National Right to Life Committee

The national organization of National Right to Life comprises the:

• National Right to Life Committee, Inc. (NRLC), 501c(4), EIN: 52–0986196;
• National Right to Life Committee Educational Trust Fund, 501c(3), EIN: 52–1241126;
• National Right to Life Educational Foundation, Inc., 501c(3), EIN: 73–1010913;
• National Right to Life Conventions, Inc., 501c(4), EIN: 52–1257773;
• National Right to Life Political Action Committee (NRLPAC); and
• National Right to Life Victory Fund, an independent expenditure political action committee, i. e., a "SuperPAC".

In 1966 the National Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCCB) asked James T. McHugh to begin observing trends in the reform of policy on abortion. At the time then McHugh was Director of the United States Catholic Conference (USCC) Family Life Bureau, and later became the Bishop of Camden and then of Rockville Centre.{{Cite journal |last=Karrer |first=Robert N. |date=2011 |title=The National Right to Life Committee: ITS Founding, ITS History, and the Emergence of the Pro-Life Movement Prior to Roe V. Wade |journal=The Catholic Historical Review |volume=97 |issue=3 |pages=527–557 |doi=10.1353/cat.2011.0098 |issn=0008-8080 |jstor=23052569 |pmid=22069796 |s2cid=9890064}} The NCCB asked McHugh during its annual conference in April 1967 to organize the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) and fund the established NRLC with $50,000 to "initiate and coordinate a program of information" with state affiliates that would inform stakeholders of the wave of proposed state legislation to liberalize statutes prohibiting abortion.{{cite journal | pmid = 22069796 | volume=97 | issue=3 | title=The National Right to Life Committee: its founding, its history, and the emergence of the anti-abortion movement prior to Roe v. Wade. | year=2011 | journal=Cathol Hist Rev | pages=527–57 | doi=10.1353/cat.2011.0098| last1=Karrer | first1=R. N. | s2cid=9890064 }}

The National Right to Life Committee was formalized in 1968. McHugh hired executive assistant Michael Taylor to help with the day-to-day needs of the organization. In October 1968, they published the first NRLC newsletter formally introducing the organization and providing information on the efforts to change abortion laws. On the state level, independent right to life organizations were beginning to form and began to rely on NRLC for direction and information. The newsletter lasted until 1971.

NRLC held its first meeting of nationwide anti-abortion leaders in Chicago, Illinois in 1970 at Barat College. New Jersey attorney Juan Ryan served as the first President of NRLC. In the following year NRLC held its first convention at Macalester College in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

"The only reason that we have a pro-life movement in this country is because of the Catholic people and the Catholic Church", stated the executive director of NRLC James T. McHugh in 1973."God's Own Party: The Making of the Religious Right", p. 116. {{ISBN|978-0-19-534084-6}}. Daniel K. Williams. Oxford University Press. 2010.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tfkBh3hL0x4C&pg=PA116|title=God's Own Party: The Making of the Christian Right|last=Williams|first=Daniel K.|date=2010-10-04|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780199798872|language=en}}

The NRLC was formally incorporated in May 1973, in response to the Roe v. Wade ruling of the US Supreme Court and the desire to gain autonomy apart from the Catholic Church, to attract more Protestants to the organization.{{Cite journal|last=Karrer|first=Robert N.|date=2011|title=The Pro-Life Movement and Its First Years under "Roe"|journal=American Catholic Studies|volume=122|issue=4|pages=47–72|issn=2161-8542|jstor=44195373}} The National Conference of Catholic Bishops launched a campaign to amend the United States Constitution by enacting a Human Life Amendment that not only invalidated Roe v. Wade but also prohibited both the US Congress and the States from legalizing abortion in the United States.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3oRBOuEvz30C&pg=PA188 |page=188 |title=The Pro-Choice Movement: Organization and Activism in the Abortion Conflict |first=Suzanne |last=Staggenborg |publisher=Oxford University Press US |year=1994 |isbn=0-19-508925-1}}{{cite book |url=http://www.brennancenter.org/blog/archives/Greenhouse_and_Reva_B._Siegel |title=Before Roe v. Wade: Voices that Shaped the Abortion Debate before the Supreme Court's Ruling |first=Linda |last=Greenhouse |publisher=Kaplan Publishing |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-60714-671-1 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130114190456/http://www.brennancenter.org/blog/archives/Greenhouse_and_Reva_B._Siegel |archive-date=January 14, 2013 |df=mdy-all }}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B9nFwo5B1BQC&pg=PA170|title=The Catholic Voter in American Politics: The Passing of the Democratic Monolith|last1=Prendergast|first1=William B.|last2=Prendergast|first2=Mary E.|date=1999|publisher=Georgetown University Press|isbn=9780878407248|language=en}} Its first convention as an incorporated organization was held the following month in Detroit, Michigan. At the concurrent meeting of NRLC's Board, Ed Golden of New York was elected president. Among the founding members was Mildred Jefferson, the first African-American woman to graduate from Harvard Medical School. Jefferson subsequently served as president in 1975.{{cite web |last=Hevesi |first=Dennis |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/19/us/19jefferson.html |title=Mildred Jefferson, 84, Anti-Abortion Activist, Is Dead - Obituary (Obit) |work=The New York Times |date=October 18, 2010 |access-date=November 7, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140612032312/http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/19/us/19jefferson.html |archive-date=June 12, 2014 |url-status=live |df=mdy-all }}

Erma Clardy Craven spoke out against the increasing alignment of anti-abortion groups and the American right.{{Cite web |last=Donnally |first=Jennifer |date=2013 |title=The Politics of Abortion and the Rise of the New Right |url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/210603225.pdf}}

In 1978, NRLC found itself $100,000 in debt after Jefferson's presidency. Rather than acknowledge her record, she left the organization to form the Right to Life Crusade. On April 1, 1979, the American Life League (ALL) was founded{{cite web|title=Founded|url=http://www.all.org/nav/index/heading/MTQ/cat/MTYy/|access-date=March 30, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140330221249/http://www.all.org/nav/index/heading/MTQ/cat/MTYy/|archive-date=March 30, 2014|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}}http://www.clmagazine.org/article/index/id/MTM1NDE {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140502033449/http://www.clmagazine.org/article/index/id/MTM1NDE |date=May 2, 2014 }} A saintly influence: Pope John Paul II's impact on American Life League—and me. Judie Brown. Celebrate Life Magazine. by Judie Brown, former public relations director of NRLC, and 9 others after a schism within the NRLC.

Since its incorporation, the NRLC prioritized its politics over getting publicity due to its concern of being portrayed in a poor light and lack of funds.{{Cite journal|last=Rohlinger|first=Deana A.|date=2006|title=Friends and Foes: Media, Politics, and Tactics in the Abortion War|journal=Social Problems|volume=53|issue=4|pages=537–561|doi=10.1525/sp.2006.53.4.537|issn=0037-7791|jstor=10.1525/sp.2006.53.4.537}} By 1980 NRLC's annual budget increased to $1,600,000 and retained a membership of 11 million, allowing the organization to invest in media strategy and establish its media department in 1984.{{cite book|title=Opposition and Intimidation: The Abortion Wars and Strategies of Political Harassment|url=https://archive.org/details/oppositionintimi00doan|url-access=limited|author=Alesha E. Doan|publisher=University of Michigan|year=2007|page=[https://archive.org/details/oppositionintimi00doan/page/n101 90]|isbn=9780472099757}} By 1985, the organization had a communications department that produced and distributed a radio program, media campaigns, and maintained press connections. Its media strategy worked to create a public image that differentiated the NRLC from allies by using medical professionals, including its president and primary spokesperson John Willke.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aZBEBQAAQBAJ|title=Abortion Politics, Mass Media, and Social Movements in America|last=Rohlinger|first=Deana A.|date=2015|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9781107069237|language=en}} One hallmark of their media campaign was utilizing the slogan "Love them Both" which embraces claims of women's rights and welfare through compassion to gain the support of those ambivalent on the issue.{{Cite web|url=https://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=6007&context=fss_papers|title=Abortion and the "Woman Question:" Forty Years of Debate|last=Siegel|first=Reva B.|date=2012|website=Yale Law School}}

In 1995, the NRLC coined the term "partial-birth abortion" to describe a new medical procedure also known as "dilation and extraction," or D&X, and "intact D&E" in which the fetus is removed intact from the uterus after 20 weeks gestation. The organization illustrated and published drawings of the procedure in booklets and paid newspaper advertisements to generate public opposition to both the procedure and abortion in general.{{Cite news|url=https://www.npr.org/2006/02/21/5168163/partial-birth-abortion-separating-fact-from-spin|title='Partial-Birth Abortion': Separating Fact From Spin|newspaper=NPR|date=February 21, 2006|language=en|access-date=2020-02-05|last1=Rovner|first1=Julie}} The NRLC criticized Bill Clinton's 1995 veto of a bill that would ban the procedure.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/12/14/us/clinton-in-emotional-terms-explains-his-abortion-veto.html|title=Clinton, in Emotional Terms, Explains His Abortion Veto|last=Mitchell|first=Alison|date=1996-12-14|work=The New York Times|access-date=2020-02-05|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}} The phrase was used by Congress in the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003.{{Cite web|url=https://www.congress.gov/bill/108th-congress/senate-bill/3|title=S.3 - 108th Congress (2003-2004): Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003|last=Santorum|first=Rick|date=2003-11-05|website=www.congress.gov|access-date=2020-02-05}}

In 1992 and 1998, Fortune magazine recognized the NRLC as the most publicly recognized and politically effective anti-abortion organization. In 1999, Fortune ranked them as the 8th most influential public policy group working in Washington, DC.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=frt7RDOT1PUC&pg=PA300|title=Encyclopedia of American Religion and Politics|last1=Djupe|first1=Paul A.|last2=Olson|first2=Laura R.|date=July 2014|publisher=Infobase Publishing|isbn=9781438130200|language=en}}

In 1984 the Committee co-produced the documentary The Silent Scream on abortion with Bernard Nathanson. In 1985, following 2 years of a boycott of a product of the Upjohn Company that NRLC coordinated, the Company ceased all research on abortifacient drugs. Three years later, NRLC joined other anti-abortion organizations in saying that if any company sold an abortifacient drug, the millions of Americans who opposed abortion would boycott all the products of that company.[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=940DE7D81239F931A15751C0A96E948260 "Boycott Threat Blocking Sale of Abortion-Inducing Drug"] New York Times

In the 1990s the NRLC began a nationwide grassroots lobbying campaign against the Freedom of Choice Act, and announced a boycott of the French pharmaceutical company Roussel Uclaf and its American affiliates for permitting its abortion drug, mifepristone, into the United States.{{cite web |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E07E6D7163FF93BA35754C0A962958260&n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fSubjects%2fA%2fAbortion |title=Abortion Drug Draws Boycott - New York Times |work=The New York Times |date=July 8, 1994 |access-date=June 25, 2012}} The U.S. National Right to Life Committee announced a 1994 U.S. boycott of all Hoechst pharmaceutical products including Altace, targeting the abortion pill RU-486.http://www.ewtn.com/library/PROLIFE/RUBOYCOT.TXT {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924044556/http://www.ewtn.com/library/PROLIFE/RUBOYCOT.TXT |date=September 24, 2015 }} Now's the Time to Defend Our Borders - A Pro-Life Boycott Could Keep RU 486 out of the U.S.

According to Keri Folmar, the lawyer responsible for the language of the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, the term "partial-birth abortion" was developed in early 1995 at a meeting of herself, Charles T. Canady, and NRLC lobbyist Douglas Johnson.Gorney, Cynthia. [http://www.harpers.org/GamblingWithAbortion.html Gambling With Abortion] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090106062326/http://www.harpers.org/GamblingWithAbortion.html |date=January 6, 2009 }}. Harper's Magazine, November 2004. The phrase elicited strong negative reactions from a focus group and became a key phrase in NRLC's attack on abortion.

In 1978, James Bopp was hired to serve as legal counsel{{Cite web|title=Attorney Profiles|url=https://www.bopplaw.com/attorney-profiles/|access-date=2021-01-06|website=The Bopp Law Firm|language=en-US}} and the NRLC became more involved in elections to further influence state and federal legislation to advance their anti-abortion position. In 1980, the National Right to Life Political Action Committee (NRL PAC) was founded to support anti-abortion candidates, mostly Republicans.{{Cite web|title=Take Action {{!}} National Right to Life|url=https://www.nrlc.org/takeaction/|access-date=2021-01-05|language=en-US}}{{Cite web|title=National Right to Life PAC Home Page|url=http://www.nrlpac.org/index.htm|access-date=2021-01-05|website=www.nrlpac.org}} Also that year, Bopp led a walkout of conservative delegates from a White House Conference on Families{{Cite web|title=Eugene Register-Guard - Google News Archive Search|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1310&dat=19800622&id=3PdVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=2OEDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6611,6534613|access-date=2021-01-05|website=news.google.com}} and defended the NRLC's 1980 presidential election voter guides from legal challenges of improper electioneering by a nonprofit.{{Cite news|last=Kirkpatrick|first=David D.|date=2010-01-25|title=A Quest to End Spending Rules for Campaigns (Published 2010)|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/25/us/politics/25bopp.html|access-date=2021-01-05|issn=0362-4331}}

By the 1990s, the NRLC became a major player in campaign financing through its $2 million campaign contributions in the 1996 presidential election. In 1999, the NRLC aggressively lobbied against the 1999 Shays-Meehan bill, which later became the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA), because it would reclassify many of its and other nonpartisan groups' ads as campaign contributions. A bipartisan group of legislators including John McCain, Ronnie Shows, and Zach Wamp criticized the organization for getting involved in issues that did not affect the unborn.{{Cite news|title=Washingtonpost.com: Campaign Finance Special Report|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/campfin/stories/abortion091499.htm|access-date=2021-01-08|newspaper=The Washington Post}} Legislative Director Douglas Johnson defended the NRLC's involvement in campaign financing, saying that the bill "would cripple the prolife movement."{{Cite news|date=1997-10-07|title=Abortion foes head up coalition of unlikely allies|pages=10|work=The Boston Globe|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/67680082/the-boston-globe/|access-date=2021-01-15}}

In 2003, Bopp filed a lawsuit on behalf of the NRLC against the Federal Election Commission about whether BCRA violates the First Amendment in its prohibition of the use of "soft money" in campaign financing. On May 1, 2003, the district court issued judgment on the case and the NRLC appeals to the Supreme Court.{{Cite web|date=May 28, 2003|title=National Right to Life, et al. Jurisdictional Statement|url=https://campaignlegal.org/sites/default/files/pappeal11.pdf|access-date=5 January 2021}} Later that year, the case was consolidated along with eleven other lawsuits into McConnell v. FEC.{{Cite web|title=McConnell et al v. FEC et al|url=https://apps.publicintegrity.org/citizens-united/card/mcconnell-et-al-v-fec-et-al/|access-date=2021-01-05|website=apps.publicintegrity.org}} In the ruling, the Supreme Court upheld the control of soft money and the regulation of electioneering communications in BCRA.{{Cite web|title=McConnell v. FEC|url=https://www.fec.gov/legal-resources/court-cases/mcconnell-v-fec/|access-date=2021-01-05|website=FEC.gov|language=en}}

The death of Justice William Rehnquist and retirement of Justice Sandra Day O’Connor changed the Supreme Court to a conservative majority, and in 2007 NRLC's affiliate Wisconsin Right to Life brought a case against the FEC again challenging BCRA provisions. In FEC v. Wisconsin Right to Life, Inc., the justices held that issue ads may not be banned from the months preceding a primary or general election.{{Cite web|title=Wisconsin Right to Life, Inc. v. FEC|url=https://www.fec.gov/legal-resources/court-cases/wisconsin-right-to-life-inc-v-fec/|access-date=2021-01-08|website=FEC.gov|language=en}}

At the national and state level, NRLC writes model legislation that lawmakers can utilize in bills to restrict or ban abortion.{{Cite web |title=National Right to Life official: 10-year-old should have had baby |url=https://www.politico.com/news/2022/07/14/anti-abotion-10-year-old-ohio-00045843 |access-date=2022-07-14 |website=POLITICO |language=en}} Their legislation is written with the composition of the Supreme Court in mind, so that the court would be less likely to block it afterwards. For instance, when Justice Anthony Kennedy was on the bench, bills were introduced that would ban abortion after 20 weeks. After the conservative Gorsuch, Barrett and Kavanaugh were appointed, legislations began to pass trigger laws.{{Cite web |title=Who and what is behind abortion ban trigger law bills? Two groups laid the groundwork |url=https://www.npr.org/2022/07/08/1110299496/trigger-laws-13-states-two-groups-laid-groundwork |access-date=2022-07-12 |website=NPR |language=en}}

Prior to the ruling on Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, NRLC released model legislation that bans all abortions unless "necessary to prevent the death of the pregnant woman". Enforcement strategies of the legislation include criminal penalties for anyone aiding or abetting a person seeking an abortion, selling or distributing of abortifacients, and transporting a pregnant minor to obtain an abortion.{{Cite web |date=June 15, 2022 |title=NRLC Post-Roe Model Abortion Law |url=https://www.nrlc.org/wp-content/uploads/NRLC-Post-Roe-Model-Abortion-Law-FINAL-1.pdf |access-date=July 14, 2022}}

In 2022, responding to reports that a 10-year-old rape victim obtained an abortion, the group's general counsel James Bopp said that the group's proposed legislation would have banned that abortion; he also said that they believed she should have carried the baby, and "as many women who have had babies as a result of rape, we would hope that she would understand the reason and ultimately the benefit of having the child."

{{Expand section|date=April 2011}}

NRLC has affiliates in all fifty states and over 3,000 local chapters.{{Cite web|title=NRLC State Affiliates {{!}} National Right to Life|url=https://www.nrlc.org/about/stateaffiliates/|access-date=2021-01-08|language=en-US}}{{Cite web|last=Kirkl|first=Jordan|date=2020-08-26|title=Kat Cammack adds endorsement from the National Right to Life PAC|url=https://thecapitolist.com/kat-cammack-adds-endorsement-from-the-national-right-to-life-pac/|access-date=2021-01-08|website=The Capitolist|language=en-US}}

Its Virginia affiliate, the Virginia Society for Human Life, was founded in 1967 as the first state right to life organization. Other early affiliates include Georgia Right to Life.

• 1968–1973 – Juan Ryan, New Jersey
• 1973–1974 – Edward Golden, New York
• 1974–1975 – Kenneth VanDerHoef, Washington
• 1975–1978 – Mildred Jefferson, Massachusetts
• 1978–1980 – Carolyn Gerster, Arizona
• 1980–1983 – John C. Willke, Ohio
• 1983–1984 – Jean Doyle, Florida
• 1984–1991 – John C. Willke, Ohio
• 1991–2005 – Wanda Franz, West Virginia
• 2005–present – Carol Tobias, North Dakota

{{Portal|Conservatism}}

• Eclipse of Reason
• Right to life
• Susan B. Anthony List

{{Reflist|group=N}}

{{Reflist}}

• Karrer, Robert N. "The National Right to Life Committee: Its Founding, Its History, and the Emergence of the Pro-Life Movement Prior to Roe v. Wade", Catholic Historical Review, Volume 97, Number 3, July 2011, pp. 527–57, [http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/catholic_historical_review/v097/97.3.karrer.html in Project MUSE].

• [http://www.nrlc.org/ National Right to Life Committee], official website
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20120926085900/http://www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov/library/guides/findingaid/American%20Citizens%20Concerned%20for%20Life.htm American Citizens Concerned for Life, Inc. Records, (1968) 1974-1982 (1986)] via Gerald R. Ford Library
• [http://www.prolifeprofiles.com/national-right-to-life/ ProlifeProfiles.com/NRLC], criticism from within the anti-abortion movement
• [http://www.newsday.com/from-the-archives-bishop-james-mchugh-dies-at-68-1.6507583 From the archives: Bishop James McHugh dies at 68. Newsday. Zachary R. Dowdy. December 11, 2000]

{{NRTLC}}

{{American social conservatism}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:National Right To Life Committee}}

Category:Anti-abortion organizations in the United States

Category:Conservatism in the United States

Category:Non-profit organizations based in Washington, D.C.

Category:Organizations established in 1973

Category:Political organizations based in the United States

Category:Catholic Church and abortion