FROM THE PRESIDENT

Wanda Franz, Ph.D.

A NEW HOME FOR "THE FLAGSHIP OF THE PRO-LIFE MOVEMENT"

National Right to Life is the flagship of the pro-life movement. I think it's invaluable that they have a headquarters that is close to Capitol Hill.

--Congressman Henry Hyde

National Right to Life is really indispensable on every abortion-related issue. They are very effective at communicating to the people across America. The reason National Right to Life can go ahead with [the purchase of a headquarters building] is that they have been successful.
--Senator Rick Santorum

National Right to Life is the hub, the nerve center, of the pro- life movement. I can't tell you how many times I have handed out the letter from Doug Johnson that said that this is a scored vote--and all of a sudden this sharpens the mind on the part of Members [of Congress], and they say "this must really mean something to National, and I'm going to vote for it."

--Congressman Chris Smith

These are the comments from prominent pro-lifer leaders in Congress when they heard that the National Right to Life Educational Trust Fund had decided to buy a building on 10th Street, N.W. The building is NRLC's new headquarters. The National Right to Life Committee and the NRL Political Action Committee will lease space from the NRL Educational Trust Fund; thus the lease payments will stay within the NRL corporate family and continue to be available for pro-life educational work instead of flowing into someone else's coffers.

What precipitated the purchase of new headquarters was a doubling of the yearly rent to $400,000 at our old location on 7th Street, N.W. The phenomenal increase in rent posed a great dilemma.

On the one hand, the location of the old office space was excellent: half-way between Capitol Hill and the White House. Our staff could go Congress, the White House, or news studios like CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN and the Fox News Channel within minutes. Such an arrangement is "invaluable," as Congressman Henry Hyde observed.

On the other hand, the old office was run down (with duct tape covering the innumerable tears in the carpeting) and suffered from serious deficiencies that hampered efficient operation. (Many times the taping of our daily radio program Pro-Life Perspectives was derailed by inevitable noise coming from other busy offices.) And then there was the enormous increase in rent from $200,000 to $400,000. All that money to stay in a run-down place, all that money lost to pro-life work--no, we couldn't do that.

Financially, the cheapest solution would have been to find a building outside Washington, D.C., at considerable distance from Capitol Hill. That, however, would have been incompatible with our work. It would have been extremely difficult for NRLC to continue to be, in Congressman Chris Smith's words, "the hub, the nerve center, of the pro-life movement." The policies that so massively influence lives are made in the White House and on Capitol Hill. If you can't be at these places on a moment's notice you lose your turn at the table. It is true that we are in an age of new and dazzling information technologies, but in the end it is personal presence and contact that make the difference.

The solution to the dilemma was to stay in a central location similar to the old one, while avoiding the waste of our contributors' money. In other words, we had to buy a reasonably priced building close by. After a long search that eliminated unsuitable or too-expensive buildings we settled on the building located at 512 10th Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20004. This is within four blocks of our old location, just across from Ford's Theatre (where President Lincoln was shot).

Senator Rick Santorum noted that it made sense for NRLC to undertake the purchase because "they have been successful." If NRLC were not successful, if NRLC were not the "flagship" and " nerve center" of the pro-life movement, nobody would care where we were located--and you would have scant reason to support us.

My point here is not to brag about NRLC but simply to note our obligation to be true to the mandate that you impose on us with your financial support: You want your money to be effectively " invested" in productive right-to-life work. That means we need to be in a location where NRLC can be the "nerve center" of the pro- life movement. The location on 10th Street, N.W., meets your requirement. And you don't want your money to be wasted on excessive rent payments. Hence the purchase of the building by the National Right to Life Educational Trust Fund makes sense; the lease payments made by NRLC and NRL PAC go to the NRL Educational Trust Fund and thus support pro-life education.

The purchase price and the necessary renovations of the new building come to about $4.5 million. Though quite reasonable for a central Washington, D.C., location, this is still a very large amount of money for us. (It would a drop in the bucket for the pro-abortionists. In 1999, Planned Parenthood alone took in $627.2 million, nearly a third from government sources.) Servicing such a large mortgage out of our operating budget would massively abridge our work. And the pro-abortionists would be delighted to see this happen. You and I can't let it happen.

This is why I am asking you to help us pay off the building by making a tax-deductible donation to the NRL Educational Trust Fund, 512 10th Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20004. Mark your donation for the "Building Fund."

Give whatever you can. And make your donation soon, because two generous supporters will match (up to $1 million) donations turned in by the end of the year.

All gifts of $1,000 or more will be recognized on the Tree of Life plaque in the new headquarters. Gifts of $10,000 to $1,000,000 will be recognized by naming rooms, program centers, or entire floors after the donor.

Think of the new headquarters as a living, working memorial to the unborn.