Vital Signs Ministries has a "P.A.L. Night" coming up next Monday evening. This is one of our ongoing letter-writing parties whereby we use a comfortable setting and plenty of encouraging, helpful information in order to be "shiners" not "whiners" as we write letters of advocacy to political representatives, businesses, the press, and others who need to hear from us.Our action targets usually concern sanctity of life issues but we also write about decency, freedom, marriage, excessive taxes and other matters dealing with justice. And, of course, we write thank-you's to the people who respond to our appeals.
Writing letters works!
In fact, in an era of e-mails, text messaging, pre-formatted responses, and other gizmos of modern technology, a personal letter, one that emphasizes the writer's sincerity, strength of commitment, and sense of courtesy, packs more of a punch than ever before!
As an example...well, actually a couple of examples, take a look at the achievements of two superb grassroots pro-life advocates from Virginia. After reading a puff piece about the Morning After Pill in their newspaper (the Hampton Roads' Daily Press), these folks wrote letters giving crucial information that was left out (or even worse, lied about) in that article. Result? They set the record straight in one of a newspaper's most-read sections, the letters to the editor column.
Check 'em out below...and then check out the Vital Signs Ministries "P.A.L. Night" so that you can be a "shiner" too! For details, e-mail us at vitalsigns@vitalsignministries.org
Aaron Thomeer of Yorktown penned this response:
On Jan. 20, Sarah Root wrote a piece called "Improving access to emergency contraception is crucial." In it she states that "Emergency contraception is not an abortion ..." This is only the case because in 1976 the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists changed the definition of contraceptive to mean anything that stopped the implantation of the blastocyst, meaning that for six or seven days after fertilization, terminating the pregnancy, or abortion, would now be considered a form of contraception. There is no reason for this change except for the obvious political advantages it brings.
The point of her piece was that minors should be given easier access to emergency contraception; however, she ignores the right of parents to decide what is best for their children. Minors cannot get their ears pierced without parental consent; why should they be allowed to make, by themselves, such an important decision that will affect multiple lives?
And then Ted and Anne Cors from Williamsburg wrote:
This letter is in response to the Jan. 20 article by Sarah Root, "Improving access to emergency contraception is crucial." We take issue with the article in several areas; however, the theme at the core of the article is particularly egregious and needs to be corrected.
Root states that: "Emergency contraception is not an abortion and cannot affect an existing pregnancy." This is blatantly false. The truth is that in cases where emergency contraception has an effect, 57 percent of the time it prevents implantation in the uterus (thus killing a human being). This is called a chemical abortion.
It is especially fitting that this falsehood be corrected at this time because many thousands of people are participating in "March for Life" events in Washington, D.C., this week, marking the 34th anniversary of the horrendous Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision legalizing the killing of innocent, defenseless human beings.
