National Pro-Life Group Drops Local Chapter Over Traditional Marriage Support

A pro-life group in Cleveland, Ohio, has distanced itself from the national organization it was affiliated with because of its stance on same-sex marriage.

Cleveland Right to Life (CRTL) recently added fighting for traditional marriage and family to its mission statement and is critical of Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, who announced he will support same-sex marriage.

The National Right to Life Committee (NRTL) has chosen to support Portman and withdrew from CRTL.

“The right to life is the first and foremost of all human rights,” National Right to Life Committee President Carol Tobias said in a statement sent to Charisma News. “It affects all other issues and without it, a person never gets the opportunity to exercise any other right. Simply put, without life all other rights and issues are meaningless.”

“From time to time,” she continued, “people or organizations come along that encourage the right-to-life movement to take up the mantle of other issues by equating these issues with the paramount right to life.”

Tobias sent CRTL President Molly Smith a letter, dated July 17, stating that the Ohio group would no longer be considered an affiliate of NRTL.

“This letter, which was received well after the date on the letter, came without even a phone call or email from the NRTL organization,” Smith says. “In fact, we have become aware that copies of the letter were forwarded to Ohio pro-life organizations from Sen. Portman’s office before I had the opportunity to read it myself.”

The letter directed the local chapter to remove any mention of its connection with the national organization from its website.

“I don’t know that they’ve ever done this with anybody else,” Smith told OneNewsNow, commenting that she believes homosexual lobbyists played a part.

According to OneNewsNow, Tobias said in the letter that CRTL “issued public criticisms of and implicit political threats against a U.S. senator who has supported the right to life position on every vote.”

“This is about supporting the family in America and any politician, including Portman, who supports the breakup of the American family and supports the denial of a mother and father for children has forfeited the right of support and endorsement of the pro-life movement,” says CRTL board member Jerry C. Cirino.

Smith notes that since the group’s announcement, it has received tremendous grass-roots support and new financial contributions.

“We have had expressions of support from politicians around Ohio, many of whom have shown an interest in running against Republicans who do not steadfastly support the family and traditional marriage,” she says.

She says the reference to NRTL is no longer part of CRTL’s website, but the group will continue to be affiliated with Ohio Right to Life.