Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — Top pro-life organizations are stepping up their efforts to oppose the DISCLOSE Act, a bill they say would place unfair limits on the free speech rights of pro-life groups and others when it comes to public legislative and election communications.
The House of Representatives may vote as soon as Thursday on the bill that the National Right to Life Committee says would place “sweeping new restrictions on the ability of” citizens groups to tell the public how their lawmakers voted.
In a letter yesterday to members of the House, NRLC reiterated its strong opposition to the bill, which it called “pernicious, unprincipled, and unconstitutional legislation.”
The House Democratic leadership has agreed to add a narrow “carve out” that will effectively exempt the National Rifle Association from some of the key restrictions in the bill, in return for which the NRA has agreed that it “will not be involved in final consideration of the House bill.”
But that has drawn objections from the pro-life group, which says, “With respect to the National Right to Life Committee, this amendment is not only worthless, but adds insult to injury” and calls the bill “a blatant political attack on the First Amendment rights of NRLC, our state affiliates, and our members and donors.”
The big problem for pro-life groups is a provision that would make them identify donors publicly anytime it runs communications in certain times that ask people to contact Congress about legislation related to pro-life concerns.
“Our members and supporters have a right to support our public advocacy about important and controversial issues without having their identifying information posted on the Internet, exposing them to harassment or retribution by those who may disagree with their beliefs,” NRLC says.
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