Senate Candidate Wants to Change His Name to "Pro-Life"

Posted by Cindy Cooper, Words of Choice at 6:10 AM on March 28, 2008.

A report from Idaho indicates that U.S. Senate candidate Marvin Richardson legally changed his name to Marvin Pro-Life Richardson.

This seemed weird at first glance -- but why not get all anti-abortion legislators to change their names? And then mandate that all anti-abortion legislation change names to add "anti-abortion," or heck, even "pro-life"? Now that would be informed consent!

As synopsized by National Partnership for Women and Families, here's the deal with Marvin Pro-Life. (Pro-Life, by the way, is running for the seat of Larry Craig, who is most recently known for for his encounter with an airport men's room.)

An Idaho candidate for the U.S. Senate has legally changed his name to Pro-Life, the AP/CBS News reports. The man attempted to appear on a 2006 ballot as Marvin Pro-Life Richardson when he unsuccessfully ran for governor, but the state's policy prohibits slogans from appearing on the ballot. However, officials in the Idaho Office of the Secretary of State have said they have no choice but to allow Pro-Life to be on the 2008 ballot because it is now the candidate's full legal name (AP/CBS News, 3/18).

Idaho Secretary of State Ben Ysursa (R) at a state Senate committee hearing Monday advocated for legislation (S 1514) that would require candidates who change their name to a political slogan to have a parenthetical note after the name on the ballot that states "A person formerly known as ..."

But wait ... if this were applied across the board, we could have John Pro-Life McCain running for President ... and there would be no confusion for the pro-choice majority. We wouldn't have to worry when he makes his comments obscure and coded, as George W. Bush did. Everyone would know, flat-out, where McCain stands.

Instead of "crisis pregnancy centers" or "pregnancy care centers," which regularly deceive women about their intentions, we could have "crisis pro-life centers" and "pregnancy pro-life care" ... and the whole encounter could be clarified for those crossing the threshold of one.

And the Colorado group that is now trying to get a ballot measure that would result in a complete abortion ban could change its name from "Colorado for Equal Rights" to "Colorado for Equal Pro-Life Rights."

Or, finally, if legislation were forced to have this middle name imagine the improvement. Anti-choice legislation would be newly illuminated. Instead of Senator Brownback's "Ultrasound Informed Consent Act" (S 2075), we would have the Ultrasound Pro-Life Informed Consent Act.

Hey, Marv Pro-Life ... you're really onto something. Thanks for the notion!

Tagged as: anti-choice, abortion, pro-life, pro-choice, reproductive justice