November 14, 2013
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| ABQ Pro-life Campaign Website Hacked, Email Redirected to Opposition Campaign |
Albuquerque, NM – The campaign website for a pro-life group
supporting the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Ordinance in
Albuquerque, New Mexico has been hacked and e-mail meant to go to the
pro-life PAC ABQ Voters For Late Term Abortion Ban has instead been
redirected to the abortion-supporting group Respect ABQ Women, which is
opposing the Ordinance.
The Pain Capable ordinance, which goes to a vote on November 19, is
the first of its kind to be proposed at the municipal level and would
ban abortions after 20 weeks within the Albuquerque city limits, where
the largest late-term abortion clinic in the nation currently operates.
The campaign has received national attention.
At first glance, there is nothing unusual about the e-mail address on the contact page at the pro-life website
LateTermAbortion.com. However, once the link is clicked, e-mail does not go to “
abqvoters@gmail.com” as one would expect. Instead, e-mail is directed to “
info@respectabqwomen.org,”
the e-mail address for an opposing group, Respect ABQ Women, which
supports abortion through all nine months of pregnancy and has
connections to Pres. Barack Obama’s radical leftist political activism
group
Organizing for Action.
Tara Shaver, chairperson for the pro-life ABQ Voters For Late Term
Abortion Ban PAC whose website was hacked, was shocked to learn that
official campaign e-mail was landing in the inbox of the opposition and
was concerned citizens who tried to contact them might be confused into
voting the wrong way.
“It’s not just our e-mail that was hijacked. This act was meant to
hijack the election and thwart the will of the people. We have reported
this criminal behavior to the FBI as a cyber-crime,” said Shaver. “All
we want is a fair up or down vote on an ordinance that has received
overwhelming support from the community and will save thousands of
lives. The people should be the ones to decide if they want to protect
babies that are half way through pregnancy and older. It shouldn’t be up
to some cowardly hackers who are trying to subvert the process.”
Operation Rescue published a video on
Youtube.com documenting how the e-mail was redirected.
“Campaign dirty tricks like this are despicable. I hope the people of
Albuquerque not let these bullies and criminals win in their effort to
derail a fair campaign. We urge voters to respond by resolving to turn
out and vote for the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Ordinance on
November 19,” said Cheryl Sullenger, Senior Policy Advisor for Operation
Rescue. Sullenger will be in Albuquerque later in the week to lend
support for the campaign.
Shaver also told Operation Rescue that she has heard anecdotal
reports that students at the University of New Mexico have been
approached by people opposing the ordinance who have illegally offered
to pay students to vote against it. Shaver also reported this potential
voter fraud to the FBI.
