Anti-Abortion Extremist Will Be On The Presidential Ballot In 12 States
A far-right anti-abortion extremist will be on the presidential ballot in November in at least 12 states.
The Constitution Party chose Randall Terry as its 2024 presidential nominee, according to Ballot Access News and Politico. Terry is an extreme anti-abortion advocate who founded Operation Rescue, an anti-choice group notorious for targeting and harassing abortion clinics across the U.S. The party also nominated Stephen Broden, a Texas pastor, as its vice presidential nominee.
“We are running for President in the effort to make child killing by abortion the number one voter issue in America,” Terry’s website states. “We will show the horror of aborted children to the American people, and call on Christians to REPENT for having voted for Joe Biden.”
Terry ran as a Republican for a seat in the Florida state Senate in 2006 and for Congress in New York in 1998; he lost in a primary both times. In 2012, he ran in the Democratic Party presidential primaries, where he was known for his graphic advertisements featuring pictures of aborted fetuses in an attempt to discredit then-President Barack Obama.
His advertisements are back for his 2024 campaign and are featured prominently on his website. All of the ads include shock images of allegedly aborted fetuses, criticize “stupid celebrities” who support abortion rights, and call on the nation to repent for the sins of pro-abortion rights Democrats.
Terry clarified in a video he posted to X, formerly Twitter, earlier this month that he’s seeking the nomination not because he believes he will win, but so that he “can run television ads that show aborted babies.”
Terry, 65, has been arrested dozens of times for protests against abortion clinics, including chaining himself to an abortion clinic sink and blocking patients from entering clinics — which is a violation of the federal Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act. He’s advocated for criminalizing birth control and prosecuting women who get abortions.
Under Terry’s leadership, Operation Rescue, founded in 1985, repeatedly targeted Dr. George Tiller, an abortion provider in Wichita, Kansas, by putting a picture of Tiller on “Wanted” posters across the state. When Tiller was assassinated by an anti-abortion activist in 2009, Terry called Tiller “a mass murderer” who “reaped what he sowed.” Operation Rescue’s motto was “If you believe abortion is murder, then you must act like it is murder” — implying that violence against abortion providers and staff was justified.
The Constitution Party supports “the principles of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States, and the Bill of Rights,” according to its website, and its main goal is “to limit the federal government to its delegated, enumerated, Constitutional functions.”
The party will be on the ballot in 12 states, according to the group’s website, including swing states Wisconsin and Michigan. The group is petitioning to be on more state ballots before the general election in November. In 2022, the Constitution Party was on the ballot in 15 states.
