Editing Morton Downey Jr. (section)

===Anti-abortion activism===
On January 22, 1980, Downey, a devoted anti-abortionist, hosted the California State Rally for Life at the invitation of the [[California ProLife Council]] and United Students for Life. At that time, he was also running for President of the United States, as a [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]].{{fact|date=April 2025}}{{clarify|The table below says American Independent Party, but this says Democratic|date=April 2025}} The United Students for Life, at [[California State University, Sacramento]] helped organize his California presidential rallies. Downey worked to help promote [[anti-abortion]] candidates in California and around the country.<ref name ="Rally">"Rally for Life held in Capital", by: Times Herald, Vallejo, January 22, 1980, Page 16.</ref>

{| class=wikitable style="text-align:center;"
|+
|- bgcolor=lightgrey
! colspan="3" | American Independent Party – California Presidential Primary, 1980 <ref name="ourcampaigns10">{{cite web|url=http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=54968|title=Our Campaigns – CA US President – AIP Primary Race – Jun 03, 1980|publisher=ourcampaigns.com|accessdate=2016-07-22}}</ref>
|- bgcolor=lightgrey
! Candidate
! # Votes
! % Votes
|-
|'''[[Morton Downey, Jr.]]'''
|10,838
|51.11
|-
|[[John R. Rarick]]
|10,358
|48.85
|-
|Others
|9
|0.04
|-
|-
|-
|
|
|
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|'''Total'''
|21,205
|100.00
|-
|}