Pro Life Group Plans Anti-Bird Ads

SAN FRANCISCO — The 35,000-member Pro Life Council plans to launch an advertising campaign against Chief Justice Rose Elizabeth Bird, the San Francisco Examiner reported in today’s editions.

“For the past seven years, the Legislature has curtailed public spending for abortions, and every time the Rose Bird court has overridden such decisions,” said Brian Johnston, executive director of the Pro Life Council.

Johnston said the lobby probably will begin buying commercial time on television and radio and placing newspaper advertisements in March.

So far the campaign against the court’s liberal majority, made up of Bird and three colleagues--Justices Joseph R. Grodin, Stanley Mosk and Cruz Reynoso--has focused on the court’s record of overturning death penalty cases. The election is next November.

California, one of 13 states that funds abortion, allocated about $31 million for the procedure last year.

Planned Parenthood Federation spokesman David Alois predicted that unseating Bird would have no effect on abortion rulings by the high court.

Pro-choice groups say state surveys show almost 60% support for abortion.