The following statement can be attributed to Wanda Franz, Ph.D., President of the National Right to Life Committee.
“National Right to Life commends Dr. James Dobson for his thirty years of dedicated service as the leader of Focus on the Family. Dr. Dobson has been a great friend and ally in the struggle to save the lives of helpless unborn children from the cruel death of abortion. We are especially grateful for his strong voice for life on his radio program as well as the many other contributions he has made over the years. We wish Dr. Dobson and his wife Shirley well in his retirement.”
The National Right to Life Committee is the nation’s largest pro-life group with affiliates in all 50 states and over 3,000 local chapters nationwide. National Right to Life works through legislation and education to protect those threatened by abortion, infanticide, euthanasia and assisted suicide.
REPEAL OF CONSCIENCE PROTECTION REGULATIONS IS NEXT STEP IN ENACTMENT OF EXPANSIVE OBAMA ABORTION AGENDA
WASHINGTON- The Obama Administration is expected to take action today to rescind a regulation that enforces federal laws protecting the conscience rights of doctors and health care providers. Issued by the Bush Administration, this regulation was designed to raise awareness in the medical community and general public, as well as increase compliance with federal laws protecting doctors and health care providers from discrimination in federally funded health care programs. Health care providers are increasingly being pressured to violate their moral convictions with regards to abortion. The regulations are based on underlying federal conscience protection laws that Congress has enacted, including the 1973 “Church Amendments,” the 1996 Public Health Service Act amendment, and the “Hyde-Weldon amendment,” which was first added to a funding bill in 2004.
Susan Muskett, J.D., Senior Legislative Counsel of the National Right to Life Committee commented: “These conscience protection regulations were carefully crafted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services after soliciting public comments and a lengthy period of review. Once again, the Obama Administration is doing the bidding of pro-abortion advocacy groups, which wish to penalize health-care providers who refuse to participate in providing abortions.”
Although rescinding this federal regulation does not repeal the underlying federal laws, pro-abortion advocacy groups have targeted the Hyde-Weldon law for repeal. “No one should be forced to take a human life against their moral convictions, especially not in a federally funded program,” Muskett said.
The National Right to Life Committee is the nation’s largest pro-life group with affiliates in all 50 states and over 3,000 local chapters nationwide. National Right to Life works through legislation and education to protect those threatened by abortion, infanticide, euthanasia and assisted suicide.
NRLC’s President, Dr. Wanda Franz recently made a trip to Boston to see her new grandson. While she was there, she was asked to appear on CatholicTV.com, a Cathlolic broadcasting network online. You can watch her apperance here. The show is a half-hour long and Dr. Franz appears in the first half.
Jessica and I drove back into DC and arrived at the office shortly after 10pm last night. What a beautiful day for an 11-hour drive (until we hit torential rains around Strasburg, Virginia) and a perfect way to end this year’s convention with blue skies all around.
Every year we return to DC exhausted from the intense schedule on the convention floor, but invigorated by all the people we have met. Tuesday marked the last day of the convention and exhibition and people were still making their way through the hall as they announced its closure at 4pm. As I mentioned in an earlier post, our entire country has been affected by the destructive legacy of Roe v. Wade, and everyone at NRB is no different. A number of people came up to us to share their own stories, including personal experiences with abortion and the heartbreaking tragedy of miscarriages. All of them had a through-line: their experience made them realize just how wonderful is the gift of life and it jumpstarted their own personal pro-life witness to their communities.
Many people walked away with the latest information from National Right to Life, including our Stop the Abortion Agenda campaign. And several new station partners walked away with demos of Pro-Life Perspective and our entire Perspectives on Life public service announcement series. Olivia also did one last interview with Faith Radio out of Montgomery, Alabama — literally was walking by and the station manager nabbed her from the aisle to do a quick sit-down. It all happened so fast that I didn’t get a picture, but if you’re in Montgomery, chances are you can probably listen to it!
If you’ve been following the blog the past few days, I hope you’ve enjoyed this look at how your National Right to Life staff is working to further our pro-life work and reach out to new people. We truly think of ourselves as working for you — our dedicated grassroots volunteers — when we are at a convention like this. It’s an honor to work on your behalf for our common goal of protecting unborn children and helping their mothers.
Today’s the third and final day of the NRB Convention exhibition. This year’s convention, like years previous, has been a great experience. We’ve re-connected with old friends, made new friends and shared lots of literature with everyone in attendance (the car will be much lighter on the drive back tomorrow).
Obviously, this is a broadcasting convention, so one of our primary goals is to reach out to radio stations with information about Pro-Life Perspective and Perspectives on Life. Once again, we’ve met some wonderful folks eager to expand their station’s pro-life outreach and we look forward to reaching more people through our radio programs with their partnership and help.
BTW — if you’ve surfed into the Pro-Life Perspective website at all in the past few days, you’ll note that it’s a little out of date. We’re working on improving the technical side to make it easier to update…which takes a little time and we’re still working on it. Look for a new and improved site very, very soon.
Will post again as we get closer to the end. It’s definitely another busy day down here!
Janet Parshall, a fellow Washingtonian, good friend of National Right to Life, and host of Janet Parshall’s America on the Salem Radio Network, just stopped by for a chat with Olivia (they’re also fellow Virginians).
Salem Radio's own Janet Parshall with NRLC's own Olivia Gans at NRB 2009
Another busy day on the convention floor. Seriously, I don’t think we brought enough literature.
Like so much of our population, attendees at the NRB convention, too, have been touched by the tragedy of abortion. It’s inspiring to hear their stories and hear how they have transformed their personal abortion experience into a positive, life-affirming witness.
There have also been opportunties to reach out and speak to members of the press who are here at the convention. Last night, Olivia did an interview at the booth with a reporter from The Tennessean, the major daily here in Nashville. And, just about 15 minutes ago did a live sit-down with Matthew Hill on the Information Radio Network who is broadcasting live from the Convention.
Our friends from Priests for Life also stopped by to say hi. It’s always good to see the PFL crew. We have some wonderful allies in the fight for unborn children!
Pictures below and more to come!
-Derrick
Olivia Gans is interviewed by a reporter for the Tennessean at the NRLC booth.
Jerry Horn, Dr. Alveda King, Olivia Gans and Fr. Frank Pavone
Jessica Rodgers, Derrick Jones, Jerry Horn and Olivia Gans
Olivia appears on the Information Radio Network live from the NRB Convention floor
Olivia appears on the Information Radio Network live on the NRB Convention floor
While the exhibit hall was only open for 5 hours today (tomorrow is much longer), we talked to so many wonderful pro-lifers. So much of what we were asked involved what they could do to stop the abortion agenda that’s coming at us from the Obama Administration. We were well-prepared for those questions. We also talked with some folks about ways to use new (and still developing) technologies in our work…I always like seeing what’s out there and if and how we can utilize it to reach more people with the pro-life message.
Tonight wrapped with dinner at the Wildhorse Saloon in downtown Nashville with one of our close friends from the Salem Radio family. We are blessed as an organization (and I feel blessed personally) to have friends throughout the broadcasting community who are ready and prepared to help us in our work for unborn children and their mothers. No, we didn’t line dance at the Wildhorse…only watched.
As promised, here’s the video presentation which we’re showing at the booth. If your local station isn’t airing Pro-Life Perspective or Perspectives on Life, you should show this to them!
The exhibit hall opened at noon and there has been non-stop traffic at our booth. From other exhibitors, to broadcasters from overseas, to current Pro-Life Perpsective station partners, Olivia, Jessica and I have been sharing our pro-life message. Here’s hoping we brought enough literature!
As promised, pictures from the floor:
Olivia Gans, PLP Co-Host and Jessica Rodgers, NRLC Communications Assistant at the NRLC Booth on the convention floor
The NRLC booth at NRB 2009
We’re running a short DVD that promos the wonderful materials available from National Right to Life, as well as promoting Pro-Life Perspective and Perspectives on Life. If I can get my antiquated laptop to work with me, I’ll upload that here to give you a flavor of what’s going on down here at the Gaylord Opryland!
The CommBlog is the official blog of the National Right to Life Communications Department. You'll find commentary, press releases, media sightings, live-blogging from events and a host of other items. To contact the Communications department, email us at mediarelations@nrlc.org.
