WASHINGTON -- October 25 --Following is a statement by Elizabeth Cavendish, interim president of NARAL Pro-Choice America:

In the latest reinvention of his campaign stump speech, George Bush claims to be a uniter on abortion related issues, saying "I believe it is important to work with people to find common ground on difficult issues."

Well, Mr. President, there is a consensus in this country -- it favors protecting the right to choose and efforts to prevent unintended pregnancies. On both issues, Bush is in the minority -- and he is using divisive tactics to rally his base, instead of seeking consensus positions that could improve people's lives.

Bush has continually pushed a far-right agenda against the right to choose -- nominating judges actively committed to overturning Roe vs. Wade and even going so far as to subpoena the private medical records of women who have had abortions.

If Bush wanted to find common ground, he would join with us in supporting measures to prevent pregnancy and reduce the number of abortions. But his policies have gone in the opposite direction: Doubling funding for "abstinence-only" programs that deny young people information on how to protect themselves, overruling his own medical experts to deny over-the-counter sale of the morning-after pill, cutting off family planning aid abroad and limiting such assistance at home.

President Bush just won't come clean about his politics of division.

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