July 14, 2003 update
Dear Friends of LifeTree,
Please help
LifeTree get NC House Bill 998 (Abortion - Woman's Right To Know) out of
committee. It will take about 10
minutes of your time.
Please
call NC Representatives Morgan, Black & Culpepper, and ask them to please
permit a vote on House Bill 998 ("Abortion - Woman's Right To
Know"). It is stuck in the House Rules Committee, because
the House leadership is refusing to allow it to be voted on.
Time is very
short. The NC General Assembly is tentatively
planning to adjourn for the year on Friday, July 18, 2003. So can you please
take a few minutes ASAP to make these calls?
Do not
just email them. A single phone call is
worth about 10 emails. If you call when they are not there, you can leave
voice mail messages expressing your concern and asking them to call you
back. These are the Raleigh phone
numbers:
|
Bill Culpepper (D): |
919-715-3028 |
(Rules Committee Chairman) |
404 LOB |
|
|
Richard Morgan (R): |
919-715-3010 |
(Co-Speaker) |
301 LOB |
|
|
Jim Black (D): |
919-733-3451 |
(Co-Speaker) |
2304 LB |
|
Mr. Morgan
can also be reached at home in Eagle
Springs at 910-948-4238, or at his office
in Pinehurst: Morgan Richard T &
Associates / Bankingport Morgan Ins.,
570 Pinehurst South, Pinehurst, NC 28374, Tel: 910-295-4575.
After calling
them, please call or email us to tell us how the conversation went, and what
they (or their assistants) told you: <lifetree@lifetree.org.nospam>
(remove the ".nospam") or 919-481-4190 or 919-785-0855.
H998 would
require that (except in medical emergencies) a woman must be given information
about medical facts (such as the risks of both abortion and childbirth), her
legal rights, and available alternatives and assistance, at least 24 hours
before she gets an abortion. This bill
would save at least 3000 lives per year in NC, simply by giving young mothers
information they need to make informed choices before getting abortions.
Majorities of
both the Rules Committee and whole House are co-sponsors of this bill (though
not Morgan, Black and Culpepper). It
will pass easily if it is permitted a vote. But if Chairman Culpepper does not
permit a vote soon, H998 will not be enacted.
If
2000 people make phone calls, this bill will surely sail through. Think of that: spend the time to place one
phone call as the price to save (at least!) one innocent life. 500 man-hours (one time) to save at least
3000 lives (per year). More than one life saved per phone call made.
Note: some House staffers have been claiming that H998
cannot be enacted because it lacks the votes to pass in the House, or because
it needed to meet the May 1 “crossover” deadline. Those claims are both false.
H998 is eligible, and it does have sufficient support. These staffers are giving excuses, not
reasons. (Rep. Culpepper is the committee chairman who must schedule the
committee vote, but Reps. Morgan and Black are the co-speakers who appointed
Culpepper and who sent the bill to his committee, and they surely have the
ability to persuade him to allow a vote, if they so desire.)
Many women do
not get abortions as a matter of “choice,” but, rather, because they believe
that they have no other choice. This
bill would prevent many of those abortions by empowering women with additional
information. Whatever someone thinks of
abortion, surely an abortion that is purchased by a woman who doesn't really
want it, or that is later regretted, is the most unambiguously tragic of all.
These are the abortions which H998 would prevent.
If you live
in the district of Rep. Culpepper, Morgan or Black, please mention that fact
when you call him, since being a constituent adds to your
"clout." Here are the
districts that they represent:
Bill
Culpepper - district 2 - see map: http://www.lifetree.org/hd2map.htm
All of Chowan, Dare,
Perquimans & Tyrrell Counties, and the western half of Gates County
(Edenton, Kitty Hawk, Nags Head, Manteo, etc.).
Richard
Morgan - district 52 - see map: http://www.lifetree.org/hd52map.htm
Most of Moore County
(Pinehurst, Southern Pines, Robbins, etc. - basically all of Moore County
except Vass and Cameron).
Jim
Black - district 100 - see map: http://www.lifetree.org/hd100map.htm
Part of Mecklenburg County
(much of Charlotte & Matthews).
This web page
has links to additional information about H998, including the full text of the
bill, bill status, a North Carolina Right To Life "action alert," and
more: http://www.lifetree.org/h998.htm
Thank you, and God bless you for
helping.
LifeTree, Inc. A
pro-life Christian ministry
http://www.lifetree.org/
lifetree@lifetree.org.nospam
(remove the ".nospam")
919-481-4190 or 919-785-0855
PO Box 17301, Raleigh, NC, 27619
"Inasmuch as ye have done
it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto
me" -Matthew 25:40
P.S. -- A single phone call is worth about 10 emails. Email is best used for following up a phone
call to say, "thank you for talking to me and thank you for promising to
___" (or similar).
A personal
visit has about ten times the weight of a phone call! So if you can visit the legislature in person, that
would be even better. In case you've never lobbied before, here’re some
tips: http://lifetree.org/HowToLobby4b.html