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NRLC State Legislative
Strategy Conference Draws Pro-Lifers from Around the Nation to
Plan 2011 Agenda Part One of Four By Dave Andrusko Editor's note. Good evening and thanks for taking time out of your busy day to read TN&V and National Right to Life News Today. Part Two are the remarks of NRLC President Dr. Wanda Franz, opening the conference. Part Three are some first-person observations, while Part Four explains how organizing is crucial to any state legislative successes. Over at National Right to Life News Today (www.nationalrighttolifenews.org), you can read about the announcement of the co-chairs for the Congressional Pro-Life Caucus. In addition, there are two examples of pro-lifers on the moves in the states, and an explanation of "An Untrustworthy Poll." Please send your comments on Today's News & Views and National Right to Life News Today to daveandrusko@gmail.com. If you like, join those who are following me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/daveha.
To be honest, while I was totally confident NRLC's State Legislative Strategy Conference would be first-rate, even I was impressed by just how excellent the presentations were and how well they were received by the many pro-life lobbyists and executive directors and legislative aides who converged on the Key Bridge Marriot Hotel eager to learn from the best legislative analysts and strategists in the Movement. As you recall from the many times I've written in preparation for the December 7 conference, the seed of the idea for the meeting were the tremendous, even historic pro-life gains in the state legislatures. In addition to huge number of new pro-lifers in the state Houses and state Senate, 13 new pro-life Republican governors replaced pro-abortion Democratic governors which resulted in a net gain of 11 pro-life governors (in two states retiring pro-life governors were replaced by pro-abortionists). With all this potential for good, it was critical to bring key pro-lifers in to make sure they had a common set of issues to advance and a coordinated way of broaching the legislative bodies. NRLC President Dr. Wanda Franz offered an excellent overview which set the table for the all-day meeting (see Part Two). Were you there, my guess is you would be awed by the breadth and depth of the action items. At the top is protecting unborn children capable of feeling pain from abortion. The model, of course, is Nebraska's "Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act" that prohibits abortion after 20 weeks gestation based on compelling evidence that by 20 weeks, if not before, unborn children have the capacity to experience pain. Nebraska abortionist LeRoy Carhart, famous--or infamous--for performing abortions late in pregnancy, took one look and announced that he was looking for new opportunities in Iowa, Indiana, and Maryland. (See "Two Examples of Pro-Life Legislative Initiatives in the Face of Aggressive Abortionists.") But Director of State Legislation Mary Spaulding Balch, JD, had much more on her plate to share with the people "who walk the halls," as Mary put it in an interview earlier this morning. That included ensuring that ultrasounds are available to women contemplating abortion; preventing public funds from being used to subsidize health insurance that covers abortion as permitted by the ObamaCare; and (at the other hand of the life spectrum) fighting the increasingly common practice by which so-called ethics committee in health care facilities authorize denial of lifesaving medical care---including food and fluids--against the will of the patient or his or her surrogates. "Everyone at NRLC and its state affiliates are delighted by the doors opened by the November 2 elections," Balch said. "But how much we take advantage of these opportunities depends on grassroots pro-lifers contacting their state officeholders to make sure they know that these are priority items." Balch explained that many of the newly-elected state officials will be serving their first terms. "They will be looking to pro-life lobbyists from NRLC's state affiliates for help not only in promoting the right legislation but also in navigating through and around legislative potholes." Balch believes that the lobbyists who listened so attentively for seven hours "were happy to see that other states are working on pro-life legislation and that so many are confident legislation can be enacted in 2011." She added, "This can be one of the best years in a long, long time." |
