LifeTree North Carolina EMERGENCY Legislative Alert
July 4, 2003

Dear friends of LifeTree,

We would be grateful if, over the July 4th weekend, you would
please share this request (below) with your church community
and other friends, as well as making the 3 needed phone calls
yourself.

Note the ROI (Return On Investment): ten minutes spent by each
of a few thousand people could save the lives of several
thousand unborn children per year in North Carolina -- more
than one life saved per phone call made.  So please call, and
please ask your friends to call.

But do not delay.  Time is very short.  Please call on Monday,
if you can.

Thank you.

-Betty, Rose, Doug, Dave, et al
LifeTree, Inc.


P.S. - The Assisted Suicide Bill - S145 ala Michigan - is
still in the Senate Judiciary II Committee.  Please watch for
a separate email on that bill from LifeTree early next week.

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 (Culpepper=chairman). The Session is almost over, so time is very short. H998 needs to pass the House this session.

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)
Richard Morgan (R):	919-715-3010	(Co-Speaker)
Jim Black (D):	919-733-3451	(Co-Speaker)

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 (perhaps more!) simply by giving young mothers the information they need to make an informed choice before they obtain an abortion.

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 Committee Chairman Culpepper does not permit a vote on it soon, H998 (Abortion - Woman's Right To Know) 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.

(Representative 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 feel 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 regretted soon after, is the most unambiguously tragic of all. These are the abortions which H998 would prevent.

If you live in the district of one of these three representatives, be sure to 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):

All of Chowan, Dare, Perquimans & Tyrrell Counties, and the western half of Gates County (Edenton, Winfall, Gatesville, Southern Shores, Kitty Hawk, Kill Devil Hills, Nags Head, Manteo, Columbia).

Richard Morgan (district 52 - see map):

Most of Moore County (Pinehurst, Southern Pines, Carthage, Robbins, Pinebluff, Aberdeen, Taylortown, Foxfire, Whispering Pines, etc. - basically all of Moore County except Vass and Cameron).

Jim Black (district 100 - see map):

Part of Mecklenburg County (much of Charlotte & Matthews).

This is the link to the bill information on the NC General Assembly (NCGA) web site:
http://www.ncleg.net/gascripts/BillLookUp/BillLookUp.pl?Session=2003&BillID=H998
or go directly to the full text of this bill.

North Carolina Right To Life is working hard on this bill, and they have a very informative action alert.

If you have more questions, you may contact the two main sponsors of H998, Representatives Linda Johnson and Paul Stam.

Thank you, and God bless you for helping.

Elizabeth D. Wickham, Ph.D.
Executive Director, LifeTree
http://www.lifetree.org/
lifetree@lifetree.org.nospam (remove the ".nospam")
919-785-0855 or 919-481-4190
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 done this sort of thing before, here are some tips:
http://www.lifetree.org/HowToLobby4b.html

Their offices are:
Bill Culpepper: 404 Legislative Office Building
Richard Morgan: 301 Legislative Office Building (LOB)
Jim Black: 2304 Legislative Building (LB)

Time is very short, so please make your calls or visits as soon as possible.