The Rochester Area Right to Life Committee has a PAC, a Political Action Committee.   A PAC is a committee of an existing organization.  The PAC is formed specifically to endorse political candidates.  Donations to a PAC are not tax exempt, although the PAC is, by its nature, non-profit.  Our PAC attempts to find electable pro-life candidates with respect to abortion, infanticide, and euthanasia.

The RARTL PAC endorses candidates based on several criteria:

(1)  The candidate must have a realistic chance of winning the election.  Our purpose is to get pro-life candidates elected so that they can pass legislation that protects innocent human life.  Therefore, normally only major party candidates will be endorsed.  If the candidate is also the candidate of one of the other parties, that is not a hindrance.

(2)  The candidate must answer a questionnaire on his/her pro-life stand.   This demonstrates a pro-life stand and also demonstrates that he/she wants our endorsement.  A sample of a typical questionnaire from the New York State Right to Life PAC is below.

(3)  If the candidate is also an incumbent, then he/she must have a pro-life voting record.  Voting against measures that protect innocent human life from abortion, infanticide, and euthanasia will cause us to question the candidate's commitment.

If there is a demonstrably pro-life incumbent, we do not endorse a challenger.   Active pro-life legislators need and deserve our support.

(Do you have a pro-life representative at any level of government?  Write to him or her today and say, "Thank you.")

A survey form can change, depending on current legislative initiatives, but there is a certain common thread.  Below are some of the questions posed by the New York State Right to Life Committee in 1998 to candidates in that election.  We use questions like these for our local efforts.

• Will you vote for a law that would prevent abortions, except those to prevent the death of the mother?  (Yes No)
• Will you vote to require parental notification before abortions are performed on minors?   (Yes No)
• Will you vote to prevent the use of tax funds for abortion other than to save the life of the mother?  (Yes No)
• Will you vote for an "informed consent" law requiring that doctors provide information on the development of the unborn child, alternatives to abortion, and medical risks of abortion before an abortion is performed?  (Yes No)
• Will you vote to prevent the use of tissue and organs from deliberately aborted children in transplants or medical experiments?  (Yes No)
• A partial-birth abortion involves delivering a living, late term baby, feet first, except for the head, puncturing the base of the skull with scissors, and sucking out the brain.  Will you vote to support legislation banning partial-birth abortions except to save the life of the mother?  (Yes No)
• Will you vote for a law to eliminate late-term abortions in NYS?  (Yes No)
• Would you vote to oppose any ERA (Equal Rights Amendment) unless it contained explicit "abortion neutralization" language?   (Yes No)
• Will you vote to prevent involuntary denial of life-saving treatment by providing that when
  1) a patient has explicitly directed life-preserving medical treatment, food, or fluids, and
  2) the treatment, food or fluids in fact would have a significant possibility of sustaining the patient's life,
  then the patient's doctor cannot deny it pending the patient's transfer to another doctor willing to follow the patient's wishes?  (Yes No)
• In 1991, Oregon approved a health care rationing plan for its Medicaid program.  The primary basis for denial of treatment is the expected degree of disability or medical need, or poor "quality of life" it is claimed a patient would be likely to have after treatment.  This is a form of involuntary euthanasia.  Would you vote to oppose any legislation in this state that, like the Oregon plan, would impose rationing that intentionally denies treatment on the basis of disability, degree of medical need, or "quality of life" of those denied treatment?   (Yes No)
• Would you support a law to prevent "assisting suicide" by allowing relatives or other affected by an attempted or completed suicide, as well as public officials, to sue the person who "assists" for money damages?  (Yes No)
• Would you oppose any legalization of lethal injections or other measure to kill a person or to "assist" in committing suicide, or "active euthanasia"?    (Yes No)