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NRL News
Goals for
2009: Double Membership, Expand Chapter Base The election of pro-abortion Senator, now President-elect, Barack Obama crystallized and gave enormous added impetus to a plan already in the works to grow National Right to Life to unprecedented size in 2009. This all-out commitment to a surge in dues-paying membership and local chapters development dovetails with the focus of this special commemorative edition of National Right to Life News: "Stop the Obama Abortion Agenda." By the time most of you receive this edition, Obama will have already begun to flesh out a few of the details of his administration's all-out assault on the pro-life legacy of President George W. Bush, Obama's commitment to integrating abortion into our national health care structure, and his preliminary moves to pave the way for eventual passage of the "Freedom of Choice Act" (FOCA), which is much more accurately described as the "Federal No-Limits-On-Abortion Bill." (See Douglas Johnson's story on page one and sidebar on page 17.) Our job is to defeat proposals where we can, minimize the damage where we cannot, and to raise high the banner that signals that we are growing stronger as we rebound from a tough 2008 election cycle. It can be done. With your invaluable help, it will be done. Think of what we are trying to accomplish this way. "Warp" and "woof" were originally sewing terms. The warp are the threads that run lengthwise. The woof are the threads that run across. Together they make up the fabric. The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy uses this illustration: "The Constitution and the Declaration of Independence are the warp and woof of the American nation." Doubling the membership and seriously increasing the number of chapters is the warp and woof of NRLC's 2009 agenda. If either goal is not attained, it weakens the "fabric" -- our ability to win protection for unborn babies. Our organization has always relied on you working in the trenches. Now that "bottom-up" emphasis, which reflects NRL's founding organizational structure, is more important than ever. Below you will see two different coupons, one for those of you who are already members of National Right to Life, the other for those who are not. As you fill them out, think about what NRL can accomplish at the national level if we double our membership and expand our our chapter base. You'll have more and probably better ideas than I'm about to offer, but just consider these three: Douglas Johnson, who heads our Federal Legislative Department, has rightly been called "the most effective lobbyist in Washington." Aided by his associates, Susan Muskett, J.D. and Andrea Lyon, Johnson has pulled more rabbits out of hats than any public policy advocate in the nation's capital. Senators and representatives are already impressed by the team's thorough preparation and total grasp of the issues, and know they are backed by an army of dedicated grassroots people. If they are enormously effective now, how much more would they be if elected officials knew that the most powerful movement for social justice was growing by leaps and bounds? We have an equally talented Medical Ethics Department headed by Burke Balch, J.D. and assisted by Jennifer Popik, J.D. What would happen if twice as many families received a copy of the "pro-life newspaper of record?" If I've learned anything in my adult life, it's that knowledge is power. We are nearly 36 years out from the ghastly Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton decisions. Yet only a sliver of the population understands the radical abortion-on-demand reach of Roe and Doe. Fewer than that know their opinion on abortion is much, much closer to ours than to the pro-abortionists'. When you pay $25 to become a member of National Right to Life, you receive NRL News. With twice as many members and a burgeoning grassroots network, the Education Department's wonderful constellation of resources could be accessed by the public, thirsty to know the truth about everything from fetal development to the largest "provider" of abortion in the world: Planned Parenthood. But think of all the other things that could be accomplished at the local level. Everything from more people writing letters to the editor, more people showing up at legislative hearings, more people volunteering to give talks in schools, more people helping crisis pregnancy centers, more outreach to pro-life young people, more pro-life books being purchased and donated to schools--all in all making a far larger, more visible, more effective pro-life "presence." The "footprint" you would make would be enormously influential in staving off the Obama abortion agenda and gearing up for a comeback over the next two years. Please, begin by filling out the appropriate coupon below and then reading all the stories that begin on page one. |