Pro-Life Investors Eye Huge Impact

     (FNIF) Shareholders in several major corporations will have the chance to vote on pro-life resolutions this year.

     Shareholders in a record number of corporations will vote on pro-life resolutions this year, giving them the opportunity to counter the pro-abortion mind-set of some of the nation's largest companies.

     Pro Vita Advisors has helped get nine resolutions before the shareholders of corporations such as Johnson & Johnson, Bank of America and Prudential. Pro Vita chief Tom Strobhar said most of the resolutions seek to end corporate contributions to Planned Parenthood.

     "We as shareholders don't like it," Strobhar said, "and want to tell the corporations so."

     Other companies voting on pro-life resolutions include Textron, Loews, Phelps Dodge and JP Morgan Chase. The shareholder meetings will be conducted from now through June.

     The resolution for pharmaceutical giant Merck concerns the use of fetal tissue from abortions in the development of vaccines.

     "The main thing is, it reminds the corporation of this controversial issue," Strobhar said. "Just last year, Berkshire Hathaway, one of the (wealthiest) corporations, discontinued giving approximately $9 million a year to anti-life causes, because, in part, of one of our shareholder resolutions."

     This year, a Berkshire Hathaway resolution will address the full disclosure of political contributions. The company is run by Warren Buffett, who has long supported abortion.

     Carrie Gordon Earll, bioethics analyst at Focus on the Family, praised the efforts of the pro-life stockholders.

     "Despite odds, despite opposition, these groups are there in these corporate meetings," she said. "They are being a voice for life, and they're helping to hold corporate America responsible."

     It's important to remember, though, that groups like Planned Parenthood, she added, are also actively lobbying.

     "It's important for us to balance that information not only with the truth that we have to offer about the value of life and sexual integrity and responsibility," she explained, "but also to say there is another view out there."

By: Stuart Shepard
Source: Family News in Focus
Publish Date: April 23, 2004