Targeted representatives demand abortion rights groups pull ads
by Beth Mueller ¦ Badger Herald ¦ 12 March 2008 After calling some advertisements from Planned Parenthood and NARAL Pro-Choice “false” Friday, state Rep. Jim Ott, R-Mequon, demanded Tuesday that the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel stop running the ads. Rep. Mark Honadel, R-South Milwaukee, joined Ott Monday in denouncing the ads and demanding they be retracted. In the radio versions of this set of ads, announcers said Ott or one of three other representatives supports Wisconsin’s criminal abortion ban, under which rape victims who have an abortion could be threatened with prison. A similar online version has run on the Journal Sentinel’s website. Ott called the advertisements “boldfaced lies” and said the Journal Sentinel did not have the “courtesy or the journalistic integrity to check with somebody when a statement is made about them that is outrageous on its face.” Kelda Helen Roys, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice, said the legislators had their chance to stand against punishments for rape victims who get abortions during a vote on an amendment two weeks ago. Ott has said he voted against it because it could have compromised the bill in question, a ban on partial-birth abortions. “Their votes speak for themselves,” Roys said. “We absolutely stand by our ads.” | 
