ACTION ALERT

Help Defeat the "Phony Ban"--and Help Defeat Media Myths About Partial-Birth Abortion!

WASHINGTON (April 5, 2003) -- As explained in the story above, the U.S. Senate has approved the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act (S. 3). The U.S. House of Representatives will take up its version of the bill (H.R. 760) no sooner than early May.

After eight years of effort, this is the closest that NRLC and other pro-life forces have come to enactment of a national ban on partial-birth abortion. As the congressional debate enters its climactic stage, here are actions that you and other pro-life citizens in your area can take during the weeks ahead to help educate lawmakers and the public about partial-birth abortion:

* From April 11 until April 28, Congress will be on spring recess. During this period, most members of the House will participate in "town meetings" or other public events in their districts. Please arrange for a group of well-informed pro-life constituents to attend one or more such events. Make sure the lawmaker understands the importance you place on this issue, and urge him or her to oppose the Hoyer-Greenwood "phony ban" and any other weakening amendments to the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act (H.R. 760).

* Write a short (200 words or less) letter to the "letters" column of your local newspaper(s). Explain that the U.S. House of Representatives will soon take up the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act (H.R. 760). Explain that opponents are trying to substitute the Hoyer-Greenwood "phony ban" that would allow abortions in the seventh month of pregnancy and later for emotional "health." Make the same points on local call-in talk radio shows.

* Some old myths about Roe v. Wade are currently undergoing a revival in some news media reports. For example, some journalists and pollsters are still telling the public that the Supreme Court legalized abortion "in the first three months of pregnancy." This characterization was always gravely inaccurate, but it is more ridiculous than even ever since the 2000 case of Stenberg v. Carhart, in which five justices ruled that Roe v. Wade covers even partial-birth abortion - - a method never used in the first three months of pregnancy. When you see this myth, challenge it, using documentation from "Old Myths Resurface About Roe v. Wade and Partial-Birth Abortion" (February 2003 NRL News, page 12), which is also posted on the NRLC website in various formats at http://www.nrlc.org/abortion/pba/roevwademyths.html.

Also, please send sightings of such "media myths" to the attention of the NRLC Federal Legislation Department at 512-10th Street, NW, Washington, D.C., 20004, fax 202-347-3668, e-mail: Legfederal@aol.com.

* Some journalists are again propagating claims that partial-birth abortions are performed mostly or only in cases in which the mother's life or physical health are in dire jeopardy, or the baby has profound disorders. In reality, such claims have long been discredited. Even prominent pro-abortion advocates have conceded that the method is used thousands of times annually and that the vast majority of partial-birth abortions are performed on healthy babies of healthy mothers.

Again, when you see such claims, challenge them, using information from the article cited above, and from "Recent Developments on Partial-Birth Abortion" (March 2003 NRL News, page 1, on the website at http://www.nrlc.org/abortion/pba/PartialBirthAbortionRecentDevelopments.html).

And again, please send information on such outbreaks of "media myths" to NRLC at the address above.