Pro-lifers upset with Bush's pick for attorney general

Washington D.C., Nov 10, 2004 / 22:00 pm

Pro-life activists are upset over President George W. Bush's appointment of Alberto Gonzales as attorney general. He succeeds John Ashcroft.

Pro-lifers are worried that the new White House counsel will not aggressively uphold the administration's pro-life stance, reported WorldNetDaily.com.

Gonzales was Bush's general counsel when he was governor of Texas and also served as secretary of state.

Gonzales is a former member of the Texas Supreme Court, where he voted to allow a teenager to get an abortion without notifying her parents, circumventing the notification law in that state. At the time, he criticized the position taken by his colleague Justice Priscilla Owen, who voted against the abortion.

Chuck Baldwin, a pastor and columnist, slammed Gonzales, stating, "Gonzales is anything but pro-life."

LifeNews.com pointed out there may be a silver lining to the new appointment: It takes him out of the running for a Supreme Court appointment should Chief Justice William Rehnquist leave the court due to health problems.

"It will now be Mr. Gonzalez's duty to defend the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act against the federal court challenges that have blocked its implementation – a duty handled admirably by Attorney General Ashcroft,” Tom Minnery of Focus on the Family Action said in a statement.

“American families will also look to Mr. Gonzalez to aggressively prosecute obscenity cases against pornographers who continue to flout federal law."