Helen Hunt: 'Vote for Kerry'

2004-10-20 12:33

Washington - Actress Helen Hunt, Oscar winner for As Good As It Gets, is telling women voters it could be better with Democratic Senator John Kerry in the White House.

Hunt makes her appeal in an advert that's part of Planned Parenthood's $1m television campaign in eight competitive states.

"In 2000, 22 million single women didn't vote. This year, you and women like you hold the power to change the course of our country," Hunt says. "We know. We're Planned Parenthood. We've helped women make many choices. Now we're asking you to make one more."

"Vote John Kerry for president," Hunt says.

Other adverts from Planned Parenthood Action Fund assail President Bush for his policies on women's issues.

The organisation has never endorsed a presidential candidate but chose to back Kerry in the spring because of what Gloria Feldt, the non-profit's president, has called "the Bush administration's war on choice." She has said, "there's never been a more frightening time for the future of reproductive rights."

The Republican Majority for Choice, which calls itself the party's largest pro-choice advocacy group, plans to unveil an ad campaign aiding pro-choice Republican candidates in many states.

Embracing abortion rights

Five swing state newspapers will publish a full-page advert on Wednesday chiding Democratic Senator John Kerry for embracing abortion rights - what an accompanying list of Catholic elected officials and voters argue is a contradiction to his faith.

The advert titled "An Open Letter from Fellow Catholics to John Kerry" was paid for by the Bush-Cheney campaign. It is running in mid-sized newspapers with strong Catholic readership in Pennsylvania, Iowa, New Hampshire, Wisconsin and Florida.

"In the most recent debate, Senator Kerry, you said, 'everything you do in public life has to be guided by your faith,' and that 'everything is a gift from the Almighty.' But apparently, when it comes to the issue of the right to life, you follow neither your own faith nor your own reason," the advert says.

"Senator Kerry, your stand contradicts both your faith and reason," the advert says.

The letter is signed by 38 Catholics, including Senator Rick Santorum, a Pennsylvania Republican; American Catholic Council president Connie Marshner; former Major League Baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn; and a handful of college professors, including two from Catholic University.

Kerry is a Roman Catholic who has talked on the campaign trail about serving as an altar boy.

Michael Meehan, a spokesperson for the Kerry campaign, said, "America was built on the foundation of religious tolerance and as a Catholic John Kerry does not believe as our next president that he can legislate his personal articles of faith on all Americans, who are of many faiths."

Santorum said Kerry couldn't claim to be influenced by faith but also support issues like abortion rights and assisted suicide.

- AP