We devoted the entire January issue of
National Right to Life News to
one critically important theme: Stopping
Obama's Abortion Agenda. (If you are not
a subscriber, call today at
202-626-8828.)
All the tools were there, from how to
use social networks and the web in
general, to church bulletin inserts, to
the petition, to "e-mail trees," to how
to join and/or start a local pro-life
group, to how best to utilize the
enthusiasm and sincerity of young
pro-lifers, to name just a few.
I promised myself and Jacki Ragan,
director of NRLC's State Organizational
Development Department, that every two
months NRL News would update you
on how well our three-pronged strategy
is going. It consists of (1) finding as
many pro-lifers as possible; (2) getting
them organized; and (3) welcoming them
on board as members of National Right to
Life.
What follows are my questions and
Jacki's responses:
Q: What signals have you
gotten from the grassroots that they are
ready to gear up to fight the Obama
Abortion Agenda?
A: An avalanche of "what can I
do?" or "how can we make a difference?"
questions coming from phone calls,
e-mails, snail mails, and other ways. A
typical question (and one that is
pivotal to our success) is, "What is the
closest chapter to me, and if there
isn't one, can you send me stuff to
start one?" Honestly, I have two people
checking my assistant's voice mail
because there are so many calls. E-mails
routed to our department from
www.nrlc.org are running about
triple to quadruple what they normally
do. There is enormous interest out
there.
And that includes a lot of "buyer's
remorse." On January 22, I happened to
answer the front desk phone, and it was
a pastor. He said, "What have I done?"
As we talked, he told me that he had
voted for Obama and that now he realized
the mistake he had made. The interest is
definitely there, from ordinary citizens
and from churches. So far I think we
have done a good job channeling that
determination to accomplish the most
good. Without giving out a specific
number, we have mailed out an enormous
number of "action packets" explaining
what people need to do now!
Q: You have your finger on the
pulse of the grassroots better than
anyone. From your correspondence, what
about the new Obama Administration most
annoys pro-lifers and why?
A: People are infuriated by the Obama
mantra that he "wants to reduce
abortion" and then three days after he
is inaugurated he abolishes the Mexico
City Policy. That means we are going to
fund groups dedicated to increasing the
number of abortions internationally.
Honestly, Obama and his Administration
would be better off saying they are for
and will promote and pay for abortion on
demand, for any reason, at any point
during pregnancy. And how about
embryo-destructive research? It is a
lie--the idea that medical progress
depends on funding research that kills
human embryos--and it comes across as a
lie.
Q: In the January issue we talked a
lot about
www.nrlcchapters.org, the importance
of church bulletin inserts, and how
pro-lifers must become dues-paying
members of NRLC. What's been the
response?
A: Good, to all three. If I may
I'd like to focus on becoming a member
of NRLC. We believe that it is truly the
first step to getting involved and
making a real difference in the fight to
save unborn babies. It is vital to feel
"ownership" in National Right to Life
and receive National Right to Life
News, the source of pro-life news.
We have been very systematic about this.
With every order we receive, or every
one of the dozens of requests for "Stop
the Obama Abortion Agenda" petitions we
receive daily [see the centerfold], we
send the NRLC membership card along with
a note. If they are already an NRLC
member, we ask them to please pass it
along to someone else. We asked for
church sponsorships and have had an
excellent response to that as well.
Q: What else can you tell the
360,000+ readers of NRL News that will
give them a sense of how the battle to
Stop Obama's Abortion Agenda is going?
A: We have established a web site,
www.stoptheabortionagenda.com, and
are encouraging folks to monitor it
daily. We have mailed out the first
"Action Packet" and will likely have
another one in mid-April. We are
encouraging attendance at National Right
to Life's convention in June so that
they can learn firsthand the latest
information and be motivated to get on
board. We are also explaining that
people should not be lulled into a false
sense of complacency just because the
radically pro-abortion FOCA does not
seem like an immediate threat.
Pro-abortionists are shrewd. They could
try to pass it later on, or enact it
piece-meal. We need to be
hyper-vigilant, which is why we
encourage daily visits to
www.stoptheabortionagenda.com.
Finally, we are asking all our pro-life
friends to help us solicit e-mail
addresses so that when we do need to
reach out to these folks, we can do so
quickly and without a great cost to
NRLC. First of all, be sure to send in
your own e-mail address to
jragan1@aol.com. Second, send in
(with their permission of course) the
e-mail addresses of five pro-life
friends. Contact fellow pro-lifers from
your church and ask their permission to
give us their e-mail addresses. We try
very hard to be very frugal with your
donations and this will help us
tremendously in our efforts to maximize
getting alerts out.
If you need additional information,
e-mail me at
jragan1@aol.com, or Luis at
Luis@nrlc.org, or Jonathan at
Jonathan@nrlc.org. We truly
appreciate your efforts, your
excitement, and your willingness to get
the job done!
