Hawkeye Reporter

Most people are unaware that state legislatures tried to overturn Roe v. Wade decades ago with a Right to Life Amendment, but due to opposition from groups like Eagle Forum led by Phyllis Schlafly, they were stopped. Yes, you read that correctly, Eagle Forum is directly responsible for preventing state legislatures from proposing a Right to Life Amendment and are guilty of betraying the pro-life movement and the U.S. Constitution, and this betrayal continues today as you are about to see.

First, a little historical background is needed. In the late 1970s, momentum for a Right to Life Amendment was gaining traction and nineteen state legislatures out of the thirty-four needed (two-thirds) passed Article V applications to have Congress call a convention to propose the amendment. Unfortunately, Phyllis Schlafly, a leader in the conservative movement decided to join forces with liberal groups and waged a campaign of fear against the Constitution’s amending provision that gives state legislatures equal authority with Congress to propose amendments. 

Schlafly made irrational claims that an Article V convention could not be controlled and that it was a Constitutional Convention (Con-Con) that could rewrite the entire Constitution. Such claims are completely unfounded and have been used by opponents to paralyze state legislators with fear from proposing amendments that could address many of our nation’s problems.

In this video, Schlafly admits to opposing her pro-life friends during a committee meeting in the Oregon State Senate in 1989 as she testified against an Article V application for a Balanced Budget Amendment to force Congress to be fiscally responsible. 

“I’ve always been against it. Even when in the mid-1970s the pro-lifers made a big effort to call a Con Con and they ended up getting nineteen states and it was frankly very difficult to oppose a lot of my pro-life friends then. I felt the Con Con was the wrong way to go.” 

Schlafly further betrayed pro-lifers by stating they would try to influence a Balanced Budget Amendment at the convention and used that as a reason to oppose it! 

“There is no way to disinvite the pro-life activists from a Constitutional Convention. They persuaded nineteen states to pass Con Con resolutions for a Human Life Amendment and they have a track record of voting for candidates on the abortion issue regardless of any other factor. Even if the Con-Con limited its agenda to the federal budget could anybody seriously argue that abortion is not germane to that?” 

Schlafly’s “Constitutional Authority” Against a Right to Life Amendment Gave Us Roe v. Wade!

It’s bad enough that Phyllis Schlafly and Eagle Forum opposed state legislatures from proposing a Right to Life Amendment, but what makes the betrayal worse is that the person they exalt as their “constitutional authority” is none other than Chief Justice Warren Burger whose Supreme Court decided Roe v. Wade with Burger joining the majority in their decision! 

The man whose court is responsible for the most extreme form of judicial activism in our nation’s history, is praised by Phyllis Schlafly and Eagle Forum and cited by them to prevent the state legislatures from overturning Roe v. Wade! According to Eagle Forum’s National Constitutional Issues Chairman Janine Hansen, Warren Burger is “The highest authority in the United States to ever speak out on a Constitutional Convention.”

Now why do you suppose Warren Burger opposed an Article V convention? Obviously, he knew state legislatures were trying to overturn his court’s landmark decision and was protecting his own legacy. Schlafly and Eagle Forum made the conscious decision to defend Burger’s legacy instead of defending the lives of innocent babies.

Eagle Forum Continues to Wage War Against the States Proposing a Right to Life Amendment

Today, Janine Hansen, Eagle Forum National Constitutional Issues Chairman, is quite proud of the hard work she has been doing over the past several decades secretly rescinding Right to Life applications. Here she is testifying in support of rescinding all of Nevada’s Article V applications which included a Right to Life application. During her testimony in support of SJR10 in Nevada in 2017, she extols Warren Burger as their authority to rescind all applications.

On the Eagle Forum website, she even brags about her alliance with liberal legislators and organizations to rescind Nevada’s Right to Life application!

“I was asked by the very liberal Democrat Sponsor, Senator Segerblom, to sit at the table with him and give testimony. Democrat Senator Atkinson on the Committee was so amused by our left-right cooperation that he took our picture to send out on Twitter… In addition, about 10 liberal organization lobbyists testified with Me-Too’s.” 

Below are all of the Right to Life applications that Eagle Forum has worked to rescind over the years. 

Right to Life Applications Rescinded by Eagle Forum 

1992    Louisiana HCR218

2000    Idaho SCR129    

2001    Utah HJR15

2009    Oklahoma SJR11

2010    Tennessee HJR30

2010    South Dakota HB1135

2016    Delaware HCR60

2017    Nevada    SJR10    

It’s not surprising that Eagle Forum does not identify the Right to Life applications they rescinded on their website. Obviously, they want to hide this dirty little secret from their supporters because they depend on their campaign of fear against the Constitution to keep the money coming in. How does an organization ask for money from pro-life supporters while at the same time prevent state legislatures from proposing a Right to Life Amendment? Eagle Forum claims to defend the Constitution, but in reality, they attack the very mechanism the Framers gave the state legislatures to defend against the overreach of the federal government and judicial activism by the Supreme Court. 

Now, if you are a member or donate to Eagle Forum or Phyllis Schlafly’s Eagles (a splinter group), I hope you are beginning to have some serious concerns about what you are actually supporting. I’d like to ask you a few honest questions:

Are you aware that you’re supporting an effort to defeat of a Right to Life Amendment? Do you think donors should be informed that their money is supporting the rescission of Right to Life applications passed by state legislatures? How do you think the thousands of people that supported those Right to Life applications, the legislators that worked hard to pass them through their legislatures, and the volunteers who donated their time and money would feel knowing that their sacrifice to protect babies in the womb has been defeated by a group that claims to be pro-life?

These Iowa Republicans Continue to Push the Liberal’s Fearmongering Campaign Against the Constitution.

Three prominent Iowa Republicans are pushing this campaign of fear against the Constitution. Tamara Scott, Iowa National Republican Committee Member, and Tammy Kobza, Iowa 4th District Executive Committee Co-Chair, have both added their names to a coalition letter against ALL Article V applications citing Chief Justice Warren Burger as their “constitutional authority”. 

Steve Scheffler, Iowa National Republican Committee Member and president of the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition, published a report written by Tamara Scott propagating false claims about an Article V convention to oppose key reforms of the Republican Party Platform: “Iowans should also use this time to learn more about the dangers of an Article V / Convention of States being promoted under the guise of limiting federal overreach, curbing debt, and setting term limits.” Also, Steve Scheffler was listed as the point of contact to hold meetings about this “pro-globalist movement behind Article V / Convention of States.”  This irrational fear has prevented them from seeing the wisdom of the Framers in providing the Article V convention mode as the ultimate check for the States against an unresponsive and corrupt Congress.    

Do Iowa Republicans support this coalition letter and this campaign of fear against the States exercising their constitutional authority? Are Iowa Republicans now aligning themselves with these organizations to prevent the state legislatures from proposing substantive amendments that have long been the goal of the Republican Party? Will Iowa Republicans support rescinding Iowa’s Article V application for a Balanced Budget Amendment which is within striking distance of being proposed?

Contained within the 2016 National Republican Party Platform is support for amendments to protect human life, balance the federal budget, and impose term limits for Congress;

“…we assert the sanctity of human life and affirm that the unborn child has a fundamental

right to life which cannot be infringed. We support a human life amendment to the Constitution…”

“The Republican path to fiscal sanity and economic expansion begins with a constitutional requirement for a federal balanced budget.”

“Our national platform has repeatedly endorsed term limits for Members of Congress… To make further progress, to advance a constitutional amendment for consideration by the states…”

Now, if you are a Republican in Iowa and support Eagle Forum, Phyllis Schlafly’s Eagles, or Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition in this campaign against the Constitution, you are in direct opposition with your party. We all know that Congress does not have the fortitude to propose these amendments and so it is up to the state legislatures to do it. Your opposition only protects our runaway federal government and allows their abuse of power to continue. The consolidation of power in Washington D.C. will never be abated if this irrational fear of an Article V convention continues.

Article V Opponents Will Find Themselves on the Wrong Side of History

The opponents of an Article V convention may be sincere, but they are sincerely wrong. The misinformation they spread about our Constitution and the Framers is shameful. Instead of protecting the Constitution, they are protecting The Establishment and helping to maintain the status quo. The choice is simple. If you claim to support the Constitution and Federalism, then support the state legislatures using their authority under Article V, otherwise, you are allowing the elites in Washington D.C. to continue their abuse of power and corruption. Imagine where our country would be today if state legislatures took bold action and proposed the previously mentioned amendments. It is time to end the fear and ignorance of Article V and use it as the Framers intended, to protect our liberty and security. What side of history do you want to be on?

– Charlie P. Morris is the pseudonym of a political activist and researcher whose primary field of study is amendment history and the groups that support and oppose state legislatures using their constitutional authority to propose amendments to the U.S. Constitution. He is using an alias to let the words and actions of the groups and individuals mentioned in this article speak for themselves.