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Optimism at NRLC Legislative
Conference Highlights Importance of Local Organizing
Part Four of Four By
Jonathan Rogers I'm back from NRLC's State Legislative Strategy Conference held yesterday in Northern Virginia, and like all who attend I am letting all the lessons and information soak in. It was a full day of workshops and lectures from some of the very best legislative minds, as pro-lifers met from around the country to discuss and plan for the coming year. And this coming year could well be very productive and very important. It's easy sometimes to over-focus on the national political landscape, where pro-lifers are undoubtedly stronger now after the November elections. What we need to remember, however, is that, at the state level, the pro-life movement will be very much on the on offense in 2011, a point which illustrates a very, very powerful truth about our Movement and its strengths. 2010 has been a banner year for pro-lifers at the state level, with (to name just two examples) unprecedented pro-life bills passed in Oklahoma and Nebraska. Nebraska's "Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act," which prohibits abortions after twenty weeks because of the ability of the unborn child to feel pain, is the first of its kind. As NRLC Director of State Legislation Mary Spaulding Balch said Tuesday, the law and the debate leading up to it has done a wonderful job of "bringing the baby back into the debate" by highlighting the humanity of the unborn. One can almost hear echoes of the catchphrase of the British Abolitionists who so successfully fought against slavery: "Am I not a man and a brother also?" Nebraska's new law not only saves lives but asks an uninformed public on behalf of the unborn: "I can feel pain, am I not a human also?" As good as 2010 has been, 2011 may be even better. To use a football metaphor, pro-lifers scored a touchdown this year, then recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff. With discipline and hard work, we could score again quickly. Our good fortune has been that, as resounding a victory as November's election was on the federal level, it is no exaggeration to say it was even better at the state level. In state after state, local legislatures changed parties as Republican, mostly pro-life, majorities now find themselves in power. Pro-life leaders and strategists are eager to take advantage of this opportunity. Speaking after yesterday's conference, Mary Spaulding Balch repeatedly emphasized how important it will be that local pro-lifers are vocal with their state legislators, and need to develop relationships with them. She said specifically that local politicians need to know that "abortion was not a secondary issue" in the November elections that swept them in to office. This ability to foster a local and personal presence in every state in the country is one of the greatest strengths of the pro-life movement. Local pro-lifers must:
It is a truism that "all politics is local." A single individual or a small group of concerned citizens can speak in their local halls of power with a far greater voice than a national pro-abortion lobby headquartered thousands of miles away armed with only money and no local connections. A local pro-life group in Nebraska or Florida need not worry about Tennessee or Texas, because other pro-lifers there have that job well in hand. While the political spotlight always shines most brightly on Washington D.C., it has often been pro-life victories at the state level, from the first laws against Partial-Birth Abortion, to Women's Right to Know Laws, to Ultrasound Bills, and now the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act that have saved lives and changed hearts on the life issues. 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. |