NARAL Withdraws Controversial Roberts Ad

An abortion rights group has withdrawn a controversial ad linking Supreme Court nominee John Roberts to violent groups, following criticism that the ad was false and misleading.

NARAL Pro-Choice America said it would withdraw the ad on Thursday night after some liberals joined conservatives in denouncing the television ad.

Senator Arlen Specter R-Penn., an abortion supporter said the ad was "blatantly untrue and unfair" on Wednesday, according to the Associated Press.

President of NARAL Nancy Keenan expressed "regret that many people have misconstrued our recent advertisement about Mr. Roberts' record," according to AP.

The ad criticized Roberts, linking him with violent anti-abortion protesters because he had issued "friend of the court" briefs in a Supreme Court case regarding abortion in 1992.

Roberts' comments, issued while he was a deputy of the solicitor's office, focused on the view that the abortion clinic protests had nothing to do with gender discrimination. However, Roberts had stated that "no matter how lofty or sincerely held the goal, those who resort to violence to achieve it are criminals."

Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council said NARAL had created a "contemptible ad" that implied that Roberts favored violence against people, according to Agape Press.

In the ad, Roberts' image appears over a copy of the legal brief he wrote, while a narrator says, that he "filed court briefs supporting violent fringe groups and a convicted clinic bomber... America can't afford a justice whose ideology leads him to excuse violence against other Americans."

One television station in Maine had already refused to run the ad. The vice president and general manager of WABI-TV stated that he decided to pull the ad after being challenged by the Republican National Committee.

"After careful thoughtful analysis, we determined the ad was at worst false, and at best misleading," he told AP.