NOW Urges Consumer Boycott

Corporations and individuals who have contributed heavily to the anti-abortion movement will be boycotted by the National Organization of Women, Boston NOW President Ellen Convisser said this week.

Convisser has called for consumers to boycott two business she said had aided anti-abortion activists, including Operation Rescue. They are Domino's Pizza, which has 800 stores nationwide, and the Tara hotels, which are owned by The Flatley Co., a Braintree developer.

"People have the right to know where their money is going and what their money is subsidizing," Convisser said yesterday. She could not predict how many companies might be targets.

The moves are part of a new national strategy to spotlight those who are leading and funding efforts to ban abortions, Patrician Ireland, exective vice president of the national organization, said in a telephone interview from Washington, D.C.

"You'll hear more from us about who the opposition is," Ireland vowed. "We're going to name names,...then let the majority of people in this country who stand behind Roe v. Wade make their own decision about who to vote for and where to spend their money."

NOW resolved to boycott Domino's Pizza in January, after owner Tom Monaghan allowed the company's facilities in Ann Arbor, Michigan to be used by anti-abortion fundraisers but denied use to prochoice advocates, Ireland said.

Monaghan also gave $50,000 and pledged another $50,000 to a Michigan campaign to deny public funding for abortions to women on Medicaid, she said.

Domino's Pizza spokesperson Kerry McNulty said the boycott threat was unfair. She said the money was a personal donation by Monaghan, who is a practicing Roman Catholic.

"The store they're boycotting could be an independent owner or operator that might even be sympathetic to their cause," McNulty said. "Innocent people could be affected."

"It is an awkward position for the franchisees who may not be anti-women's rights, but their proceeds do go up the chain to the owners," Ireland said.

Ireland said NOW members have held informational pickets at Domino's Pizza stores in Michigan, Tennessee and Texas. But McNulty denied any economic impact.

The Flatley Co.'s owner, Thomas J. Flatley, was away from his office and could not be reached for comment yesterday afternoon. His son, Dan Flatley, told The Patriot Ledger of Quincy that the donation had been private.

The company owns 13 Tara hotels in New England and New Jersey as well as shopping centers, nursing homes and commercial and industrial properties.

Ireland said NOW has been developing information on companies and individuals backing the anti-abortion movement through a lawsuit the group filed against Joe Scheidler and other anti-abortion activists.

She said the group is prohibited by court order from discussing funding sources but she expected that order to be lifted by fall. At least three companies are under investigation, she said.

"The next step is to look at the contributors to the anti-rights legislators and find out who's putting pressure on them to oppose us," Ireland said. "So it's a long-term project to find out where the money is."