Come lobby for Life next Tuesday!

Pro-life Texans: As a coalition, RNC for Life is working with other pro-life groups here in Texas to pass good pro-life, pro-family legislation during this session. We will keep you apprised of bills and actions that may interest you and would appreciate your support of them.

Here is an opportunity next week to lobby our legislature on behalf of some good pro-life bills. Please join us!

Join Texans from across the state next Tuesday at the Capitol in Austin to promote pro-life bills at the

• Training: This one-day event will train and equip you to successfully advocate for critical pro-life bills and to help defeat dangerous bills. You will make a difference at the Capitol that day, and you will take back information for your church or organization.
• Lobbying: You will meet with and lobby your own (and possibly other) state senator and state representative through Capitol office visits, since personal visits generally have the greatest impact of all constituent communications.
• Committee Hearing: You will have the opportunity that same day to attend a pro-life bill Committee hearing on SB 97* by Sen. Dan Patrick (R-Houston) which will be heard in the Health and Human Services Committee, chaired by Sen. Jane Nelson (R-Flower Mound).
• Legislative Process: You will learn how bills become law and how to be part of the process from your home, including tracking bills and receiving email alerts.

OVERVIEW 

What:  Pro-Life Lobby Day
When:  12 Noon, Tuesday, February 26. Training: Noon-2 PM. Lobbying: 2-4 PM. (Lunch on your own.) Debriefing: 4-5 PM
Where:  Capitol Extension, Level E2 (2nd floor underground), Room E2.028 (map). Enter through the main building. 
Parking:  Visitor Parking garage is located at 1201 San Jacinto (map), just east of the Capitol and a few block west of IH 35.
Who:  All pro-life leaders and individuals. Children with parents are welcome.
Cost:  None
Please register in advance, so we can make appointments for you.  For more information or to register, call 512.477.1244 or email Deirdre Cooper at deirdre@texasallianceforlife.org. Include your name, street address (so we can identify your state senator and representative), and phone number.

Issues and bills you will be trained on include:

• Defunding Planned Parenthood. Last session the Legislature shifted public funds away from Planned Parenthood by as much as $29 million per year. However, more needs to be done, especially if the Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare) is fully implemented in Texas.
• Improving Abortion Facility Safety Standards. Sen. Dan Patrick (R-Houston) has authored SB 97 to require that physicians performing abortions with RU 486 and other abortion-inducing drugs follow FDA safety regulations, which is not currently the case in Texas.SPECIAL NOTE

  : SB 97 will be considered by the Senate Health and Human Services Committee on Tuesday, February 26. You will be able to watch the committee hearing and lobby to help pass this critically needed bill. Sen. Jane Nelson (R-Flower Mound) chairs this Committee.

• Other Safety Standards. Physicians should be required to have hospital privileges near the place they perform abortions, and the law should protect women from being coerced into abortion.
• Restoring Parents Rights by Reforming the Judicial Bypass. Texas has a highly successful law requiring physicians to get the written, notarized consent of parents before performing abortions on minor girls, 17 years of age and younger. In the six years since that law went into effect, abortions on minors have dropped 27%. However, current law allows a judge to issue a court order for a secret abortion without parental consent. That court proceeding, called the judicial bypass, has many loopholes that undermine parents’ rights.
• Human Cloning, Embryonic Stem Cell Research, and Adult Stem Cell Research and Treatment. Already two bills have been introduced and heard in committee that address these critical issues.
• “Wrongful Birth” Lawsuits. In Texas the parents of a child born with a disability like Down’s Syndrome can sue the doctor if they believe they were not given sufficient information about the disability in time to abort the child.
• Fetal Pain.  Several states already have banned abortions after 20 weeks due to the pain that the fetus can feel by that stage of development. Gov. Perry, Lt. Gov. Dewhurst and other pro-life legislators favor this type of legislation.
• And other Issues

• Wednesday, March 20, 10 AM – 4 PM, Capitol Extension E2.001 (Texas Alliance for Life)
• Faith and Family Lobby Day is Tuesday, March 26. Details at http://texasfaithandfamily.com/
• Thursday, April 18, 10 AM – 4 PM, Capitol Extension E2.001  (Texas Alliance for Life)
• Wednesday, May 8, 10 AM – 4 PM, Capitol Extension E2.001  (Texas Alliance for Life)
• Catholic Faith in Action Advocacy Day is Tuesday, April 9 http://www.txcatholic.org/news/events

Hope to see YOU at one of more of these lobbying events!

RNC for Life Executive Director

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