Georgia Right to Life is launching a national organization as a rallying point for its no-compromise brand of anti-abortion politics, as well as an expansion of the “personhood” debate beyond abortion.
In announcing the National Personhood Alliance, GRTL president Dan Becker said the group will seek “to be ‘standard-bearers’ as opposed to ‘king-makers.’ This will require the application, politically and legislatively, of a higher standard than is currently embraced by most national pro-life groups today.”
Georgia Right to Life has had success pushing stricter state abortion policies and Georgia’s leading statewide elected officials endorse its position that abortion should not be legal even in cases of rape and incest.
But its aggressive stances and hardball tactics won it enemies, too. In March, National Right to Life removed Georgia Right to Life as a state affiliate — a dispute that flared from their disagreement over a U.S. House bill that banned abortions after 20 weeks but allowed rape and incest exceptions.
GRTL spokeswoman Genevieve Wilson said the new group had nothing to do with the Georgia Right to Life/National Right to Life split, nor is it meant as a counterweight to the national group. But two of National Personhood Alliance’s key founding groups both broke with the national umbrella group, and Keith Mason of Personhood USA describes the new effort as a reaction to National Right to Life’s willingness to compromise.
“We’re being told to sit in the corner and shut up, and it seems like National Right to Life is going along with it,” Mason said. “And we as a movement won’t do that. We’re going to fight for the dignity of all humans no matter what. Politically, it makes no sense to give cover to squishy politicians like Eric Cantor,” the outgoing U.S. House Majority Leader who lost in a GOP primary last week.
National Right to Life did not respond to requests for comment. Its new state affiliate is the Georgia Life Alliance, which counts among its board members Atlanta radio host Erick Erickson. He said the new personhood group will benefit both sides.
“I’m excited for them,” Erickson wrote in an email. “I think no group should have a monopoly on the life issue and a national group competing against NRTL will force NRTL to focus more on the issue and less on Republicans. … NRTL will force NPA to work on advancing an agenda and not just on screaming.”
National Personhood Alliance will host a convention in Atlanta in October to accept new members. Wilson said the National Personhood Alliance will work to influence federal policy, extending its focus beyond abortion to euthanasia, cloning and stem cell research — among other ways in which technology strides moral boundaries.
GRTL revealed a dozen endorsers for the new group, including Molly Smith of Cleveland Right to Life. Smith’s group also lost its affiliation with National Right to Life after Cleveland Right to Life expanded its mission statement to include a position against same-sex marriage, which the national group found to be a distraction from the anti-abortion cause. Smith said there is no “animosity” toward National Right to Life, but she just does not think the group has been effective.
“We cannot have exceptions and we cannot have a compromise approach, because it has not worked,” Smith said. “We keep on doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.”
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