A Reader's Guide to NRL Educational Trust Fund Publications
By Randall K. O'Bannon, Ph.D.

Since its inception in 1980, the National Right to Life Educational Trust Fund has had one singular mission: to change hearts and minds through education in order to renew a respect for the sanctity of human life. A crucial part of that mission is accomplished through the Trust Fund's commitment to developing and publishing attractive, scientifically accurate materials which tell of the wonders of life and the horrible truths of abortion, infanticide, and euthanasia. What follows is a guide to some of the Trust Fund's most popular and effective publications.

One of the Trust Fund's most often requested pieces is Abortion: Some Medical Facts. Completely revised in 1996, what was a pamphlet has been transformed into a 32-page pocket-sized booklet detailing the various abortion techniques and their associated risks. Though described in easy to understand, accessible language, each detail is carefully documented (over 70 different scientific or medical sources are cited in the 112 endnotes). This makes it a powerful deterrent for any woman considering an abortion.

In addition to the latest information on current abortion methods, the booklet also offers information on the abortion- breast cancer link, the psychological consequences of abortion, and alternatives to abortion. Since its 1996 revision, Abortion: Some Medical Facts has been one of the Trust Fund's "bestsellers," with over 100,000 copies being shipped or sold.

Abortion: The Hard Cases debuted in 1983 and has been another of the Trust Fund's steady sellers. The Hard Cases addresses the argument that there are certain situationsnotably, rape, incest, or genetic disabilitythat some believe make abortions the "best" way out of a bad situation. As difficult as these circumstances are, the pamphlet explains, abortion only makes matters worse. Abortion makes innocent children pay for their father's crimes, covers up the abuse of incest, or, in the case of genetic disability, institutes a quality of life ethic that threatens the lives of all. In a succinct yet compelling fashion, The Hard Cases makes the persuasive case that the death ought never be seen as a "solution" to social or personal problems.

Another Trust Fund pamphlet, Their Lives - - A Single Issue? makes a strong and passionate case that the right to life is the fundamental human rights issue. Without this foundation, the pamphlet shows, all other rights are endangered. Anyone whose " quality of life" is deemed "not meaningful"including not just the unborn, but the disabled, the elderly, and the unwantedmay be destroyed. Their LivesA Single Issue? is an excellent pamphlet to give to anybody who thinks that the right to life is just one issue among many.

By far, one of the most popular pieces produced by the Trust Fund (and, one might add, one of the best bargains) is the beautiful eight-page, full-color brochure entitled When Does Life Begin? Using text and pictures, the brochure guides readers from birth back to the earliest moments of life, making obvious the point that human life begins at fertilization. Employing several of the famous photos of unborn children taken by renowned Swedish photographer Lennart Nilsson, the glorious spectacle of fetal development unfolds before the reader's eyes.

Nilsson's photos are also the focus of 1965 LIFE magazine reprint, "Life Before Birth," also available from the Trust Fund. This was the original article that first astonished the world with never-before-seen pictures of the developing baby in the womb. When the supporters of abortion were arguing that the baby was nothing more than a "blob of tissue," these photographs were exposing that lie on the magazine racks of checkout counters all across America. The reprint is historically significant as well as highly informative.

Since 1982, the NRL Trust Fund, in conjunction with the Wisconsin Right to Life Educational Trust Fund, has published a series of study guides on various aspects of the abortion, infanticide, and euthanasia issues. These full-size, 8- to 12- page brochures are called "Life Cycles" and are published every few years and sent to virtually every high school in the country. They are also available to the general public.

Topics featured in the Life Cycle series include They're Forgetting Someone (1984), which addresses many of the arguments for abortion and discusses fetal pain, and New Technology (1985), showcasing advances such as ultrasound and microphotography and that offer amazing glimpses of the developing child. Karen's Story (1989) offers an introduction to post-abortion syndrome, while Abortion in America (1994) provides a statistical background to the American holocaust. A Life Cycle dealing with the debates over fetal tissue transplants and research on living human embryos, Fetal Experimentation, was published in 1996.

Life Cycles have also dealt with the topics of assisted suicide and euthanasia. They Sent Me Home to Die (1992) relates the compelling story of the late Robert Powell who was NRLC vice president. As an infant, Powell was found to have a massive, inoperable tumor in his chest and his parents were told he would not live past his first birthday. Defying his doctor's predictions, Powell lived until he was 45, making a lasting contribution to the cause of the right to life of the medically dependent and disabled. This Life Cycle thus offers a strong challenge to the forces pushing active euthanasia and assisted suicide. A one page update to this Life Cycle adding the latest legal developments has been included since 1997.

The denial of food and fluids to vulnerable, medically dependent people, much in the news with the situation of the man from Manassas, Virginia (see p. 4), is examined at length in the Life Cycle Withholding Food and Fluids (originally published in 1991, updated in 1997). Various means of providing food and fluids are outlined, and a doctor describes what happens when food and fluids are withdrawn. This Life Cycle provides a valuable summary of court cases gradually authorizing non-voluntary euthanasia.

In recent years, the Trust Fund has developed several single- sheet, easily duplicatable factsheets. These factsheets are not only visually compelling, offering impact-oriented charts and graphics, but are also packed with useful facts and relevant data. Currently, four are available.

The Basics, the most visually impressive, offers a quick primer on the pro-life cause. It details the milestones of fetal development, places the number of abortions in context (how many abortions are performed in the U.S. each day, etc.), and reveals the social, rather than medical, reasons behind most women's abortions.

Abortion: Statistics & Trends is the Trust Fund's regular count of the number of abortions in the U.S., currently estimated to be some 36 and a half million. On the flipside, this valuable factsheet also provides useful data illustrating factors that have contributed to the recent decline in abortions. Charts help make the trends visible.

Abortion Techniques offers a quick synopsis of the methods of abortion currently employed in the U.S. For details and references, there is the Abortion: Some Medical Facts booklet, but this quick one-page summary will do fine in a pinch.

The French abortion pill and some of its more serious side effects are discussed in RU 486: Risks and Dangers. This pill, which sponsors hope to bring to the American market by 1999 (it is already available at many testing centers across the U.S.), both destroys the lives of unborn babies, and endangers the health and life of their mothers who face a host of side effects and the possibility of serious complications.

The factsheet documents the case of one Iowa woman who participated in U.S. trials of the drug and nearly bled to death. RU 486: Risks and Dangers is extremely useful for women who have been captivated by the abortion industry's false promises of a safe, easy, "natural" abortion by pill.

A great many more booklets, pamphlets, and factsheets - - on Planned Parenthood, public opinion polls, partial-birth abortion, and more are being developed. We will be telling you more about them in the future.

But check your literature rack and make sure you have the publications we've already described. You're certain to find them effective tools in the effort to reawaken the consciences of those in your community who have ignored the truth for far too long.