Your help can save lives
Building a Winning MovementOne Person at a Time

By Don Parker, NRLC Membership Development Director

Whether they realize it or not, every person reading this article has a unique story to tell about how they became involved in the pro-life movement.

Maybe you heard a speaker or saw a news report or signed a petition for life. Whatever it was, something moved you or motivated you to join National Right to Life, or subscribe to NRL News, or volunteer for the cause.

My own case taught me the importance of knowing that every single action holds the potential for drawing people to the cause. I learned that the little things you do that seem small today can make a big difference for unborn children's lives in the future.

Abortion was not legal as I was growing up. It was rarely discussed, although I vaguely remember it being mentioned in my church. I knew little about it until a pair of seemingly small actions by two people led to my involvement in our movement in a big way.

The first was a speaker who came to my public school. Even before the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, our state legislature had begun to consider allowing "some" abortions. To respond to this threat to innocent life, some citizens formed a state right to life group. Speakers from the group began fanning out across the state to spread the message of life.

When one of these speakers came to my school, I was utterly shocked that our society could consider killing children. I knew the unborn children I saw in his photos deserved to live just as much as any of us. Obviously this right to life volunteer made a deep impression on me and others in my class.

The second simple thing someone did to draw me into the Movement occurred on my 17th birthday. Knowing I felt strongly about the issue, my sister bought me the best and most important birthday present I have received before or since: a gift subscription to my state right to life newsletter (although I admit the new baseball glove I got a few years earlier was a close second).

When I read the gift subscription, it taught me about the issue, prepared me to speak about it to others, and informed me of events and activities where my help was needed. In other words, it made me a better pro-lifer. Eventually I attended one of those activities, was asked to help again, and became a volunteer and staffer for this cause.

Two of the leaders of my state pro-life group got involved because neighbors asked them (repeatedly) if they would join the local group. Without that persistence by good pro-lifers, their leadership skills might have been lost to our movement, and many unborn lives lost with it.

Every little thing we do does have a positive ripple effect, and the payoff after 25-plus years of hard work is that today we see a quarter million fewer abortions each year than we saw just 10 years ago. That is a huge number and it proves that the people- power approach of our movement works!

When you volunteer, you touch people. When you contribute financially, you enable us to reach others with publications, advertisements, chapters. It can make a huge difference!

When I speak to a chapter, I tell them that even though we may never know the child whose life was saved because of our work, he or she is out there nonetheless. A child has a better chance of surviving in a community with a right to life chapter, with pro-life volunteers, with educated spokespersons for the issue.

Of course, we will never quit until every child is safe. So what can you do to get us to that point and save even more lives?

The little things.

1. Renew your NRLC membership or make an added contribution to help us reach every American with the message of life.

2.Get a gift membership or a gift subscription to NRL News for a friend or family member. For as little as $16, your friend can be informed about all the vital life issues.

3. Help get others to join National Right to Life through " Partners for Life." In this easy-to-do program, we provide you with letters to send to friends who then return a small contribution. It's a great way to get new members, and the funds help us immensely.

4. If you have the gift of speaking comfortably on the telephone, help us identify pro-life citizens through our Volunteer Identification Program (VIP). Tens of thousands of pro- lifers are identified each year through this valuable project.

5. Volunteer through your local or state right to life group to help with one of the many projects it does throughout the year. If you don't know how to reach these groups, call us at 202- 626-8813. We'll put you in touch.

6. Ask your church if it will distribute a pro-life petition or host a pro-life speaker from your state or local right to life group.

7. If one doesn't already exist, form a local right to life chapter. Your state right to life office can provide materials and tips on how to get started.

There are many, many ways you can help bring about the day when all children are protected from abortion. No baby should die because we neglected to do one of the "little things" that save so many lives. So let's get active!