SALEM, Ore. -- Pro-life leaders aroung the country are denouncing as a scam a new organization that claims to be raising money to fight partial-birth abortions.
This summer, telemarketers for a group called American Right to Life have called all over the nation using a pro-life or Catholic calling list. Even the executive director of Oregon Right to Life has received a call.
The callers, saying they will lobby Congress to ban partial-birth abortion, have convinced some people to donate by giving their credit or debit card numbers.
"They are bogus," said Gayle Atteberry of Salem-based Oregon Right to Life. "It is a tragedy that they are using this to make money."
Atteberry received a soliciting phone call from American Right to Life early in August and has fielded inquiries from other local pro-lifers who have been called.
Officials at the U.S. Catholic bishops' pro-life office report that they have never heard of the group or its activities, said policy analyst Richard Doerflinger.
American Right to Life has a Washington, DC, phone number with an answering machine. A young man's voice gives a greeting and a Washington DC street address.
Concerned staffers from the nearby National Right to Life Committee have visited the address on Independence Ave NE and found that it is a business that receives mail from clients who want a street address rather than a post-office box.
More than anyone, National Right to Life is keeping an eye on the new organization. The similarity in name and mission may even become a legal problem.
"It's a concern," says James Bopp Jr., legal counsel for National Right to Life. "We are getting reports that people are confused."
Bopp said his investigations have turned up neither lobbying nor political activity by American Right to Life -- just fund raising.
Earlier this summer, American Right to Life registered with Congress as a lobbying organization. That in itself, however, is no guarantee of legitimacy, Bopp said. All it takes is filling out a one-page form.
"National Right to Life urges our loyal members to use extreme caution if a call or letter is received from this group or any other group which is unfamiliar to you," warns National Right to Life.
"National Right to Life has worked with many organizations concerned with partial-birth abortion based in Washington," it said, "and `American Right to Life' has never been one of them."
Pat Mooney, a 26-year-old graduate of Carnegie Mellon University who directs American Right to Life, said his organization is legitimate.
Mooney, a member of the Knights of Columbus who gained support from the Catholic league for Religious and Civil Rights for standing up to gay rights activists at college, said his wife just had her third child and he has been too busy to answer all inquiries immediately.
He counts 10,000 donors who have given a total of $60,000 since June. Mooney says the charges by National Right to Life are "outrageous" and "divisive."