Key Leaders
Marjorie Dannenfelser is the President and “Chairman of the Board” at the Susan B. Anthony List (SBA List). She became President in 2006 Chairman thereafter.[1] She is often quoted as a spokesperson for the organization. She previously worked on the Congressional Pro-Life Caucus in Washington, DC. In support of the nomination of Samuel Alito to the US Supreme Court in 2006, Dannenfelser plugged the familiar trope of the “activist judge,” saying:
Liberal groups oppose Judge Alito because he is not the type of activist judge that they have long depended on to implement their liberal policies, such as… ignoring the rights of parents of minors to be informed about their child's abortion and abolishing the laws which protect children from Internet pornography.[2]
Jane Abraham became president of the SBA list in 1997.[3] She is the wife of former Michigan Senator and current Secretary of the US Dept. of Energy Spencer Abraham. She also has her own political career. Mrs. Abraham was Political Director and then Executive Director of the Michigan Republican Party and then moved to Washington, DC to work for the Republican National Committee after George H. W. Bush was elected as President.[4] Abraham used this background to connect to candidates for the SBA List PAC to fund and was president until 2006. She remained Chairman of the Board until she was replaced by Dannenfelser[5]. She is currently a co-chair of the Michigan Republican Party.
Emily Buchanan is currently the Executive Director of the SBA list. She has worked at a political consulting firm called the Carlyle Gregory Group, and for Delegate Bob Dell of Virginia during both his campaign and his legislative term.
[1]Dannenfelser, Marjorie. "The Times They Are a-Changin'; Don't look now, but the pro-life movement is winning." The Weekly Standard (May 1, 2006): NA. General OneFile. Gale. San Francisco Public Library. Jan. 2008.
[2]"Susan B. Anthony List Speaks Out in Support of Judge Alito." US Newswire (Jan 5, 2006): NA. General OneFile. Gale. San Francisco Public Library. 9 Jan. 2008."
[3]Wagner, David. "Not just any senatorial wife, Abraham leads pro-life PAC." Insight on the News 13.n20 (June 2, 1997): 16(3). General OneFile. Gale. San Francisco Public Library. 30 Jan. 2008.
[5]:"Susan B. Anthony List Speaks Out in Support of Judge Alito." US Newswire (Jan 5, 2006): NA. General OneFile. Gale. San Francisco Public Library. Jan. 2008.
Organizational Background and Activities
Founded in 1993 as a response to EMILY’s list (a PAC that raises early money for pro-choice candidates) and the election of many pro-choice women into congress in 1992, the Susan B. Anthony List (SBA List) was created to support female anti-choice candidates. In 1997, when Jane Abraham took the helm, the 501(c)(4) charity with affiliated PAC was formed. The original strategy of the SBA List was to ask members to write checks directly to the candidate’s campaign; the PAC would then bundle checks for each campaign and send them off.
As of 1997, the PAC is responsible for distributing camaign funds, while the charity funds and hosts organizing activities. Amongst these activities are the training of potential anti-choice candidates in fundraising and campaigning, running advocacy campaigns to push for anti-choice legislation, and trying to change public opinion about abortion and reproductive health rights through media campaigns and “voter education”. The PAC emphasizes electing “pro-life women” as its main goal, but also frequently supports anti-choice male candidates if they are challenging a pro-choice incumbant. The PAC announces its endorsements before each election and solicits donations.
The SBA list claims that it's membership has grown to 25 times its original size; it also lists the successes of their endorsed candidates as part of their growth as an organization.
As evidenced by the SBA List’s leadership, the group is not composed of religious leaders, but rather of political insiders who wish to push the idea that anti-choice women should be in government. The SBA List asserts that female pro-choice politicians do not reflect the opinions of ordinary women in the US. They cite many polls and surveys to back up this claim, stating that answers to questions about whether a respondent would consider an abortion for herself reflect “pro-life” sentiment, even if the respondents do not accept the pro-life label for themselves[6].
[6]Wagner, David. "Not just any senatorial wife, Abraham leads pro-life PAC." Insight on the News 13.n20 (June 2, 1997): 16(3). General OneFile. Gale. San Francisco Public Library. 30 Jan. 2008.
Address
1800 North Kent Street, Suite 1070
Arlington, VA 22209
Funding and Budget
The Susan B. Anthony List (SBA List) 501(c)(4) charity filed a form 990 with the IRS in 2005 listing the following figures:
Total contributions from the public: $2,096,929.
Other revenue: $39,636.
Total expenses: $2,170,138.
End of Year Total Assests: $302,179.
In 2002, the SBA List and associated PAC listed a $2.5 million budget total.[7]
[7]"Susan B. Anthony List Candidate Fund Celebrates Big Wins for Pro-Life Women Candidates; 'Percentage of Pro-Life Women in Congress Jumped 71% in Last Night's Elections and FIRST Pro-Life Woman Elected to the Senate'." PR Newswire ( 6, 2002): DCW04006112002. General OneFile. Gale. San Francisco Public Library. 9 Jan. 2008
The SBA List claims in its very name a feminst foremother to further its stated agenda of being "the voice of prolife women in politics," but it erases its own history. Now, according to my own extensive research, Susan B. Anthony herself did oppose abortion as fetal lifetaking. But she also opposed societal institutions such as male irresponsibility and violence that put women in the situation of facing unintended pregnancies and abortion. At its beginnings, the organization could much more safely lay claim to SBA's name. It was originally founded by Rachel MacNair, a leftist and peace psychologist, to promote women in politics who were both prolife/antiabortion *and* supported social welfare policies that reduce abortion, as well as other women's rights issues. The original mission was to support candidates in *any* political party who took such an approach. But conservative Republicans took over the organization, and now you would never know from the SBA List that the "voice of prolife women in politics" was now or ever had been anything but that of conservative, merely antiabortion Republicans.
The words "anti-choice" send the wrong message. I am a recently graduated graduate student that happened to be doing some research on PACs. I came across the SBA List and was interested but found myself annoyed with the wording. Anti-choice conveys the wrong message, that this group is against women making choices. That is not true. There are alternative choices that are preferred by pro-life women. Moreover, I think "pro-life" shows support for something and a much more positive image. I think the efforts for educating others and spreading the mission of SBA would be strengthened if the wording was changed.
Something to consider.
"I think the efforts for educating others and spreading the mission of SBA would be strengthened if the wording was changed."
Were you under the impression that this is a blog devoted to proselytizing the views of anti-choice organizations while lying about their positions and intent?
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Well if the nation needs quantity, instead of quality of the population...
Only it seems to me as a result of this action sales of means against venereal diseases, expenses on abortions and so forth will increase.
I not for abortions, and for planning and contraception.
The anti-choice movement should NEVER be conflated with continuing efforts by feminists to improve conditions for mothers, children and families.
The anti-choicers who have appropriated Susan B. Anthony's name in order to roll back women's rights will soon be exposed. Those of us who are aware of feminist history are working to educate others on how to view Susan B. Anthony's statement within the context of her time.
Exposed as what? To be anti-abortion is NOT to be anti-woman, family or child. It is to be anti-abortion: again the ending of the other's life which causes a pregnancy. It is not to be anti-choice, nor it is to devalue the essential work that must be done to improves women's lives, and understanding and control of her fertility in a way which respects her body, her relationships, and asks her to respect everyone's, too.
I for one, as a woman and a feminist, am tired of being ostracized by feminist thinkers because I can see clearly and believe strongly that women's and children's rights shouldn't be in competition. As did Susan B. Anthony, Mary Wollstonecraft, and many, many other eloquent women's rights activists.
Interesting how the SBA started out and what it has come to be. Good for the Pro-Life groups but to bad if the SBA has forgotten about social welfare policies. I am sure they will get it figured out eventually. Cheers!
Thanks for share the historical background of organisation. Hopefully the SBA will success and become the big organisation soon.