MASSIVE NATIONWIDE PRO-LIFE POSTCARD CAMPAIGN UNDERWAY

DATE:           February 4, 2009
FROM:           Don Clemmer, USCCB Department of Communications
 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WASHINGTON— The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has launched a national postcard campaign urging Congress to maintain widely-supported pro-life policies and to oppose the federal funding and promotion of abortion. Launched on January 24-25, the campaign is being coordinated through the USCCB’s partner organization, the National Committee for a Human Life Amendment (NCHLA).

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To date, tens of millions of cards have already been distributed across the country—to parishes, schools, non-Catholic churches, and civic organizations—with orders continuing to come in. The majority of Catholic dioceses are participating.
           

Since 1993, NCHLA has facilitated national postcard campaigns equipping citizens to express their pro-life views clearly and respectfully to Congress. The current campaign is unprecedented in scope and is expected to exceed any sponsored by the Catholic bishops in the past.
           

Deirdre A. McQuade, Assistant Director for Policy and Communications at the USCCB’s Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities, explained the need for the postcard campaign:
 
“Abortion advocates are newly energized because Congress has the most pro-abortion members in 16 years. Their radical agenda would turn abortion into a fundamental ‘right’ that the government would have to subsidize with taxpayer monies.
 
One such effort was fought back successfully in 1993 when the U.S. bishops mobilized the Catholic faithful in their first nationwide postcard campaign against the so-called ‘Freedom of Choice Act’ (FOCA). Recent sponsors of FOCA have indicated their desire to introduce a similar bill soon, and President Obama has promised to sign it if it reaches his desk.
 
While FOCA would accomplish the abortion promotion agenda all at once, other bills could realize the same agenda in a piecemeal fashion. For example, widely supported pro-life measures in appropriations bills are already at risk, including the longstanding Hyde amendment, which has prohibited the use of taxpayer funds for most abortions, and the Hyde/Weldon amendment preventing government discrimination against health care providers who do not perform or refer for abortions.
 
To guard against the erosion of current pro-life measures—and to keep abortion from becoming a federal entitlement—our voice is needed now more than ever.
 
The massive campaign underway shows clearly that, regardless of how they voted, Catholics want to send a strong message to Congress to protect existing pro-life policies and to oppose the radical promotion of abortion. As cards start flooding in, the new Congress will see that they should not divide our nation with policies that offend the pro-life values of the majority of Americans.”
          
           For more information, visit: www.usccb.org/prolife and click on “National Pro-Life Postcard Campaign.”
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09-032
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