The New York State Right to Life Party was a minor anti-abortion American

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

that was active only in the state of New York and was founded to oppose the legalization of

abortion Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pre ...

New York State New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. stat ...

in 1970.

History

In 1970 the Right to Life Party was formed in New York following the decriminalization of abortion in New York. The party attempted to run a gubernatorial ticket made up of Jane Gilroy and Marcia Pilsner and obtained 14,062 signatures, 2,000 more than the 12,000 needed to receive ballot access. However, Secretary of State John P. Lomenzo rejected the petition and the decision was upheld by the state supreme court. The party first made the state ballot in the 1978 gubernatorial election, where its candidate Mary Jane Tobin won 130,000 votes. Its share of the vote subsequently declined, although it maintained official ballot status until 2002, when it fell short of the 50,000 votes required to remain on the ballot. In 2006, the party endorsed Reverend Jennifer Liese for Governor. Liese's signatures were disputed by a Republican staffer, Rachel L. Bledi. As of November 2006 there were 40,278 members statewide. The party did not endorse a gubernatorial candidate in 2010, though it has been able to get two state supreme court nominees onto the ballot via the petition process. In 1980 Ronald Reagan attempted to gain the extra ballot access line provided by the party, but was rejected after refusing to agree to the terms that he must choose a

pro-life Anti-abortion movements, also self-styled as pro-life or abolitionist movements, are involved in the abortion debate advocating against the practice of abortion and its legality. Many anti-abortion movements began as countermovements in respon ...

vice presidential candidate, endorse

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against

Jacob Javits Jacob Koppel Javits ( ; May 18, 1904 – March 7, 1986) was an American lawyer and politician. During his time in politics, he represented the state of New York in both houses of the United States Congress. A member of the Republican Party, he al ...

in the Republican Senate primary, and to only endorse Republicans who supported an anti-abortion constitutional amendment. The party ran Ellen McCormack, who had run in the

1976 Democratic Party presidential primaries From January 27 to June 8, 1976, voters of the Democratic Party chose its nominee for president in the 1976 United States presidential election. Former Georgia governor Jimmy Carter was selected as the nominee through a series of primary electio ...

, in the 1980 presidential election and received 32,327 votes nationally and 24,159 in New York; Reagan won the state against Carter by 165,459 without the extra ballot line. In 1984 the party refused to run or endorse any candidate for president by a vote of 27,000 to 22,000. The leadership of the party criticized and stated that Reagan was not pro-life enough due to his stance on abortion as governor of California and for having George H. W. Bush as his running mate. In 1992 despite having refused to give Reagan its ballot line due to George H. W. Bush being his vice president, the chairwoman of the party stated that his vetoes of abortion rights bills made them willing to give him their nomination. In 1996 the party gave its ballot line to Constitution Party candidate Howard Phillips which was the only time the party has appeared on the New York presidential ballot. On August 18, 2000 the party voted to give

Reform Reform ( lat, reformo) means the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc. The use of the word in this way emerges in the late 18th century and is believed to originate from Christopher Wyvill's Association movement ...

nominee

Patrick Buchanan Patrick Joseph Buchanan (; born November 2, 1938) is an American paleoconservative political commentator, columnist, politician, and broadcaster. Buchanan was an assistant and special consultant to U.S. Presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, a ...

an additional ballot line for the presidential election, over

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

who had given them no response and Howard Phillips, which was accepted on September 23. Despite losing ballot access in 2002, the party endorsed Mitt Romney in 2012, and Donald Trump in 2016 and 2020.https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=3020904838011140&id=293969874037997

Electoral performance

Presidential

Gubernatorial

Comptroller

Attorney general

Voter Registration

Notes

References

External links

Official website
{{NewYorkPoliticalParties Anti-abortion organizations in the United States Regional and state political parties in New York (state) Single-issue political parties Social conservative parties Political parties established in 1970 Political parties in New York (state) Conservative parties in the United States