An Anti-Abortion Catfight Heats Up a GOP Senate Race
Mother Jones
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A mysterious new anti-abortion group with ties to conservative pundit Erick Erickson has warned Georgia Right to Life, the state’s oldest pro-life group, that it aims to displace the older group as the National Right to Life Committee’s Georgia affiliate.
But the fight, ostensibly over which group is better-positioned to end abortion, looks as though it is calculated to influence Georgia’s competitive Republican Senate primary. “You can’t say what someone else’s motives are,” says Genevieve Wilson, a spokeswoman for Georgia Right to Life, the older group. “But it certainly looks like the new group has a political motivation behind it.”
Leaders of each anti-abortion organization have a preferred candidate in the volatile, five-way contest to replace the retiring Sen. Saxby Chambliss. Georgia Right to Life has endorsed GOP Rep. Paul Broun, a congressman since 2007. The new group, Georgia Life Alliance, which was formed two weeks ago, does not mention any candidates on its sparse website. But the group is supported by conservative RedState editor Erick Erickson, who has been outspoken in his support of Senate candidate Karen Handel in this race and during her 2010 campaign for governor.
The stakes are high. Republicans likely need to hold the Georgia seat if they are to retake control of the Senate. And although Georgia’s electorate leans Republican, election analysts such as Nate Cohn of The New York Times have predicted that the Democratic candidate, Michelle Nunn, could score a surprise pickup for Democrats—provided she runs against a weak Republican opponent.
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