Janet Porter
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Janet L. Folger Porter (born October 13, 1962) is an American
anti-abortion Anti-abortion movements, also self-styled as pro-life movements, are involved in the abortion debate advocating against the practice of abortion and its Abortion by country, legality. Many anti-abortion movements began as countermovements in r ...
activist and author.


Biography

Porter founded the conservative Christian ministry Faith2Action in 2003 and the
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-like social website ''ReaganBook'' (defunct by August 2014). Porter is most known for promoting the anti-abortion movement and anti-LGBT activism. In 2018, the
Southern Poverty Law Center The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit legal advocacy organization specializing in civil rights and public interest litigation. Based in Montgomery, Alabama, it is known for its legal cases against white ...
designated Faith2Action as a hate group for its anti-LGBT stance. Janet Porter believes homosexuality is a choice. She stated
gay marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same legal sex. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 38 countries, with a total population of 1.5 billion people (20% ...
caused Noah's floods and was significant in developing a 1990s gay conversion campaign. ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' wrote, "The 1998 campaign claimed "former homosexuals" could convert to heterosexuality after attending 'ex-gay ministries.' Porter called it Truth in Love.' Recognizing the harm such programs can cause, gay conversion therapy was made illegal in many states, including parts of Florida and Ohio." In 2017, she served as a spokesperson for
Roy Moore Roy Stewart Moore (born February 11, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer, and jurist who served as chief justice of the Supreme Court of Alabama from 2001 to 2003 and again from 2013 to 2017, each time being removed from office for judic ...
in his campaign for the
United States Senate special election in Alabama, 2017 The 2017 United States Senate special election in Alabama took place on December 12, 2017, in order for the winner to serve the remainder of the U.S. Senate term ending on January 3, 2021. A vacancy arose from Senator Jeff Sessions's February ...
, drawing media attention for repeatedly refusing to answer direct questions about the candidate's publicly stated beliefs. From 1997 to 2002, she was the National Director of the Center for Reclaiming America and an Ohio Right to Life legislative director. Porter has also worked on campaigns supporting George W. Bush for president and Mike Huckabee for president.


Anti-abortion activism

Porter's efforts supporting the passing of six-week abortion bans (called "heartbeat bills" by their proponents) in American state legislatures has led to her being described as "in many ways the godmother of the heartbeat movement." Prior to founding Faith2Action in 2003, she was the legislative director for Ohio Right to Life from 1988 to 1997. At Ohio Right to Life, she helped lobby for the first
partial-birth abortion Intact dilation and extraction (D&X, IDX, or intact D&E) is a surgical procedure that terminates and removes an intact fetus from the uterus. The procedure is used both after miscarriages and for abortions in the second and third trimesters of ...
ban in the United States, which was later upheld by the Supreme Court in
Gonzales v. Carhart ''Gonzales v. Carhart'', 550 U.S. 124 (2007), was a List of landmark court decisions in the United States, landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court that upheld the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003. The case reached the high court after ...
. She then served as the national director of the Center for Reclaiming America from September 1997 to 2002. She has said that she joined the Center because she wanted to focus on more issues than just abortion. There she led a campaign promoting the idea that
homosexuality Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or Human sexual activity, sexual behavior between people of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexu ...
is an individual choice. The original Ohio "Heartbeat Bill" (House Bill 493) was authored by Porter, who introduced its first version in Ohio in 2011, and advocated for its passage; former Governor
John Kasich John Richard Kasich Jr. ( ; born May 13, 1952) is an American politician and author who was the 69th governor of Ohio from 2011 to 2019, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1983 to 2001, and a Republican candidate for the pre ...
vetoed it twice, prior to it passing in 2019. In 2011, she played "testimony" from a fetus in legislative hearings on the bill, by projecting an ultrasound image onto a screen and showing it to legislators. Passed by legislatures in four states, and introduced in 11 more, Porter's bill was supported by conservatives seeking to mount a challenge to ''
Roe v. Wade ''Roe v. Wade'', 410 U.S. 113 (1973),. was a List of landmark court decisions in the United States, landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States protected the right to have an ...
''.


Faith2Action radio show

Porter previously hosted a radio show, also called Faith2Action, before it was cancelled in 2010.
VCY America VCY America, Inc. is a traditional, evangelical, conservative Christian ministry based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The VCY America Radio Network maintains a format of Christian talk and teaching, as well as traditional Christian music through its b ...
, the show's parent company, said it cancelled the show because Porter had expressed views too similar to
dominion theology Dominion theology, also known as dominionism, is a group of Christian political ideologies that seek to institute a nation governed by Christians and based on their understandings of biblical law. Extents of rule and ways of acquiring governing ...
. The following week, she posted a blog post denying that she supported dominion theology.


Political candidacy

In 2016, Porter ran unsuccessfully against
Larry Obhof Larry J. Obhof (born November 26, 1977) is an American attorney and politician, who served as a member of the Ohio Senate from 2011 to 2020. He also served as the President of the Senate from 2017 to 2020. Early life and education Larry Obhof w ...
in the Republican primary for the
Ohio Senate The Ohio Senate is the upper house of the Ohio General Assembly. The State Senate, which meets in the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus, first convened in 1803. Senators are elected for four year terms, staggered every two years such that half of t ...
's 22nd district. During her candidacy, she criticized Republican opponents for not supporting six-week abortion bans. Her campaign for Obhof's senate seat was supported by
Mike Huckabee Michael Dale Huckabee (, born August 24, 1955) is an American diplomat, political commentator, Baptist minister, and politician serving as the 29th United States Ambassador to Israel, United States ambassador to Israel since 2025. A member of ...
. In a February 2016 video, Huckabee announced that he was supporting Porter because she would fight "for faith, family, and freedom." In 2022, Porter ran for the Republican nomination in
Ohio's 13th congressional district The 13th Ohio's congressional districts, congressional district of Ohio is represented by United States House of Representatives, Representative Emilia Sykes. Due to reapportionment following the 2010 United States census, Ohio lost its 17th and ...
, ultimately finishing third in the May 3 primary, behind winner Madison Gesiotto and runner-up Gregory Wheeler.


Website to decertify 2020 presidential election

Porter is one of the principals behind a website that encourages citizens to send postcards to five key states to “decertify fraud” in the 2020 presidential election and charges up to $100 to do so. Those five states—Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan, were won by Joe Biden in the election. There is no legal process to do such decertification, and the non-partisan
fact-checking Fact-checking is the process of verifying the factual accuracy of questioned reporting and statements. Fact-checking can be conducted before or after the text or content is published or otherwise disseminated. Internal fact-checking is such che ...
website
PolitiFact PolitiFact.com is an American nonprofit project operated by the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Florida, with offices there and in Washington, D.C. It began in 2007 as a project of the ''Tampa Bay Times'' (then the ''St. Petersburg Times ...
rated the claims to the contrary "Pants on Fire." A Facebook post by Porter promoting the website was flagged as part of Facebook's efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed.


Author

Porter is the author of several books published by
Random House Random House is an imprint and publishing group of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1927 by businessmen Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer as an imprint of Modern Library, it quickly overtook Modern Library as the parent imprint. Over the foll ...
, including ''True to Life'' and ''The Criminalization of Christianity''.Author: Janet Folger; Amazon.com. Accessed 20 May 2019.
/ref> She has authored a column for ''
WorldNetDaily WND (formerly WorldNetDaily) is an Radical right (United States), American far-right news and opinion website. It is known for promoting fake news and conspiracy theories, including the false claim that former President Barack Obama Barack Obama ...
'' since 2007, in which she has promoted conspiracy theories about
Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...
, including that he is not a U.S. citizen.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Porter, Janet American anti-abortion activists Place of birth missing (living people) American radio hosts Christians from Ohio Ohio Republicans 1962 births Living people American women radio hosts 21st-century American women Activists from Ohio Conversion therapy practitioners Candidates in the 2022 United States House of Representatives elections WorldNetDaily people Anti-LGBTQ Christian activists