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As Roe Goes, Why Organized Minorities Beat Disorganized Majorities
Until the Left invests in local orgs that matter in people’s daily lives and scaling that up, it’s likely to keep losing to the Right
Amid the deluge of reporting and commentary on the leak of the Supreme Court’s pending ruling overturning the right to abortion, one number grabbed my attention. The National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), which started in 1968 as a group of Catholic bishops opposed to state abortion laws, now says it oversees more than 3,000 local chapters under 50 state affiliates. “We’ve been working towards this goal for many years,” says Carol Tobias, its president.
How many advocacy organizations in America claim to have 3,000 local chapters? The ACLU has 54 state offices and no local chapters. Planned Parenthood says it has 16 million supporters, and through its state affiliates supports hundreds of local clinics. But it has no local chapters. The National Abortion Rights Action League says it has 2.5 million members but lists only three state offices on its website and no local chapters. Outside of the abortion rights arena, some environmental groups have locals, like the Sierra Club, which boasts a mix of about 72 state and local chapters.
