Response to Roe:
Building a Bigger, Stronger Movement
 

A Model Outreach to Hispanic Americans
 

"We've seen the number of abortions dramatically decrease for white non-Hispanic women during the last several years in many areas - - due in part to the incredible efforts of the right to life movement. We need to replicate those very same educational efforts in areas where Hispanics live."
Raimundo Rojas, NRL News, September 2003
 

A young Latina woman is visiting her family and friends in a city in the Midwest. She has recently realized that she's pregnant and has made an appointment at an abortion clinic. In the days leading up to her appointment she confides in her cousin about her pregnancy, and the fact that she is scheduled to destroy her child in the days to come.

Her cousin and her friends persuade her to go to church with them on a crisp Minnesota night. It is a Friday night, and her abortion is scheduled for the next day. When she gets to the church she meets Pam Abbate and Katherine Konrad.

Pam and Katherine are both juniors at St. Thomas University in St. Paul Minnesota. Neither of them have any Hispanic ancestry, as is evident by their Nordic good looks and their delightful Minnesota accents. Pam and Katherine have been involved in the right to life movement for a few years each and have both served as interns at Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life (MCCL). In the last few months, Pam and Katherine have wandered out into unchartered pro-life territory.

As MCCL began its preparations for its summer fair booth campaign, someone mentioned that there were no booths planned at Hispanic churches and that no materials in Spanish were readily available. Katherine speaks a bit of Spanish and Pam has always been attracted to the Spanish culture. The two of them decided at this organizational meeting to take on Hispanic outreach. They took a first step.

They gathered Spanish language resources, including National Right to Life's When Does Life Begin? as well as literature which is called for by Minnesota's women's right to know law in both English and Spanish. They started making phone calls and asking pastors to allow them to set up pro-life booths at their churches. That was step two.

Pam says, "It was difficult at first. You have to get to know the Hispanic community and they need to get to know you. It's important to make them realize that you want to create a tie with their community." After weeks of calling and sending letters they finally got their first booth. They were also invited to speak directly to the congregation. Steps three and four.

The two young women wrote out a speech (in Spanish) and practiced it daily. Pam describes the days leading up to their first presentation as nervous ones. They felt awkward about giving this presentation in Spanish and were afraid of how they would be received.

But on the Sunday that they gave their first speech they were amazed by the reaction of the congregation when invited to the pro-life booth at the back of the church. The comments were all positive, welcoming, and grateful for their message. Pam and Katherine were relieved and delighted that their first speech had been a great success.

That was five months ago and to date Pam and Katherine have given 10 presentations and have reached well over 3,000 Hispanics in Minnesota. They have also put together an amazingly informative and colorful packet to hand out. The packet includes many pro-life informational handouts, but also coloring sheets for children with life-affirming messages such as, "Thanks Mom and Dad for Life," and a fetal development color page for the kids.

Pam and Katherine have ventured out even further. They sponsored a "Fiesta para la Vida," a party for life, that was hugely successful. They placed ads in local Hispanic newspapers, and provided typical Latino food. The turnout was fantastic.

During one of Pam and Katherine's presentations they met the young woman and her friends who had been touched by the information they'd been provided with. The woman spoke with them and explained that she had scheduled an abortion for the very next day. Through tears, she expressed to Pam and Katherine that she just couldn't go through with it now that she knew about the precious life she had inside her.

The two university students who began as interns at MCCL have now ventured beyond their expectations. They took that first step; they made the decision to reach out to Hispanics. They found that even though their Spanish isn't perfect, Latinos welcomed them into their communities and were grateful for the efforts. They realized that they had no reason to be so nervous; they were speaking to a group of people that is culturally pro-life but for whom the pro-life message needs to be reinforced.

Reaching out to Hispanics is now more important than ever. The presidential election is over, and pundits, pollsters, and the parties are still reeling from the number of Latinos who voted for President Bush. Pro-abortion Democrats and the organized pro-abortion movement have said publicly that they must re-think their strategy about Hispanics, that they must double their efforts to win Latinos over. This is not good news, for it means that the likes of Planned Parenthood and NARAL will broaden their already unrelenting assaults against the Hispanic community.

But thankfully, we have Pam and Katherine on our side, two soft-spoken, young Midwestern women whose message and determination can beat back that tide. All we need are a few more like them.

Please contact Hispanic Americans for Life at HAL@nrlc.org.