NARAL’s new president: Left-wing radical who admits, “We are losing”
by Andy Moore of AbortionWiki.org
On January 14 NARAL Pro-Choice America announced it had chosen a new president. The newly-selected leader, Ilyse Hogue, pictured right, is set to take over the reigns of the organization at the end of January.
“So, who is this woman?” is the question most pro-lifers and even many on the other side are asking.
When current president Nancy Keenan (pictured below with Hogue) announced in May 2012 her intention to retire, she said she thought a younger leader would better connect with the Millennial generation.
In an interview last month Keenan explained pro-abortion youth were not as motivated to bring about social change as their pro-life counterparts:
This isn’t on the top of their list of issues that they’re concerned about right now. And so we have to close that intensity gap, we have to make the case for the importance of the vigilance around this issue.
This Millennial generation… they are pro-choice, but there is an intensity gap and there still has to be some connecting the personal to the political.
However, as LifeNews.com pointed out, Hogue doesn’t solve NARAL’s problems in terms of its inability to connect with Millenials. At 42 years old, Hogue is not part of the post-Roe generations, as she was born before the Supreme Court handed down that infamous decision.
Hogue also shares a similarly pessimistic outlook on the state of the fight for abortion rights, admitting in a September 2012 op ed piece at The Nation, “we are losing substantial ground on reproductive choice.”
When Janet Denlinger, chair of the group’s board of directors, said NARAL was fortunate to find such a uniquely qualified candidate to lead the organization, she wasn’t kidding.
However, from our research, Hogue has close to zero experience in the pro-abortion lobby itself.
Yet Hogue more than makes up for this with her vast experience organizing for multiple firmly left-wing groups as well as her political connections. Below is a summary of her more notable activist jobs and activities:
- 1999: “Forest Specialist” for Greenpeace
- 2000 – 2006: Director of the Global Finance Campaign at the Rainforest Action Network, during which time she expressed support for Young Democratic Socialists, the youth arm of Democratic Socialists of America, the largest socialist organization in the U.S., as an “important partner”
- 2006 – 2011: Director of Political Advocacy and Communications for MoveOn.org, mobilizing its members and working closely with leaders in Congress and the White House to advocate for socialist legislation on financial regulatory reform and health care. During this tenure Hogue spoke at three of Campaign for America’s Future‘s annual conferences and met twice with Elizabeth Warren, then-assistant to President Obama and Special Advisor to the Secretary of the Treasury
- 2011 – 2012: Senior Adviser to Media Matters for America, where she focused on advocacy programs to undercut the power of right-wing media
- 2012: Co-founded/directed Friends of Democracy PAC, which raised over $2.4 million to reform lobbying rules, rules around donations to candidates, and greater transparency and disclosure of money in politics
Hogue currently serves on the steering committee for the Center for Corporate Policy, a partner organization of the Institute for Policy Studies. She also writes for The Nation, the self-described ”flagship of the left.”
In fact, so influential is Hogue, Huffington Post has listed her as one of 50 women “who made the 2012 election.”
Hogue has invested much of her career discovering cutting edge ways to engage better with a larger support base. With a group of veteran advocates of child killing gathered around her, Hogue will soon learn the ropes and begin to channel her extensive experience in organizing into NARAL. This should greatly benefit NARAL by both strengthening its brand and relevance as well as strengthening its base.
I believe Hogue is more savvy than Keenan. She is more driven. She will serve NARAL as a fiercer opponent of the pro-life movement.
Despite these benefits to NARAL and the pro-abortion lobby, the fact remains that after 40 years of bloodshed, public opinion is shifting.
With the advent and subsequent saturation of our culture by ultrasound imaging, and by a new generation who understand that abortion is not a political issue but a social justice issue, the days of legal abortion are numbered.
Ilyse Hogue has been given the wheel of a sinking ship.
——————–
This article was written using research gathered by AbortionWiki, and all references for this article can be found at Ilyse Hogue’s profile on that website.
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
I suppose it is a tough task to find a leader that wasn’t killed in the womb. Huh.
Just ignore the THOUSANDS and THOUSANDS of young prolife peeps at the March for Life next week!! Move along. Nothing to see here.
Face it proaborts. We aren’t buying what you are selling.
One thing I found enlightening was that the abortion lobby would pick someone for president not known as an abortion activist. I’m not sure how often our side would choose someone steeped in conservative activism and politics but not known as a pro-life champion. Interesting…
No shock that she is a hard core leftie with strong socialist ties. She is also a tree hugger so we can see protect the trees, kill the babies logic. No wonder she is a fav with Obama. Maybe she is also into the Agenda 21 stuff with protect the planet by eliminating the people
I wonder if she had to have one or several abortions to prove herself.
I think a lot of the “intensity gap” is caused by the following:
1. It’s just harder to get people fired up about despair and dead babies as a positive good.
2. They’ve grown up on ubiquitious ultrasounds and so are less likely to view abortion as victimless or as just “ending a pregnancy.”
Do pro-life organizations such as the Susan B Anthony List see any need to change leadership, to motivate PL youth?
A younger leader? While Hogue is certainly no dinosaur my idea of a younger leader would be a young professional woman in her mid to late twenties, early thirties max. Not someone pushing 50.
But what can you expect from a movement that needs aging feminists to model its t-shirts and has-beens well past their prime to prance around in “lady part” costumes?
Ladies, maybe young people just ain’t buying what you’re selling.
The scary thing is, they’ve still managed to kill so many pre-born children in a situation they themselves describe as losing. I’d hate to see their version of winning.
Mary makes a great point in the comment above. At the West march last year there was tiny group of pro-abortion protesters in outlandish costumes. The young people in our crowd giggled about them and said they looked like a bunch of freaks. Also, our young people sing better! ok maybe I’m biased. :>)
Huh. Well, I think Carla and Jill made excellent points.
Pretty sure they were trying to straddle the fence with a younger but also experienced leader. No offense, but it’s personally far more inspiring to follow a truly young, organically grown leader like Lila Rose. We have no shortage of motivated young people who have successfully “risen to the top,” so to speak.
Maybe they don’t realize that, even subconsciously, the pro-choicers of my generation (post roe) have a psychological awareness that 1/3 of our peers have been slaughtered in utero. It kind of takes the wind out of the sails of “reproductive choice.”
Great work Andy
What I find crazy is that I belive that the pro-death side is wining but acting like the are losing and the pro-lifers are lossing but acting like they are winning. Not good not good at all.
Just ignore the THOUSANDS and THOUSANDS of young prolife peeps at the March for Life next week!! Move along. Nothing to see here.
It truly wonderful sight for this “oldhead” to see.
What I find crazy is that I belive that the pro-death side is wining but acting like the are losing and the pro-lifers are lossing but acting like they are winning. Not good not good at all.
I kind of agree with you there. How are they “losing” when the media, the Senate, and the White House is on their side, not to mention academia? Abortions are still legal in most states through 9 nine months of pregnancy. I just think it is a scare tactic to raise money, and I’m sure it will work.
Hi LibertyBelle,
Like you I was thinking along the lines of Lila Rose.
I guess it all depends on your definition of “winning”.
From a legal perspective, the abortion lobby seems to want no restrictions, and only 25% of Americans agree with that. 52% of Americans think there should be restrictions and almost all states have some restrictions in place. And 20% of Americans want abortion illegal in all circumstances.
From a moral perspective, the abortion lobby doesn’t find abortion problematic. Only 38% of Americans agree with them, that abortion is morally acceptable. And 51% of Americans think abortion is morally wrong.
It seems most Americans do not accept “abortion on demand and without apology”. Where the abortion lobby is winning is in the apathy of people that don’t agree with abortion. The “abortion is not for me but okay for thee” attitude is, at its heart, very unloving and self-centered.
I think it’s interesting that they chose someone with no experience as a leader in the abortion supporting world. I’ll be interested to see what she does to try to get youth more involved in their side….
The “intensity gap” is marked by the large number of new and significant pro-life organizations that have sprung up from the grassroots. LiveAction, Students for Life, Susan B. Anthony List, etc., etc.. These have attracted hundreds of thousands of young people to action — as we shall see, yet again, during the Marches for Life at capitals and coasts around the nation.
Ms. Hogue will likely be a formidable leader of a mature and established anti-life organization, but she is just one fresh body. Look for her to try and recruit leaders and sponsor new “grassroots” organizations that are pro-abortion. We need to keep an alert eye toward these new office-front posers for NARAL.
She may also try to inspire existing activist groups (environmentalists, socialists, etc) to adopt more aggressively anti-life positions.
“She may also try to inspire existing activist groups (environmentalists, socialists, etc) to adopt more aggressively anti-life positions.”
That is exactly what I expect: tie “reproductive justice” into other issues. We need to keep the spotlight on what abortion actually is and WHO it actually KILLS.
I wonder what the last thing she sees in her mind before she goes to sleep.
“She may also try to inspire existing activist groups (environmentalists, socialists, etc) to adopt more aggressively anti-life positions.”
That is exactly what I expect: tie “reproductive justice” into other issues. We need to keep the spotlight on what abortion actually is and WHO it actually KILLS.
Please, no. I am strongly prolife and I care about animals, the environment, AND the unborn. Why does it have to be either/or?
Interesting, wonder what this will lead to.
Good, informative article Andy.
MoveOn.org is pretty pro-abortion. And Media Matters functioned as Planned Parenthood’s de facto spin machine after they were caught on tape aiding purported sex traffickers. She’ll fit in just fine.
Please join me in praying that Ilyse Hogue has a powerful conversion experience along the same lines as Abby Johnson. God can work in mysterious and powerful ways, we need to have faith that He hears our cries and know when two or more ask in His name, it will be done. May God be glorified.
MoveOn.org is pretty pro-abortion.
Yes it it. I support some “progressive” issues, but the proabortion stance of this group really turns me off.
“Please join me in praying that Ilyse Hogue has a powerful conversion experience along the same lines as Abby Johnson. God can work in mysterious and powerful ways, we need to have faith that He hears our cries and know when two or more ask in His name, it will be done. May God be glorified.” ~ Chris Arsenault
Oh, Chris- thank you for your beautiful witness and love for a fellow creature! Yes, there is rejoicing in Heaven over one who repents…
We must remind ourselves that Ilyse is created by God for the same glorious eternity that awaits all of us if we keep close to Him and do His Will.
***********
There is one phenomenon that brings me hope that women’s hearts especially will be moved. That is the abortion doula movement. Many of these doulas give support for both aborting and birthing women. If they do this long enough, a disconnect WILL happen.
Their hearts and consciences will be opened to the reality of the great contradiction, and many will convert. We can pray, for that conversion, to the babies they help to kill. These women will need our forgiveness and welcoming arms to help their healing.
Remember Dr. Bernard Nathanson? Even after his firm conversion to Catholicism, he was unnerved to appear at a prolife function, and could not at first believe all the outpouring of love for him and his change of heart.
But truly, I cannot imagine a prolifer not praising God for His boundless mercy when a proabort turns from death to life…
************
One thing I’d like to clarify, with Phillymiss, and that’s her statement that “Abortions are still legal in most states through 9 nine months of pregnancy.” I thought abortion is still legal in all 50 states, throughout all nine months of pregnancy and during birth itself.