Pro-Choice Group Submits Freedom of Information Request to Examine Activities of Timothy Goeglein

(Washington, DC) – NARAL Pro-Choice America, the leading national advocate for personal privacy and a woman’s right to choose, submitted a request under the Freedom of Information Act for a full accounting of the activities of Bush advisor Timothy Goeglein, who was described in Monday’s New York Times as "the official White House liaison to conservatives and to Christian groups," and Karl Rove’s "legman on the right."

NARAL Pro-Choice America further announced that its earlier requests for information on a number of officials at the White House have not been answered, in clear violation of federal law.

Elizabeth Cavendish, Interim President of NARAL Pro-Choice America, said: "We’ve always known that responding to the far right’s concerns was priority one in George Bush’s White House, so it only makes sense that it would require at least one full time staffer. But if the President is going to use a public employee to foment activism against women’s rights, we should at least have the right to know what he is up to. It’s time for the White House to stop stonewalling, respect the law, and let us see just how deeply involved anti-choice groups are in making national policy."

NARAL Pro-Choice America originally submitted requests for information to the White House in January 2004 wishing to review the schedules of senior officials to determine how closely involved anti-choice groups have been in major administration decisions. Despite the legal requirement to respond to such requests within twenty business days, the organization has yet to receive even a cursory reply. Today, the organization sent follow-up letters to the respective agencies, noting that they are in violation of federal law.

According to a variety of public accounts, Goeglein has used his White House post to further a career of aggressive and vocal advocacy for eliminating the right to choose. Last year, speaking to a "Celebration of Life" event hosted by Lutherans for Life, he described abortion rights as "a cancer within our country."

Earlier in his career, as communications director for the 2000 presidential campaign of Gary Bauer, Goeglein talked of the importance of having, "a specific plan, a specific pro-life plan, to end abortion on demand. It's very important to say; it goes to a central tenet of the Republican Party." 

Contact:
Ted Miller, 202.973.3032