Why do we need pro-life community organizers?

By Ruben Obregon

In my previous post on the subject, I highlighted the need for pro-life community organizers, and while some people thought it was a great idea, others were confused since it was most recently associated with President Elect Barack Obama.

The concept of community organizing is not a practice owned solely by leftists and communists, and it is not just for stirring up discontent among the "have nots".

Rather, pro-life community organizing involves reaching out to communities with some or all of these goals in mind:

1. Bring the Gospel of Life and crisis pregnancy outreach door to door, family to family, and person to person
2. Distribute pro-life literature and DVDs to every house in a neighborhood
3. Identify and establish relationships with those sympathetic to the unborn
4. Introduce pro-lifers to community efforts to end abortion
5. Organize a strong local pro-life voting block among members of all political parties
6. Dispel the myths put forth by the media and Planned Parenthood
7. Challenge people to think about what they mean by abortion and choice
8. Organize local opposition to Planned Parenthood and other abortion clinics

Across the nation, there are many pro-life leaders who fill the role of community organizer, but there are far too few of them. Just imagine if in communities across the nation we had organizers with the caliber of Joe Scheidler, Chris Slattery, Jill Stanek, and Fr. Frank Pavone - the industry would surely be on its deathbed.

But the reality is that we don't have an army of door-knockers who can help organize local efforts day in and day out. Why? Because many of those who yearn to be full-time organizers have familial and financial obligations. If we want them to work full time in spreading the Gospel of Life and organizing local opposition to child killing, we have to make sure they can can pay the rent and feed their families.

The opposition understands this - as the Activist Next Door blog points out, Pro-choice North Carolina uses paid door-knockers to organize local support for abortion rights. Their website points out the success of a similar annual door-knocking campaign in Minnesota:

'Minnesota NARAL canvass, they have gone from 4,000 members to 45,000 members in 3 years and raised over $1.3 million dollars. As you know numbers and dollars equals power. I know we can match Minnesota's success in our state. "

Pro-life doorknocking is the natural evolution of the effort to stop legalized abortion, and it is probably one of the most effective - and relatively untapped - ways of spreading the Gospel of Life around the local community.

If the movement wants to ratchet up the effort to defend life and hasten the end to legalized abortion, then daily pro-life door knocking is a must.

Stay tuned for next week's launch of a pro-life community organizing initiative...