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Tricky Times Ahead for Dobson?
An Associated Press story is drawing international attention to a disagreement among religious right leaders over the significance of so-called Partial Birth Abortion bans.
Anti-abortion leaders are accusing one of their own, Focus on Family founder James Dobson, of misrepresenting a Supreme Court decision that upheld a ban on late-term abortions. The ad highlights a longstanding disagreement in the antiabortion movement over so-called "partial birth abortion." Many militant antiabortion activists agree with the signers of the letter, that PBA bans are publicity stunts, rather than subtantively reducing abortions in any way. The raising of the issue in this way raises the stakes in an interesting way and may portend deeper political divisions down the road. Meanwhile, The Rocky Mountain News reports that Dobson's Focus on the Family, is presenting a mixed financial picture, as general revenues are up, but revenue for the organization's political arm, Focus Action, has declined since its first year in operation, 2004.
The combined Focus organization, in Colorado Springs, had revenue of $148.8 million in the fiscal year through the end of September, a roughly 4 percent increase on a modest rise in donations, the documents showed. Most of the sum - $136.6 million - was contributions. Focus also gets revenue from the sale of books, films and other materials. Of course, these numbers do not take into account FOF's national network (pdf) of about 35 separately incorporated Family Policy Councils, such as the Massachusetts Family Institute, that carry out political operations and lobbying at the state level. Nor does it take into consideration the role and budget of the Washington, DC-based lobby, the Family Research Council, founded by Dobson but later spun off to put some distance between the non-profit, tax-exempt Focus on the Family and overt political activity. (Dobson has, however, remained on the board of directors.) There will be many stories such as these over the next little while, as the 2008 election season heats up; as religious right leaders jockey for position in the wake of the death of Jerry Falwell, and the ill health of Florida tlevangelist and political leader D. James Kennedy -- among other changes in the political landscape. Each such story, as interesting and signficant as it may be, is but small piece of a much-larger story that is still unfolding.
Tricky Times Ahead for Dobson? | 6 comments (6 topical, 0 hidden)
Tricky Times Ahead for Dobson? | 6 comments (6 topical, 0 hidden)
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