Abortion-rights group to pull Roberts ad

WASHINGTON — An abortion-rights advocacy group, under pressure to withdraw an advertisement that describes Judge John G. Roberts Jr. as "one whose ideology leads him to excuse violence against other Americans," announced Thursday night it would replace the advertisement, which had drawn widespread criticism as being false and misleading.

The advocacy group, Naral Pro-Choice America, an nounced its decision in a letter to Sen. Arlen Specter, the Pennsylvania Republican who is chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and a longtime supporter of abortion rights. Earlier in the day, Specter urged Naral to withdraw the 30-second spot, calling it "blatantly untrue and unfair."

In the letter to Specter, Naral's president, Nancy Keenan, said the debate over the advertisement had "become a distraction from the serious discussion we hoped to have with the American public," and that the group would replace the advertisement with a new one.

Keenan said the group would continue to oppose Roberts' nomination to the Supreme Court and would "continue to educate the public about the threat we firmly believe Mr. Roberts' elevation to the Supreme Court would have on American women's reproductive health and, ultimately, their lives."

The advertisement, which centered on Roberts' involvement in an abortion-related Supreme Court case in the early 1990s and linked him with support for violent clinic protesters, began appearing Wednesday morning on cable television stations across the country and broadcast stations in Rhode Island and Maine, states that are home to centrist Republican senators who support abortion rights.

Naral said it would take down the advertisements, which cost $500,000, as quickly as possible. The replacement campaign, which Naral officials said would begin airing Monday, will examines Roberts' records on several points, the officials said, including an argument he made as a government lawyer in 1991 that Roe v. Wade was "wrongly decided."

The advertisement had spawned intense criticism from Republicans, a handful of Democrats, an independent watchdog group called Factcheck.org, and even some supporters of abortion rights, who felt it was hurting their cause. Specter made that argument in his letter on Thursday to Ms. Keenan.

The senator wrote, "When Naral puts on such an advertisement, in my opinion it undercuts its credibility and injures the pro-choice cause."