Harris and Donnelly are on the far left on this issue. Missouri is not a left, let alone a far-left state. If Harris or Donnelly is the Democratic candidate, Gibbons will kill them on this issue. Why can’t the far-left liberals recognize that they are out of step with Missouri, and that birds of their feather cannot win a statewide election in Missouri? Get real, my friends. Koster is the only moderate in this race, and therefore the only candidate with a chance to win the general election.
Koster’s position on abortion is much more in line with what the vast majority of Missourians think. Most Missourians are neither entirely in the Missouri Right to Life OR the NARAL camp. They are somewhere in between on the abortion issue. Of course, NARAL which strongly supports things as extreme as partial birth abortions thinks he’s “too moderate” in his abortion positions. That won’t matter come August 5th. Most Missourians find NARAL’s position too extreme.
I find it laughable that some of your are pro-baby killing yet you’re against NARAL because they support partial birth baby killing. Where do you draw the line? When they are in the womb, they are not babies but when they are half way out they are? Stupid. You want to have it both ways to justify your definition of a woman’s right to choose.
As for Catholics that are pro-baby killing…I can’t believe that Jesus would be in favor of you killing your baby to allow you to have that choice. Perhaps…but doubtful.
To the topic at hand: switching from being pro-life to pro-baby killing seems to be a hard leap to make…
After reading all the commentary so far; on thing is for certain. Most voters are clueless when it comes to the duties and responsibilities of the Attorney General of Missouri.
The Attorney General defends the State of Missouri in court. The Attorney General defends the Missouri Constitution and the laws created in the pursuance thereof.
When voting for Attorney General, vote for the attorney that you think will be the best litigator. The man or woman that will enforce what your elected representatives put into law.
This is the one vote that should/must have nothing to do with party politics. The Attorney General doesn’t get to influence the laws that are created. If you want to influence the laws created, do so by voting for members of the House and Senate, and do so by voting for Governor.
If you waste our vote on Attorney General by basing it on who is the best Democrat or Republican, instead of who is the best litigator, you’re doing a disservice to yourself and to your fellow Missourians.
The duties and responsibilities of the Missouri Attorney General are set forth by Section 27 of the Missouri Revised Statutes. Here’s a link. I urge you to review it before casting your vote.
An informed voter is an asset to the state.
An uninformed voter is merely a pawn.
There is no group in Missouri politics more petty, childish, mean, and vindictive than NARAL.
They not only are hypocrites who play favorites among candidates even if the positions of competing office seekers are exactly the same, they are an objectionable group of shrill, hateful and narrow-minded people. I am pro-choice, but cannot stand the people associated with NARAL nor can I stomach the way they operate. It’s like dealing with a group of mean-spirited 13 year old girls who spend all their time being smug, gossiping and ridiculing anyone unlike themselves. I received their mudslinging attack on Koster and will gladly vote for him in the primary for many reasons–the most important of which is that he is the most qualified. I now have another: just to spite those hateful, divisive, extremists at NARAL.
Now, Kate M., are you really going to start talking about “bomb throwing extremists” without any sense of irony? Because once we start talking about abortion rights and bombings, we’re talking about something very real, and it certainly isn’t NARAL or any other pro-choice group where those bombs are coming from.
Jeff Harris is an extremist? Could someone tell me when this happened? Could someone state some facts to back this up? Just because Harris was endorsed by NARAL doesn’t mean he supports everything they stand for. Just because a Republican is endorsed by NRA doesn’t mean the candidate completely agrees with its beliefs (And by the way, NARAL and the NRA are in similar situations. Neither group wants to give in on even the most extreme fringes of their platforms because they are afraid it could lead to more restrictions on what they really care about.)
Yes, Harris believes in a women’s right to choose. However, that doesn’t mean he loves partial birth abortions. Previous posters make it sound like Harris and Donnelly try to force women to get partial birth abortions. That’s not true. Have they even voted on the issue before?
And Observer is right, it really doesn’t matter how Harris feels about partial birth abortion. That won’t be his job as AG. If legislation dealing with partial birth abortion is passed and challenged, it will be the job of the AG to either defend or attack the procedure (depending on the legislation) in court. Harris, much like Jay Nixon has done, will be able to defend legislation even if it conflicts with his own personal views.
All you all is crazy!! Koster’s a phony, Maggie’s well Maggie and Jeff is the Choice!!
Mark My Words, if Harris or Donnelly get the nomination you have just conceded the AG position too the Republicans. Koster will win tuesday and retain the AG seat for the Dems
If Koster wins, the Republicans get the seat no matter what.