American Life League

American Life League

Founded by Judie and Paul Brown with help from right-wing strategist Paul Weyrich, the American Life League (ALL) is a spin-off from the National Right to Life Committee with a more grassroots orientation. ALL is closely aligned with the Catholic Church and opposes birth control, stem cell research and euthanasia. ALL was an enthusiastic backer of the extreme anti-abortion tactics promoted by Operation Rescue.

Troy Newman: Abortion Rights Responsible for NSA Spying

Submitted by Brian Tashman on Monday, 6/10/2013 11:40 am

Did you realize that the decriminalization of abortion is responsible for the creation of the NSA surveillance program? According to Troy Newman of Operation Rescue, because “killing children in the womb is a constitutional right,” there are now “no civil rights in this country” and “everything else can be stripped away from us.”

Newman told LifeSiteNews this weekend that he hopes that President Obama will be impeached over the program and that “the people who are monitoring my conversations will be impacted and turned to life.”

The American Life League’s Jim Sedlak had a similar take, arguing that the NSA program might be targeting groups like his that oppose Planned Parenthood.

Newman linked the administration’s disregard for the most vulnerable human life with its apparent disregard for privacy rights, saying, “If killing children in the womb is a constitutional right, then we have no civil rights in this country. Everything else can be stripped away from us. So, this ought not surprise anyone.”

But just because Newman is not surprised by the government’s spying does not mean he doesn’t want to see the people responsible punished.

Asked what he thinks is the proper response to the news of the NSA’s intelligence gathering efforts centered on ordinary Americans, Newman said, “I think Obama should be impeached.” “I think half of Congress should be thrown out,” he said. “We should fire everybody in the NSA, the heads of the FBI, the CIA, and force everybody to take a basic course on constitutional liberties.”

He admitted such an outcome was unlikely but nonetheless warranted.

Jim Sedlak of American Life League compared the NSA’s tactics to those used in dictatorships and communist countries. He told LifeSiteNews.com that such practices have no place in a free nation.

“We’ve been concerned the the [sic] government would try to regulate speech,” Sedlak said, “and that’s what listening in does, is it tries to put a fear in so that people will be hesitant to say what they really believe.”

“There’s no place for this in the United States of America,” he said. “ They do this in other countries, you know; if you’re in a Middle East country and speaking in the backyard to your neighbor and you say something against the government, you wind up in jail.”

Sedlak said that because his group is on Planned Parenthood’s list of top 15 “anti-choice” organizations, and because President Obama is very closely tied to the abortion giant, he wouldn’t be surprised if they were targeted by the administration for monitoring. But he said the threat of retribution wouldn’t stop him or his group from speaking up for unborn babies.

“What we’re going to do is, we going to do our work,” Sedlak told LifeSiteNews. “We’re going to speak out when we need to speak out, we’re going to write what we need to write in order to get our work done, and trust that if we do the right thing and we do it for the right purpose, which is God’s purpose, God will take care of us.”

He vowed, “We will not be intimidated.”

Newman went one step further, saying that he hopes the government not only listens to but thinks about the words he is saying. “I’m not going to do anything differently,” he said. “I hope that the people who are monitoring my conversations will be impacted and turned to life.”

American Life League: Excommunicate Catholic Democrats for Being Under 'Demonic Deceit'

Submitted by Brian Tashman on Friday, 2/15/2013 6:00 pm

American Life League founder Judie Brown says that the Roman Catholic Church must drive out pro-choice and pro-gay equality Catholics from the church because they are under “demonic deceit.”

She argues that Catholic Democrats such as the late Ted Kennedy, Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi and Kathleen Sebelius advocate “anti-Christian” positions such as the decriminalization of abortion and “anti-family militant homosexuality and the destruction of marriage.”

“As the faithful watch the accelerated destruction of morality in America and the Henry the VIII style tactics of the attempted destruction of Catholicism in America by Obama and his ‘Catholic’ drones, one wonders where most of America’s bishops are,” Brown laments, “Why have these high-profile destructive Catholics not been publically rebuked?”

This nation’s moral decline is astounding not only because it has been a relatively swift slide, but more importantly because Catholics have taken leading roles in bringing about the decline.

Until the time of his death, Ted Kennedy was, for years, the most influential U.S. politician advocating an anti-Christian moral culture in America. While doing so he experienced good personal relations, if not admiration, from many American Catholic prelates.

Catholic vice president Joe Biden first took public office in 1972. Since the decriminalization of abortion in 1973, Mr. Biden has supported every major effort to protect and expand abortion in America. Most recently Mr. Biden has become a proponent of the destruction of the covenant of marriage by redefining it to suit the winds of the day which favor so-called same-sex marriage.

Nancy Pelosi, Catholic congresswoman and a graduate of Catholic Trinity Washington University, has been a consistently fierce opponent of life. She has worked doggedly to expand the “right” to abortion in America and to enshrine contraception and sterilization as the force de jure on America’s employers—including the Church. She is also a staunch advocate of forcing the acceptance of anti-family militant homosexuality and the destruction of marriage as “human rights” in America.

Catholic Kathleen Sebelius, as the head of Health and Human Services, is singularly responsible for wreaking upon the American Catholic faithful her Planned Parenthood “HHS” mandate that dictates that all employers pay for abortion-inducing drugs, sterilizations, and contraception for their employees. Kathleen Sebelius is also a graduate of Catholic Trinity Washington University.

As the faithful watch the accelerated destruction of morality in America and the Henry the VIII style tactics of the attempted destruction of Catholicism in America by Obama and his “Catholic” drones, one wonders where most of America’s bishops are.

Why have these high-profile destructive Catholics not been publically rebuked? In fact, why did this not happen years or even decades ago? To cut right to the heart of the matter, why haven’t each of these hypocrites been publically and unequivocally excommunicated?

This near total absence of effective rebuke and call to accountability from the shepherds has created a perception that “American Catholics” are free to support intrinsic evils as “civil rights” because Catholic teachings, in their view, are subjective and arbitrary.

How many millions of people have bought into this demonic deceit and, in the process, jeopardized their souls? And where are the bishops who should risk life and limb in the defense of our Church? Why haven’t they, in a united fashion, rebuked the deceivers and championed Christ and His truth at all costs?

With only a few exceptions, they are hardly to be found.

…

They have far too long allowed deception and deceit without consequence and at great cost to the faithful. Now the “Catholics” who have perpetrated great public scandal and harm are looking to devour the weak shepherds and their flocks through mandates, dictates, and the total deconstruction of morality in America.

This dire situation reminds me of the biblical account in the Gospel of Mark when Christ confronts an evil spirit that has possessed a man. He commands the spirit to depart, which it does with great violence and screeching. Witnessing this, Christ’s disciples ask why they could not drive out the demon. Christ responds: “This kind can only be driven out by prayer and fasting.”

I believe the current situation in America falls into the same category. A demon of despair and compromise has afflicted a majority of our Catholic bishops, and in response faithful Catholics must pray and fast.

Therefore, I am encouraging every faithful Catholic to pray and fast for our bishops. Pray that God raises up more heroic souls who will help defend and reclaim the truth of Christ through decisive action.

Pray that each bishop will be touched by the Holy Spirit, on fire with a renewal of commitment to Christ and an active desire to abandon everything else in order to defend Christ and His Church from sacrilege—even unto death if that be God’s will.

Right-Wing Groups Protest Desmond Tutu's Appearance at Gonzaga University

Submitted by Brian Tashman on Thursday, 4/5/2012 3:35 pm

After failing in their attempt to block President Obama from speaking at Notre Dame University, far-right activists are now trying to stop Desmond Tutu from appearing at Gonzaga University, a Jesuit institution. Tutu, an Anglican bishop who received a Nobel Peace Prize for his role in bringing down South Africa’s Apartheid government, is coming under fire from right-wing organizations protesting his views on legal abortion and “affirmation of the homosexual agenda.” The conservative website LifeSiteNews reports that two Catholic groups, the American Life League and TFP Student Action, the political arm of the American Society for Tradition Family and Property, want Gonzaga to rescind its invitation to Archbishop Tutu. TFP Student Action’s director John Ritchie said Gonzaga’s “shameful” decision has “tarnished” its reputation:

Observers are asking why a Catholic university in Spokane would invite Archbishop Desmond Tutu to address its graduating class considering his decades-long record of supporting abortion, homosexuality, female ordination, theological liberalism, and collectivist economic theories condemned by the Roman Catholic Church.

…

Tutu has posed for a picture on behalf of and endorsed the “invaluable work” of Marie Stopes International, the world’s largest abortion provider. The endorsement, which was discovered by pro-life activist Peter Thorp as he logged one of his more than 1,200 hours of prayer in front of the Cape Town abortion clinic, praises Marie Stopes South Africa for “empowering people” and “giving people the opportunity to make informed decisions about their future and a choice.”

…

Why should someone who doesn’t even respect the most basic Right to Life be honored at a Catholic university?” asked John Ritchie, director of TFP Student Action, a group that actively promotes the Catholic faith on college campuses. “The invitation is mind-boggling and shameful.”

“The Catholic reputation of Gonzaga University is tarnished by this invitation,” Ritchie said.

Tutu has also been outspoken in his affirmation of the homosexual agenda. “If God, as they say, is homophobic, I wouldn’t worship that God,” he has said. Tutu has also said he was “saddened” and “ashamed” of the negative reaction to the ordination of the openly homosexual Vicki Gene Robinson as an Episcopal bishop in 2003. Six years later, he supported the Church of Scotland’s decision to ordain non-celibate homosexuals.

“On an international scale, Desmond Tutu opposes Catholic teaching on just about every non-negotiable moral issue,” Ritchie told LifeSiteNews. “He’s a strident supporter of abortion, contraception, the homosexual agenda, and Marxist class warfare.”

The American Life League noted in The Pro-Life Encyclopedia that Tutu once said, “I am a Socialist. I hate capitalism.” However, in his encyclical Quadragesimo Anno, Pope Pius XI wrote, “no one can be at the same time a good Catholic and a true socialist.” A series of Popes have rejected Marxist economic theories.

…

“There’s still time for Gonzaga to cancel and replace Tutu’s appearance for a true Catholic leader, a real role model, a person students can admire and look up to,” Ritchie said. “However, in this case, the dictatorship of relativism seems to be getting the upper hand. If the event takes place, the cause of the unborn will greatly suffer. And who will gain? Only the abortion lobby.”

Religious Right Groups Plan Rallies to 'Stop the HHS Mandate'

Submitted by Brian Tashman on Monday, 3/19/2012 5:25 pm

Conservative organizations are planning to hold rallies on March 23rd across the country to “Stand up for Religious Freedom” and “Stop the HHS Mandate” on contraception coverage. Members of the new coalition include the Alliance Defense Fund, American Life League, Christian Defense Coalition, Concerned Women for America, Operation Rescue, Thomas More Society and various anti-choice groups, and they seek to organize demonstrations “outside federal buildings, Congressional offices and historic sites across the country.” In a statement responding to a conciliatory move by the administration which ensures that religious-based organizations won’t have to pay directly for contraceptives, rally organizers doubled down on their criticisms of the Obama administration and said that they are against the insurance mandate’s impact on “all businesses—not just religious institutions”:

"With their March 16 statement, President Obama and Kathleen Sebelius are once again pretending to accommodate employers' conscientious objections to their HHS Mandate. The accounting tricks they're proposing are nothing but smoke and mirrors. At the end of the day, employers are still forced to provide free contraceptives, sterilizations, and abortion-inducing drugs through their health plans," said Eric Scheidler, co-director of the Stand Up for Religious Freedom Rallies across the United States.

…

We protest the federal government's definition of what constitutes a religious institution through the narrowly constructed "exemption" to the HHS Mandate, a definition which is both false and beyond the federal government's authority to make.

We protest the fact that religious institutions, even after President Obama's so-called "accommodation," are being forced to facilitate contraception, sterilizations, and abortion-inducing drugs through the health plans they are mandated to provide.

We protest the Mandate forcing all businesses -- not just religious institutions -- to provide coverage of contraception, sterilizations, and abortion-inducing drugs, if even doing so violates their own moral convictions on these matters.

We protest the HHS Mandate because, in requiring all health plans to provide free contraception, sterilization, and abortion-inducing drugs as "preventative care," it treats pregnancy and childbirth as a disease.

Anti-Choice Leader Claims Obama Supports Black Genocide

Submitted by Brian Tashman on Friday, 4/15/2011 9:49 am

While one anti-choice group is using President Obama’s image to attack legal abortion as black genocide, others are coming out saying that President Obama is advocating the extermination of African Americans because he is pro-choice. The abortion as “black genocide” myth is gaining increasing prominence in the anti-choice community, and the Family Research Council even asserted that Planned Parenthood was responsible for Washington D.C.’s shrinking black population.

Jim Sedlak of the American Life League, a champion of the radical personhood laws, argued that statistics showing that black women have a disproportionate number of abortions is proof that the black community is targeted by abortion providers. After D.C. mayor Vince Gray was arrested for protesting the budget deal that prevented the city from using local tax dollars to help low-income women access reproductive healthcare, Sedlak said that that “Margaret Sanger would be proud of her elitist black disciples” like Obama and Gray, asking, “with leaders like the president and the DC mayor, is it any surprise this black genocide continues?”:

With those statistics in mind, the American Life League said it is surprised that “America’s first black president drew a bizarre line in the sand declaring he would shut down the government of the United States to keep federal funding for Planned Parenthood, the organization that aborts over 125,000 black children nationwide each year.”

“The president of the United States champions aborting over one-third of the next generation of African-Americans as empowerment,” said Jim Sedlak, vice president of American Life League. “We do not. We see it as the worst bigotry of low expectations. Margaret Sanger would be proud of her elitist black disciples. We are not.”

Based on its calculations, ALL says Planned Parenthood is responsible for the death of at least 126,601 black unborn children each year.

“With leaders like the president and the DC mayor, is it any surprise this black genocide continues? It needs to stop and the place to start is with the total defunding of the organization where it began: Planned Parenthood,” Sedlak concluded.

American Family Association Promotes Extreme “Personhood Amendment” in Mississippi

Submitted by Brian Tashman on Wednesday, 12/29/2010 6:22 pm

After efforts to amend the Colorado constitution to give constitutional rights to embryos and fetuses badly failed in November, advocates of so-called “Personhood Amendments” are now hoping that Mississippi voters will back a similar amendment in 2011. The Colorado proposal, called Amendment 62, “would have banned abortion, many forms of birth control and embryonic stem cell research in the state.” Mississippi activists were able to put a similar measure on the ballot in 2011 to coincide with the gubernatorial election.

Back in 2008, the American Life League began pushing “Personhood Amendments” to become an integral part of the anti-choice movement; however, many Religious Right groups traditionally resisted “Personhood Amendments” because of their radical nature and tremendous unpopularity. Anti-choice groups in Colorado such as National Right to Life, Americans United for Life, Colorado Citizens for Life, and the Colorado Eagle Forum refused to support the “Personhood Amendment.”

Personhood USA, the leading organization behind such measures, likened President Obama to the “Angel of Death,” and activists in Colorado compared pro-choice laws with Nazism.

Now, “Personhood Amendment” proponents will try their luck in Mississippi, which already has strict anti-choice laws, and they are receiving significant publicity and support from a leading Religious Right group: the American Family Association, which is based in Mississippi.

Matt Friedeman of the AFA’s American Family Radio said that if the proposal succeeds in 2011, he hopes it would lead the way to the criminalization of abortion across the country:

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So what we’re hoping for here is that one of these initiatives will be taken all the way to the Supreme Court and they’ll have to decide at that point what to do with it. And hopefully at that juncture we have a pro-life majority, and you never know from year to year to year what’s gonna happen there, but we hope we have a pro-life majority and we hope the day comes when Roe v. Wade is wiped off the books and we can go back to the states. Maybe even, if God would allow, to get a pro-life amendment for the whole country.

Not to be outdone, AFA Director of Issue Analysis Bryan Fischer said that Mississippi’s “Personhood Amendment” will advance his objective of “aligning” the country’s laws with “the word of God:”

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One of the things we look for from our political leaders is we want to see them work to align the public policy of our country with the standards of the word of God, that’s what we want, we want an alignment. We’re not talking about a theocracy where the clergy rules this country; we’re talking about statesmen, both men and women, who are committed as a matter of moral conviction to align the public policy of the United States with the word of God.

As “Personhood Amendment” advocates hope to find a more favorable electorate in Mississippi in 2011, will more Religious Right groups join the AFA in embracing their radical proposals?

Any Group With Just 15% Support Should Not Be Calling Anyone an "Ideologue"

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Tuesday, 6/29/2010 5:19 pm

Outside of the incessant Twittering of the Judicial Crisis Network's Carrie Severino, I haven't seen much commentary from the Right on Elena Kagan's hearing today ... and the few things I have seen have tended to be along the line of this ridiculous press release from the American Life League:

"Elena Kagan has revealed herself as the pro-abortion activist she is. The 'health of the mother' exception has long been code for abortion on demand for any reason under the sun - including financial 'health.'

"Kagan's position is clearly opposed by the majority of Americans who self-identify as pro-life. While we are not shocked that an Obama nominee would be anything but rabidly pro-death, we are compelled to demand representation from our elected leaders: this pro-abortion ideologue is not fit to serve on the Supreme Court.

While poll results may show that a bare plurality of Americans consider themselves "pro-life," a whopping 80% believe that the option should be available in certain circumstances ... like for "the health of the mother":

Only 15% believe abortion should be illegal in all circumstances, which is the position held by the American Life League .. and yet ALL claims that it is Kagan who is the extremist ideologue.

Protest The Pill ... To Save The Planet?

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Tuesday, 5/25/2010 10:15 am

When a large group of anti-choice organizations and activists band together in order to protest the 50th anniversary of the birth control pill, you assume it is because they are the sorts of people who tend to consider all contraception immoral and a form of abortion.

But no!  They really just care deeply about the environment:

The following is released by the American Life League and the following groups:

WHO: American Life League , Human Life International, Pro-Life Wisconsin, Pharmacists for Life International, Archdiocese of Mobile Respect Life, Operation Rescue, Jill Stanek, Generation Life/Brandi Swindell, Life Education Ministry, Pro-Life Unity, Movement for a Better America, AMEN (Abortion Must End Now), Pro-Life Action of Oregon, Children of God for Life, Expectant Mother Care/Chris Slattery, Mother and Unborn Baby Care, Defenders of the Unborn, California Right to Life Education Fund, Delaware Pro-Life Coalition, Life Guard, Homeschoolers for Life, Focus Pregnancy Center, Central Texas Voices for Life and Dubuque County Right to Life

WHAT: Protest the Pill Day 2010: The Pill Kills the Environment

This year, birth control advocates are celebrating 50 years of decriminalized hormonal contraceptives. American Life League and our co-sponsors don't think half a century of contaminating our waterways is something to celebrate. Study after study has shown that hormonal estrogen in the water has severely damaged the ecosystem and our health.

Join American Life League and co-sponsors as they launch the largest nationwide protest against the birth control pill.

Who ever would have guessed that right-wing anti-choice activists were such committed environmentalists?

Notre Dame No Longer Catholic?

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Thursday, 4/9/2009 3:33 pm

Until today, I had never heard of "The Official Catholic Directory" (apparently also known as the "Kennedy Directory") but according to its publisher its "the most authoritative resource available" on all things Catholic:

For over 192 years, The Official Catholic Directory™ has served as a vital research and reference tool for anyone interested in the Catholic community. First published in 1817 by P.J. Kenedy & Sons, The Official Catholic Directory™ is the most authoritative resource available today on the Catholic Church. Each edition provides complete information on the Church's hierarchy, its institutions, schools, special care centers, and affiliated facilities. It offers the most comprehensive and detailed profiles on each (arch) diocese in the United States and hundreds of (arch) dioceses around the world.

Because the Catholic Church recognizes The Official Catholic Directory™ as the single authoritative directory, it achieves 100% verification and participation from each and every Catholic institution within the 208 (arch) dioceses.

And now the American Life League is calling for the University of Notre Dame to be removed from the book because of the school's invitation to President Obama to speak at its commencement:

American Life League wants the University of Notre Dame removed from the Official Catholic Directory (Kennedy Directory) - the official list of Catholic institutions in the United States.

Removal from the Kennedy Directory by Bishop John D'Arcy will cut the school off from much Catholic foundation funding.

...

"We found a tragic attitude at the University of Notre Dame -- apathy, if not hostility, toward the faith," said Judie Brown, president of ALL. "In the service of truth, we ask Bishop D'Arcy to acknowledge what the entire nation and Notre Dame itself already know: The university is backing away from the Catholic Church."

"In light of Notre Dame's past in the service of Our Lady, what is now keeping Notre Dame Catholic? Not the president who honors a man guilty of promoting an intrinsic evil; not the faculty -- notoriously liberal. The hope of Notre Dame lies with the students faithful to the mission of the Church," Brown said. "For their sake we hope and pray Notre Dame rescinds this honor to President Obama and upholds the Catholic identity that made the school one of the glories of the Catholic Church. If the university will not do this, then it should be removed from the Official Catholic Directory."

Apparently, when one of the nation's preeminent Catholic insitutions invites the President of the United States to address its students, it automatically forfeits its right to consider itself Catholic.

Right Wing Leftovers

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Friday, 4/3/2009 5:54 pm
  • David Smith, the executive director of the Illinois Family Institute, is urging parents to pull their children out of school on the "Day of Silence" because it will keep them from being indoctrinated and have the added advantage of hurting schools monetarily because school funds are based on a daily average attendance.

  • Gary Bauer is concerned that President Obama is hiring too many Muslims and not enough conservatives.

  • Inviting Obama to speak at Notre Dame is akin to inviting a Holocaust denier to speak at the Holocaust museum.

  • Pressure continues to mount on RNC Chair Michael Steele.

  • The American Life League is calling on Sen. Sam Brownback and Sen. Pat Roberts to use "their power to reject the nomination of pro-abortion radical Gov. Kathleen Sebelius" even though both have already endorsed her nomination.

  • Finally, Mike Huckabee weighed in on the Iowa Supreme Court marriage ruling with this rather mundane statement - he's never going to rally with right-wing troops with this sort of talk:
    • The unanimous decision handed down today from the Iowa Supreme Court to allow same sex marriage is disappointing. All Iowans should have a say in this matter, not a handful of legislative judges. This issue is too important to not be made by the people of Iowa. It is my hope that the Legislature will take the necessary steps to properly resolve this matter.

Notre Dame Unleashes a Fury

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Monday, 3/23/2009 12:01 pm

On Friday, the University of Notre Dame announced that President Obama would speak at the university’s Commencement Ceremony in May and, not surprisingly, anti-choice activists are absolutely livid.

The Cardinal Newman Society has lunched a petition to “halt this travesty immediately”:

It is an outrage and a scandal that "Our Lady's University," one of the premier Catholic universities in the United States, would bestow such an honor on President Obama given his clear support for policies and laws that directly contradict fundamental Catholic teachings on life and marriage ... Notre Dame has chosen prestige over principles, popularity over morality. Whatever may be President Obama's admirable qualities, this honor comes on the heels of some of the most anti-life actions of any American president, including expanding federal funding for abortions and inviting taxpayer-funded research on stem cells from human embryos.

The Pro-Life Action League has announced that “If Notre Dame does not disinvite Obama … the Notre Dame campus can expect a massive pro-life protest on graduation day” while the American Life League declares the invitation to be a “disgrace to every Catholic in the United States” and promises to “do all in our power to activate our supporters and friends across the country to cease their funding of Notre Dame University if the school does not rescind their invitation.”

And, never one to be outdone, Randall Terry weighed in to liken Obama to Herod and the Pharaoh and announce that he is re-locating to South Bend with the intent of making the university’s life a living hell:

[W]ould Notre Dame invite Herod to speak -- after he tried to kill Our Lady's Son, and slaughtered the Innocents in Bethlehem?  Would Notre Dame invite Pharaoh to speak -- after he ordered the drowning of Jewish boys in the Nile?  If not, how can they justify this invitation to President Obama?

We are not going to take this lying down; and we are not going to simply send emails and make phone calls. By week's end, we will have an office open and fully staffed in South Bend.  From that office, we will have nonstop activism geared to derail this invitation, and to make life miserable for those at Notre Dame who betrayed the Faith and the Innocent.

Brownback and GOP Losing Pro-Life Cred Over Sebelius

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Wednesday, 3/4/2009 3:12 pm

In yesterday’s round-up we mentioned that American Life League President Judie Brown had declared that, due to Sen. Sam Brownback's support of Kathleen Sebelius' nomination to become Secretary of Health and Human Services, he had lost the right to ever be called “pro-life” again.

And Brown is not alone in calling out Brownback from apparently squandering his pro-life credentials by backing Sebelius – Jill Stanek piles on as well, blasting him for being apparently unconcerned about what sort of “damage this abortion lover” will do to the country:  

That some pro-lifers don't understand the harm done is also disturbing … Brownback thinks he needs to move to the middle if he's going to get the keys to the governor's mansion in 2010.

But here is where Brownback in particular made a common pro-life politician's mistake, which too many pro-lifers accept: Casting dreams for what he could do for us tomorrow, Brownback didn't do the right thing today.

I don't care what pro-life politicians promise they will do for me tomorrow. Tomorrow never comes. I only care what they do for me today. In fact, they're only where they are today because they cast dreams in a previous campaign to do something for me today.

Now to the damage this abortion lover could do as HHS secretary.

Operation Rescue is likewise livid:

"It is unimaginable that a Catholic pro-lifer such as Sen. Brownback would support Sebelius' nomination to a post where she can advance her extremist abortion agenda on the national level. There is so much documentation of her ardent support of indicted late-term abortionist George Tiller that is hard to believe that the Senator from Kansas is simply ignorant of her record. We pray that Mr. Martin's information is in error," said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman.

"We at Operation Rescue are urging our supporters to contact Sen. Brownback's office and ask for confirmation on this story," said Newman. "Our own calls to his office have been met with equivocation. We believe that the people have a right to know the truth on where the Senator stands."

[An interesting side-note: Human Life International rips into Catholic United for backing Sebelius, asking if “the word 'integrity' means to these self-proclaimed 'faithful Catholics’” but says not a word about Brownback, who is also Catholic.]

But the Family Research Council is not so much concerned with Brownback’s failure to oppose her as it is with the entire Republican Party’s failure to stand up for the pro-life agenda by sinking her nomination:

The biggest example of this divide between conservatives and the GOP may be found in President Obama's pick for Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS). With the exception so far of Sens. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), the nomination of Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D-Kans.)--arguably the most pro-abortion governor in the nation -- has been met by the Republican leadership with a collective yawn. Here is a woman who aligns herself against 80% of the country in suggesting that the government knows better than parents in children's health decisions, and yet the GOP can't muster the will to fight her nomination. As governor, she hosted a private reception for a notorious partial-birth abortionist, vetoed bills that would have made abortion clinics cleaner for women, and blocked court reforms that would have helped to prevent third-term abortions. Like President Obama, she even opposed protection for infants who are born alive during an abortion.

If Republicans won't take a stand now, when will they? Once Sebelius is confirmed, she will control the largest government agency in America with more power and resources to advance a radical social agenda that will drive a deeper wedge between parents and their children. Grassroots conservatives understand what's at stake here. Why doesn't the Republican leadership?

Right Wing Leftovers

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Tuesday, 3/3/2009 6:51 pm
  • Phyllis Schlafly says that "liberals tried to filibuster the confirmation of [Samuel] Alito" and that it set "an example for Republicans to follow if President Barack Obama nominates a justice out of touch with the American people." Does that mean Alito is out of touch with the American people?

  • The Catholic League's latest enemy is Ron Howard and everyone involved in his new movie "Angels and Demons."

  • The Christian Anti-Defamation Commission announces that it will soon begin running radio commentaries called "Freedom Alerts" on American Family Radio.

  • The American Life League has launched a "STOP Sebelius" petition and ALL's President Judie Brown declares that, due to Sen. Sam Brownback's support of Sebelius' nomination, she will "never use 'pro-life' to describe him again."

  • Finally, Janet Porter declares that, in electing Barack Obama, America chose death over life and now God is cursing us:
    • And in the last election, whether with full knowledge or not, 69 million Americans chose death on Nov. 4, 2008 ... But with the choice of death comes a curse against us – as a nation and individually against those who made the choice of death last November.

We'll Keep Swinging and Missing Until We Have Won

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Thursday, 2/19/2009 11:21 am

We've written about the anti-choice movement's new focus on "personhood" as it attempts to find new tactics to outlaw reproductive choice a few times in the past, mostly to note that efforts to date have not been particularly impressive considering that it was wiped out at the polls in Colorado last November.

But that doesn't mean they are giving up.  Recently, Personhood USA announced that "seven different states have started efforts for the personhood of pre-born children. In addition, Rep. Duncan Hunter has introduced H.R. 881, the Right to Life Act , on the federal level, propelling the personhood movement forward."

Now, RH Reality Check reports that the North Dakota House just passed such a measure yesterday:

On Tuesday, one body of North Dakota's state legislature voted, 51-41, not only to ban abortion, but to define life as beginning at conception. Such a measure, considered extreme even by pro-life standards, would have far-reaching consequences on women's health.

State Rep. Dan Ruby introduced the legislation, which declares that "for purposes of interpretation of the constitution and laws of North Dakota, it is the intent of the legislative assembly that an individual, a person, when the context indicates that a reference to an individual is intended, or a human being includes any organism with the genome of homo sapiens."

"It was at the bottom of the calendar and we didn't expect [the House] to get to it, so it caught us a little bit by surprise," said Tim Stanley, senior director of government and public affairs for Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota. "This bill dangerous, far reaching, and allows government -- not women and families -- to make critical decisions about health care." Some state legislators have been quoted saying the intent of the measure is not to ban abortion outright. However, many legal experts agree that defining life as beginning at conception would affect access to birth control and emergency contraception as well as affect in vitro fertilization. "I'm not sure if this is naivete or if this is sincere," Stanley said. "The bottom line is that our attorneys have looked at this and are extremely concerned."

OneNewsNow asked one of the activists who is pushing this personhood effort, Cal Zastrow of Michigan Citizens for Life, why they are focusing on this issue considering that it lost so badly in Colorado, and he says it is because they will not quit until abortion is outlawed:

"Because it raises the pro-life tide and it gets the vision to not quit until every baby is protected by law and love," he contends. "And you're right, we didn't win the World Series every time we swung the bat -- but we're going to keep swinging the bat and keep going until we have won the World Series."

Of course, a more accurate explanation is probably the one Katy Walker of the American Life League gave last year when she admitted that "the idea of personhood in this movement is really the only thing, the only option left to us."

Right Wing Leftovers

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Friday, 1/16/2009 6:51 pm
  • The American Life League is angry that Krispy Kreme is giving away free doughnuts on Inauguration Day because the company's press release says it is celebrating "the freedom of choice," which ALL says is a "tacit endorsement of abortion rights on demand."
  • Rep. Steve King says it is "bizarre" that Barack Obama will use his middle name when he is sworn in next week, which just serves as more evidence that King fully deserves his place among Steve Benen's "Most Offensive Member of Congress."
  • Because you can never have too many right-wingers on the radio, Mat Staver and Matt Barber will soon begin hosting "Liberty Live," which will air on 126 stations of American Family Radio's new AFR Talk network.
  • Oklahoma State Rep. Sally Kern has introduced a resolution calling on Congress to oppose the Freedom of Choice Act, saying it would be "an infringement on states’ rights. Abortion is not a right guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution but states’ rights are guaranteed by the Tenth Amendment."
  • The Traditional Values Coalition warns that President Obama and his "czars" are poised to "impose Obamunism upon our nation" and specifically singles out Tom Daschle as "most likely push the abortion and homosexual agenda ... The abortionists and homosexuals who helped get Obama elected must be thrilled with all of these czars with power to impose abortion and homosexuality on our military and federal bureaucracies.” Elsewhere, they call us a "God-hating ... anti-Christian group that is still engaged in a relentless war against traditional values."
  • Dan Gilgoff reports that, according to Ted Haggard, "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi regularly sent words of comfort and support in the two year following his fall," but Pelosi's office tells David Brody that Haggard's claim is "simply not true."
  • Finally, Rick Scarborough is more than a little upset that Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison has the temerity to start plotting a run for Governor of Texas:

    • "As a Texas conservative I am appalled by this action and call upon Senator Hutchison to do the ethically and morally right thing by writing everyone who contributed to her national campaign and offering to refund their contribution. Conservatives in Texas and around the country contributed to Senator Hutchison's campaign to fight liberals in Washington; not conservatives in Texas.

    "Rick Perry has his detractors in Texas and I have been openly critical of some of his positions as Governor, but he is solidly pro-life and pro-family and Texas has prospered under his able leadership. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, who is pro-choice, is apparently willing to expose her own Party in Washington to a possible filibuster proof Democratic majority by vacating her seat as US Senator, while simultaneously dividing her Party in Texas with a costly and politically divisive bid to be Governor which is not warranted."

Is "Personhood" The Future of the Anti-Choice Movement?

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Thursday, 12/11/2008 5:01 pm

Last week we noticed the American Life League’s Katy Walker declaring that "the idea of personhood … is really the only option left" to the anti-choice movement and declaring that she was emboldened to press forward with their agenda because the "personhood" amendment on the ballot in Colorado only managed to lose by a 3 to 1 margin there.

As we noted then, considering that the amendment was trounced throughout the state and even lost badly in Focus on the Family's stronghold in Colorado Springs, then it didn't seem like there was a particularly strong chance that it would do well elsewhere.

But it looks like "personhood" is going to be a central part of ALL's mission going forward, starting with their upcoming conference:

American Life League will feature two of the most innovative new voices in the pro-life movement at their Training and Activism Week and Personhood Conference Jan. 21-23.

...

The Personhood Conference on Jan. 23 will also feature ALL president Judie Brown, Ambassador Alan Keyes, David Bereit of 40 Days for Life, and Kristi Burton, architect of the Colorado Personhood Initiative.

"The pro-life movement has always had personhood for the preborn as our ultimate objective and the recent elections have made that an even more urgent objective," Hahnenberg said, "and we're excited to be able to start the year with a conference that will focus on just that."

We Are Encouraged By Our 27% Showing

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Wednesday, 12/3/2008 6:31 pm

You have to hand it to the American Life League’s Katy Walker.  Despite the fact that the every one of the anti-choice movements ballot initiatives went down in defeat in the last election by wide margins, Walker says that they are going to press forward, especially with their “personhood” efforts:

With a pro-abortion president soon taking the helm in Washington, the pro-life movement will stay focused while also pursuing new ideas.

Katy Walker of the American Life League (ALL) says old approaches will continue, but a relatively new method will be pursued. "The idea of personhood in this movement is really the only thing, the only option left to us, and it's one of the best options and one of the most beautiful concepts I've heard in a long time," she contends. "We're very excited about it."
 
She defines the term. "Personhood is the idea. It's cultural change and legislative change, working towards defining all human beings as persons," Walker explains. "It's the last frontier of the civil rights movement -- that every human being deserves his rights under the law."

Walker adds that life begins at fertilization and ends at natural death. Colorado's pro-life movement was able to put a personhood amendment on the November 2008 ballot, but it failed to pass. "The fact that they got 27 percent of Colorado, which is historically a liberal state, is very hopeful, I think," she notes.

It seems as if Walker isn’t just being naïve here, but down right delusional.  Seeing the personhood amendment get trounced in Colorado by a 3 to 1 margin is certainly not cause for optimism, and playing that loss off as a victory because Colorado is a “liberal state” is ridiculous, considering that it went for George W. Bush in both 2000 and 2004.

On top of that, as Laura Chapin pointed out, the personhood amendment even lost in El Paso County - which is the home of Colorado Springs, Focus on the Family, and Dr. James Dobson – 65% to 35%.

If the anti-choice movement’s “personhood” efforts can’t even win in Focus on the Family’s backyard and can muster only 27% in a state that twice went for President Bush, there is not much cause for being “hopeful” … especially if, as Walker says, “the idea of personhood … is really the only option left to us.”

Using Christianity for Political Gains

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Friday, 2/1/2008 9:43 am

There is nothing that seems to anger the Religious Right quite like discussions of faith within the political sphere that do not coincide with their own right-wing agenda.  For example, Ryan Anderson of First Things attacked Catholics United for taking “its favored policy and baptize it in the name of the church” regarding the debate over SCHIP while Religious Right leaders were up-in-arms and accusing Democrats of “[hijacking] the language of faith in order to hide the truth about their real agenda” and confuse Values Voters.  Barack Obama’s Christian faith, in particular, has come in for intense denunciation, being labeled “woefully deficient” while his church membership “suggests a lack of judgment.”   

And now American Life League president Judie Brown has decided to add her voice to the chorus of those who think religion is solely the property of the Right:  

"It is one thing to profess to be a believing Christian, and another to, by your actions, either confirm that you are indeed a believing Christian, or that you are using your so-called Christianity for the purpose of political gain," says Brown.

Brown says that in many cases -- such as Obama's and Clinton's -- she sees politicians "using their professed Christianity for political ends, without even recognizing what it means to be a Christian, and I find that rather sad."

Rather sad, indeed.

After Abortion Ban Rejected in South Dakota, Right 'Going Back to Drawing Board'

Submitted by Anonymous on Thursday, 11/9/2006 7:07 pm
Says militant Operation Rescue. FRC’s Perkins failures in SD and parental-consent measures in CA and OR “need only minor adjustments,” meaning exceptions. But American Life League says ban failed because of exceptions. National Pro-Life Action Center still optimistic.
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American Life League Top Posts

American Life League
Founded by Judie and Paul Brown with help from right-wing strategist Paul Weyrich, the American Life League (ALL) is a spin-off from the National Right to Life Committee with a more grassroots orientation. ALL is closely aligned with the Catholic Church and opposes birth control, stem cell research and euthanasia. ALL was an enthusiastic backer of the extreme anti-abortion tactics promoted by Operation Rescue. MORE >

American Life League Posts Archive

Troy Newman: Abortion Rights Responsible for NSA Spying
SUBMITTED BY: Brian Tashman, Monday 06/10/2013, 11:40am
Did you realize that the decriminalization of abortion is responsible for the creation of the NSA surveillance program? According to Troy Newman of Operation Rescue, because “killing children in the womb is a constitutional right,” there are now “no civil rights in this country” and “everything else can be stripped away from us.” Newman told LifeSiteNews this weekend that he hopes that President Obama will be impeached over the program and that “the people who are monitoring my conversations will be impacted and turned to life.” The American... MORE >
American Life League: Excommunicate Catholic Democrats for Being Under 'Demonic Deceit'
SUBMITTED BY: Brian Tashman, Friday 02/15/2013, 6:00pm
American Life League founder Judie Brown says that the Roman Catholic Church must drive out pro-choice and pro-gay equality Catholics from the church because they are under “demonic deceit.” She argues that Catholic Democrats such as the late Ted Kennedy, Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi and Kathleen Sebelius advocate “anti-Christian” positions such as the decriminalization of abortion and “anti-family militant homosexuality and the destruction of marriage.” “As the faithful watch the accelerated destruction of morality in America and the Henry the VIII style... MORE >
Right-Wing Groups Protest Desmond Tutu's Appearance at Gonzaga University
SUBMITTED BY: Brian Tashman, Thursday 04/05/2012, 3:35pm
After failing in their attempt to block President Obama from speaking at Notre Dame University, far-right activists are now trying to stop Desmond Tutu from appearing at Gonzaga University, a Jesuit institution. Tutu, an Anglican bishop who received a Nobel Peace Prize for his role in bringing down South Africa’s Apartheid government, is coming under fire from right-wing organizations protesting his views on legal abortion and “affirmation of the homosexual agenda.” The conservative website LifeSiteNews reports that two Catholic groups, the American Life League and TFP... MORE >
Religious Right Groups Plan Rallies to 'Stop the HHS Mandate'
SUBMITTED BY: Brian Tashman, Monday 03/19/2012, 5:25pm
Conservative organizations are planning to hold rallies on March 23rd across the country to “Stand up for Religious Freedom” and “Stop the HHS Mandate” on contraception coverage. Members of the new coalition include the Alliance Defense Fund, American Life League, Christian Defense Coalition, Concerned Women for America, Operation Rescue, Thomas More Society and various anti-choice groups, and they seek to organize demonstrations “outside federal buildings, Congressional offices and historic sites across the country.” In a statement responding to a... MORE >
Anti-Choice Leader Claims Obama Supports Black Genocide
SUBMITTED BY: Brian Tashman, Friday 04/15/2011, 9:49am
While one anti-choice group is using President Obama’s image to attack legal abortion as black genocide, others are coming out saying that President Obama is advocating the extermination of African Americans because he is pro-choice. The abortion as “black genocide” myth is gaining increasing prominence in the anti-choice community, and the Family Research Council even asserted that Planned Parenthood was responsible for Washington D.C.’s shrinking black population. Jim Sedlak of the American Life League, a champion of the radical personhood laws, argued that... MORE >
American Family Association Promotes Extreme “Personhood Amendment” in Mississippi
SUBMITTED BY: Brian Tashman, Wednesday 12/29/2010, 6:22pm
After efforts to amend the Colorado constitution to give constitutional rights to embryos and fetuses badly failed in November, advocates of so-called “Personhood Amendments” are now hoping that Mississippi voters will back a similar amendment in 2011. The Colorado proposal, called Amendment 62, “would have banned abortion, many forms of birth control and embryonic stem cell research in the state.” Mississippi activists were able to put a similar measure on the ballot in 2011 to coincide with the gubernatorial election. Back in 2008, the American Life League began... MORE >
Any Group With Just 15% Support Should Not Be Calling Anyone an "Ideologue"
SUBMITTED BY: Kyle Mantyla, Tuesday 06/29/2010, 5:19pm
Outside of the incessant Twittering of the Judicial Crisis Network's Carrie Severino, I haven't seen much commentary from the Right on Elena Kagan's hearing today ... and the few things I have seen have tended to be along the line of this ridiculous press release from the American Life League: "Elena Kagan has revealed herself as the pro-abortion activist she is. The 'health of the mother' exception has long been code for abortion on demand for any reason under the sun - including financial 'health.' "Kagan's position is clearly opposed by the majority of Americans who... MORE >
Protest The Pill ... To Save The Planet?
SUBMITTED BY: Kyle Mantyla, Tuesday 05/25/2010, 10:15am
When a large group of anti-choice organizations and activists band together in order to protest the 50th anniversary of the birth control pill, you assume it is because they are the sorts of people who tend to consider all contraception immoral and a form of abortion. But no!  They really just care deeply about the environment: The following is released by the American Life League and the following groups: WHO: American Life League , Human Life International, Pro-Life Wisconsin, Pharmacists for Life International, Archdiocese of Mobile Respect Life, Operation Rescue, Jill Stanek,... MORE >