Interest(ing) Groups ;p

Hey again, 

Today we're talking about interest groups! Interest groups are essentially groups of people that share a common interest and try to appeal to the government in order to pass legislation in their favor. There are many ways that interest groups do this, but two of the biggest ways is by giving money to politicians and by drafting bills that Congress can enact into law. 

One interest group that I researched is the NARAL (www.prochoiceamerica.org/).  This group participates in political action and advocacy efforts to combat restrictions on abortion. 

I took this screenshot from the abortion access page that reveals their point of view and purpose. 

I think that it is pretty clear to see that NARAL has a liberal perspective. It is well known that liberals generally support pro-choice abortion rights meaning that they believe women should have the right to get an abortion. The line, "anti-choice politicians and organizations focus on undermining and chipping away at our rights until they can do away with legal abortion access completely". This affirms their liberal stance to abortion because of their language concerning "anti-choice" constituents who lean more conservatively. 

This piece serves multiple purposes. One of them is to get women educated about abortion and the ways that anti-choice members are restricting abortion access. You can see this in the second paragraph when speaking on laws, "trying to outlaw abortion altogether, shutting down clinics, restricting access based on income level and dictating which medical procedures are available". The article is being very critical of anti-choice members and how they're fighting to shut down abortion rights for women in America. This is an attempt to mobilize pro-choice voters to think about all the strides the opposing side is taking. 

They also want to mobilize pro-choice voters to vote for politicians who will, "...be champions for reproductive freedom". That pushes voters to choose politicians who support pro-choice abortion rights for women. These are probably the same politicians that have received endorsements from the NARAL such as Dianne Feinstein, a U.S. Senator. When the politicians who are endorsed by interest groups (like NARAL) they are more likely to pass legislation that supports those groups goals. 

The author uses pathos to appeal to the emotions of pro-choice voters. You can see this when the author calls abortion rights, "endangered" and "A woman can never be equal if she is denied the basic right to make decisions for herself and her family".  Much of the language used to describe abortion rights in America have a negative connotation in order to get voters to become sad/upset about the current state of abortion access. 

Interest groups have a lot of influence and appeal to many different people, politicians and voters alike. To be completely honest, I think the concept of interest groups is kind of shady given that they hold a lot more power than you might initially think, but I do admit they do a fine job mobilizing voters to vote on what they believe in. And that's probably more important, right?

Thanks for reading!