Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report Highlights Women's Health Policy Issues Related To 2006 Elections

The following highlights recent election-related news on women's health issues.

• California: Oakland, Calif., Mayor Jerry Brown (D), who is running for state attorney general, recently released advertisements criticizing his opponent, state Sen. Chuck Poochigian (R), for opposing abortion rights and stem cell research, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. According to one of the ads, Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California President Kathy Kneer said Poochigian "wants to outlaw abortion and overturn Roe v. Wade," the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court case that effectively barred state abortion bans. Poochigian spokesperson Kevin Spillane said the ads are a blend of "distortions and falsehoods," adding, "The senator is personally opposed to abortion, but Chuck Poochigian supports the ability of women who have been raped, are victims of incest to have an abortion, or to save the life of the mother." According to the Chronicle, Brown led Poochigian by 21 points in a recent Field Poll (Zamora, San Francisco Chronicle, 9/25).
  

• New York: NARAL Pro-Choice New York on Tuesday endorsed attorney Andrew Cuomo (D) for state attorney general in the November election, the New York Times reports. The Republican candidate for attorney general, former Westchester County, N.Y., district attorney Jeanine Pirro, supports abortion rights but has said she opposes late-term abortions. "I think Jeanine Pirro started out being a pro-choice woman, a moderate woman in this state," NARAL Pro-Choice New York Executive Director Kelli Conlin said, adding, "I met with her face to face with staff members in the office, where she assured me, to my face, that she would never abandon us, that she was with us 100%. ... And sure enough, she did abandon the voters of the state of New York." Pirro spokesperson John Gallagher in a statement issued on Tuesday said, "As a pro-choice woman who has spent more than 30 years as a prosecutor, judge and district attorney fighting for women's issues, Jeanine Pirro had previously been supported by NARAL." He added that she "understands that because of the extreme political agenda of some NARAL members it was necessary for them to go with a challenger who doesn't have nearly the record or experience that Jeanine does" (Hicks, New York Times, 9/27).
  

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