Editor’s note. These are the closing remarks from NRLC President Dr. Wanda Franz delivered at the Saturday night banquet.

Dear Friends,

At this convention I have heard what I always hear at our annual meetings: People are amazed how much they learn and how much they are energized for the pro-life cause when they make the effort to come to our conventions.

It is my fervent hope that you take this knowledge and this enthusiasm and bring them to your chapters at home.

There is a special urgency this year. We all recognize that this year will determine who gets to set the course of the Supreme Court for years, even decades to come. In its Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton decisions, the Supreme did not simply “legalize abortion” as some think—no, the Court “constitutionalized” the abortion issue by creating a “constitutional” right to an abortion. That means that the Court’s error can not be fixed with mere legislation. The correction requires either the extremely difficult process of a Constitutional amendment or, more realistically, the reversal of the abortion rulings by the Court itself. Hence, we want a Court majority that is ready to reverse Roe and Doe.

My friends, the future composition of the Supreme Court is the overriding issue for this election year. And here are some of the questions we must raise in this regard with our fellow citizens:

Will the new president appoint justices who are oriented by the Constitution?

Which presidential candidate has promised to appoint only justices who will uphold abortion rights?

Will we get justices who will respect the Constitution and the constitutional balance between the three branches of government?

Or will we get justices who want to remake the Constitution according to their personal preferences?

Will we get justice who will refrain from making law from the bench?

Or will we get justices who engage in extra-constitutional law-making from the bench?

And who should be the new president making the judicial appointments?

One thing is clear, if pro-lifers sit on the sidelines and just watch the game or play third-party games, then they will have no say in the outcome. And if they do that, they not only forfeit the right to complain—they damage the pro-life cause.

Now that pro-lifers know that the future composition of the Supreme Court is the central issue of the elections, they must do all they can to put a favorable Court in place.

Beyond raising questions about the composition of the Supreme Court, we must get down to work.

We must pray, organize, recruit new members and volunteers, raise funds, distribute educational and informative material, and persuade our fellow citizens to act on their pro-life beliefs.

When I say we must pray, I do not mean prayer for the sake of narrow self-interest. I mean that first we must pray that our work in the pro-life vineyard be for the greater glory of God.

When I say we must pray, I do not mean for us to pray that our opponents be vanquished. I mean that we must pray for their conversion.

When I say we must pray, I do not mean that we utter false prayers of judgment and condemnation. I mean that we must pray that hearts be changed, minds be cleared, and souls be opened to liberating grace.

As for ourselves, we must pray for the gift of submission to the will of God. Though our cause is noble and just and right, we should not stand with the Pharisee in the front of the temple. Our place is with the tax collector in the back of the temple—acknowledging our faults, asking for forgiveness, and pledging restitution through sacrificial donations of talent, time, and money to the right-to-life cause.

We must also pray that we stay calm when we are pulled in all directions,

● that we think before we act,

● that we be “wise as serpents and innocent as doves” while we pursue our long-term strategy,

● and that we not inflict “friendly fire” through acts of selfishness and vanity.
Let me close by thanking all of you for coming.

We from NRLC thank our hosts from the Virginia Society for Human Life and our speakers. My special thanks go to the staff and volunteers for making this convention a success.

Have a safe journey back home. Pray and do God’s work in the pro-life vineyard. God bless you!