We recently asked you to urge your U.S. Representatives to
sign the discharge petition
and vote to pass the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act (
H.R. 962
). Your actions helped to get 199 Representatives to sign it, but
we still need 19 more
to reach the 218 needed to force a vote on the bill. To get 19 more signers, we are focusing particular grassroots efforts on 45 Democratic House Members (see target list below) who, for various reasons, have been identified as possibly persuadable to support the petition if enough of their constituents urge them to sign it. Diocesan pro-life directors and state Catholic conferences covering those 45 districts have already been contacted and provided with a resource kit to help them mobilize constituents.
For those of you with Representatives who have already signed the petition, (
see signers here
), there is no further action necessary.
For those who have Representatives who
haven’t signed but are not on the target list
, we are pleased to provide you now with the same resource kit as those in the targeted districts.
Even though your Representatives may be less persuadable to sign the petition than those who were targeted, there are still good reasons to ask constituents to urge them to do so. One reason is that this grassroots effort will help inform the public that sometimes babies survive abortion attempts, are born alive, and then are left alone to die or are even killed. And the public will also learn why better protections are needed and how the Born-Alive bill will provide those protections.
Those in the targeted districts were asked to target the weekends of May 25–26 and/or June 1–2 for action in your local parishes. We realize that you may need more time to prepare for a targeted weekend. If so, feel free to choose a later weekend but please try to pick a weekend prior to mid-July.
In addition to targeted weekend action in parishes, constituents are encouraged to schedule a meeting with their representative or attend a town hall meeting while he/she is in the home district. Congress will be on recess May 27–31, July 1–5, and August 5–31. The lobbying guide mentioned in the list below provides helpful tips on how to have a constructive meeting with your representative.
The resource kit, included with this memo, includes the following: