Virginia Society for Human Life
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| Formation | 1967 |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Richmond, VA |
President | Olivia Gans |
| Website | vshl.org |
The Virginia Society for Human Life (VSHL) is a non-profit organization advocating an end to abortion in Virginia. VSHL is the Virginia affiliate of the National Right to Life Committee. It was founded in 1967 and is the oldest pro-life organization in the country.[1][2][3] The group has a political action committee, VSHL PAC, to support pro-life candidates for Virginia public office. The current president is Olivia Gans.
Activities
VSHL works through political and social channels against abortion, embryonic stem cell research, euthanasia, and other life issues in Virginia with the ultimate goal of ending those practices in the state and nationwide. It lobbies for pro-life legislation or against pro-choice legislation in the Virginia General Assembly. VSHL president Olivia Gans says that during a General Assembly session, VSHL has "a team of 2-3 individuals who are almost daily down at the General Assembly communicating, lobbying, giving our pro-life members information, reaching out to members who might be on the fence and monitoring bills...We may or may not support every pro-life bill that is put forward because we look at what kind of effort has the greatest chance of success in this session."[2][failed verification]
In 2011, VSHL was involved in the passage of a bill to regulate abortion clinics as hospitals.[2][failed verification] The bill, which passed the House by an large margin and passed the Senate after a tiebreaker vote from Lieutenant Governor Bill Bolling, may force a number of abortion clinics in the state to close.[4]
VSHL PAC
VSHL PAC provides support to pro-life candidates for public office, especially for U.S. Congress, the Virginia General Assembly, and statewide offices. They endorsed Gov. Bob McDonnell, Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling, and Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli in the 2009 elections, as well as 61 candidates for the Virginia House of Delegates.[5][dead link] VSHL PAC started in 1990 and has spent about $100,000 on federal elections since then.[6] In the 2011 state elections, 11 of VSHL's endorsed state Senate candidates and 21 endorsed House of Delegates candidates were elected.[7]
VSHL v. FEC
VSHL was involved in a federal court case against the Federal Election Commission that was decided in 2001. VSHL planned to distribute voter guides for the 2000 elections that would detail VSHL's views on life issues and would show various candidates' positions on these issues. VSHL submitted a petition to the FEC asking it to repeal a subsection of election regulations that would declare these activities corporate expenditures, illegal for a 501(c)(3) non-profit. VSHL said the law was too broad. The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Richmond Division, agreed, and issued an injunction against the FEC prohibiting them from enforcing the law in question. However, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit overturned the lower court's nationwide injunction and amended the injunction to apply only to VSHL.[8][non-primary source needed][9][dead link]