NRL News
Page 2
September 2009
Volume 36
Issue 9

Grassroots Pro-Lifers Mobilizing in Every Way
You Can Think of “And Some You Can’t”
By Dave Andrusko

I am old enough to still be slightly in awe of the speed and reach of e-mails and to remain completely in awe of the power of social networking, particularly Facebook and Twitter. As we shall see momentarily, it is the genius of our Movement that our grassroots has proven adept at combining these whiz-bang technologies with an indispensable quality no other movement has: boots on the ground.

Literally as I was writing the first paragraph of this editorial Jacki Ragan, who runs NRL’s State Organizational Development Department, walked by my office. I asked her what she would have for the September edition of NRL News and our conversation was off to the races.

“If you hear anyone say that the grassroots ‘aren’t what they used to be,’ send them to me,” she said emphatically. “They are doing everything you could possibly ask to let their elected representatives know exactly what they do not want in any health care ‘reform.’”

Okay, like what? “The grassroots are involved and active in absolutely everything you can imagine, and some you can’t!” she said. “Our people are attending town hall meetings from one end of this country to the other, trying to get answers from their representatives and senators and refusing to let up when they are dodging answering.

They are writing letters to Congress and faxing follow-up questions and comments, composing letters to the editor, and calling into radio programs.” At this point Jacki paused for breath, and then quickly continued with the litany of activism.

“Pro-lifers are organizing e-mail trees, telephone trees, letter writing campaigns, and manning booths at county fairs, health fairs, and any other kind of activity that they can find,” Jacki added.

“I have not seen the grassroots this energized since 1994.”

So where do things like e-mail and Facebook and Twitter come in? Let me back up one second, first.

Pro-lifers are visiting our web page at www.nrlc.org and especially www.nrlactioncenter.com in massive numbers. There they learn what pro-abortion President Barack Obama and the equally pro-death congressional leadership don’t want you to know about how the various plans promote abortion and threaten rationing.

They also read Today’s News & Views at http://www.nrlc.org/News_and_Views/ for daily updates. The exciting news is that they have added NRL’s Communications blog to their list of reading materials—http://nrlcomm.wordpress.com.  And then there is the wonderfully helpful http://stoptheabortionagenda.com, another resource that can and should be widely shared.

And then not only are they reading and putting into practice all the helpful suggestions found at these sites, they are linking to them on their Twitter and Facebook accounts. The capacity of social networking sites to distribute the message is almost unlimited.

For example, let’s say you are someone with 500 Facebook friends, a number which is not unusual. A link to TN&V pops up on your page, which is accessible to all 500 of your friends. Because they can do the same thing, a message already going out to a large number of people is distributed to a much, much, much larger audience.

Again, think about this in combination with the teaching impact of National Right to Life News, which goes out to 360,000+ families. The synergy is hard to match.

The same day I wrote this article I received a phone call and an e-mail that brought it all together.

The phone call was from a woman, a long-time reader of NRL News, who had attended a congressman’s town hall meeting. When someone stood up to announce that they didn’t want their money paying for abortions, most of the crowd stood up and cheered.

The e-mail echoed a number of others I had received in the last month. It made my day.

“Pro-life issues have weighed heavily on my heart for some time now, and I would like to become active in your efforts.”

In honor of the theme of this edition, be sure to pass this message along to all your e-mail contacts.