Ohio Senator Rob Portman could have agreed to disagree when Cleveland Right to Life decided to add defense of man/woman marriage to its mission statement. But though his office denies it, Ohio Senator Rob Portman's fingerprints are all over a spiteful move by National Right to Life to "disaffiliate" with Cleveland RTL over the issue.

Portman, a formerly conservative Republican, was a supporter of traditional marriage until earlier this year, when he did a complete 180 because his son is now living an openly homosexual lifestyle. Stung by the outrage this provoked from the grassroots and eager to shore up conservative support, Portman then launched a goodwill tour of major Ohio pro-life groups, and as part of a cordial meeting with Cleveland Right to Life, was told that despite his pro-life advocacy, he would no longer be an endorsed candidate due to his stance on marriage.

Molly Smith, president of the Cleveland group, which represents eight counties in northeast Ohio, revealed what happened next. She received a letter from NRTL president Carol Tobias weeks after its official date of July 17. Yet Smith had already been advised of the contents of the letter from other pro-life groups in Ohio, who were forwarded copies by Portman's office. Portman's office is denying any involvement.

The letter announced that, because of CRTL's support of a "non right-to-life issue" as well as criticism and "implicit political threats" against "a U.S. Senator who has supported the right-to-life position on every vote that has come before the U.S. Senate," National Right to Life was disaffiliating with CRTL, and all claims implying an affiliation were to be removed from the Cleveland group's website.The terse announcement came without a phone call or email, Smith said.

So much for unity and collegiality among pro-life brethren.NRTL's tone and manner signals sympathy with the homosexual cause, more important here apparently than collaborative work to save babies. With "social justice" on the horizon, maybe it felt like the right time to throw those traditional marriage pro-lifers under the bus.

Or maybe the NRTL's GOP loyalties are blinding them to the reality of what militant homosexuality is doing to destroy America.

The irony is that CRTL is not actually an NRTL affiliate, only through a tiered relationship with the state group, Ohio Right to Life. Ohio Right to Life issued a statement expressing its continuing support of the Cleveland group, even though ORTL was glowing in its praise of Portman following his visit there in the spring. ORTL's e-newsletter even featured smiling photos of its staff with Portman. The timing wasn't so great on this photo op, since many pro-family Ohioans were still reeling from Portman's betrayal, a flip-flop that seems to have coincided with the oral arguments at the U.S. Supreme Court on two marriage cases.

Stabbing his supporters in the back wasn't a good idea in the run-up to the momentous SCOTUS decisions. You picked a fine time to leave us, Rob Portman.

In a press release, Jerry Cirino, a Cleveland Right to Life board member, said, "This entire salvo was the result of CRTL adding the marriage/family issue to its Mission Statement recently because the traditional family with a mother and a father is an inherent right of every child... This is about supporting the family in America and any politician, including Portman, who supports the break-up of the American family and supports the denial of a mother and father for children has forfeited the right of support and endorsement of the prolife movement."

CRTL received tremendous grassroots support and new financial contributions after their announcement of support for marriage.

It's stunning that some pro-life supporters don't seem to understand the ominous threat posed by America's embrace of homosexual behavior and same-sex marriage. Haven't they been paying attention? "LGBT" extremists are leading the charge to deny religious freedom, to sexually corrupt children through early, explicit sex education, and to convince everyone people are born this way, including vulnerable teens.

The "gay" lobby is working hand in hand with Planned Parenthood to undermine parental rights and to emancipate children early so they can participate in whatever sexual/gender switching experiment these activists dream up.

In short, the pro-life movement, and all the momentum it has gained, is doomed if homosexual advocates achieve their wishes and dreams. Homosexual activists are extremely unlikely to support any pro-life goals and instead, will continue to work actively against them arm-in-arm with their comrades in the radical feminist lobby.

Life beginning at conception? Protection of the elderly and infirm from euthanasia? Abstinence education? Try to find the Human Rights Campaign, or Equality Ohio, or the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network making any efforts on behalf of those issues. They don't and never will. Instead they will take the uninformed cooperation of liberal Republicans and use it to defeat them.

Rob Portman is tragically deceived, but that doesn't mean other conservatives have to go there with him. There are better candidates out there, and it's time for thoughtful, well-informed Americans to find them.