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Dear John, The cavalry is here! Last night, the SBA List hosted a reception with Students for Life of America and other pro-life leaders to welcome our new pro-life members of Congress who are in town for orientation. An incredible 42 newly-elected Members from across the country joined with veteran pro-life stalwarts for a very special evening of encouragement and mentoring in the fight to defend the sacredness of human life.  A very special moment for me was introducing Senator-elect Kelly Ayotte (R-NH, pictured right) to the crowd, a courageous defender of human life who fills the void of a pro-life woman in the U.S. Senate.
And on the House side, it was so touching to see the ranks of the Pro-Life Women's Caucus grow. Pro-life stalwarts such as Reps. Michele Bachmann, Virginia Foxx, Cynthia Lummis, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Marsha Blackburn and Sue Myrick were joined by newly-elected "mama grizzlies" such as Kristi Noem (SD-AL), Ann Marie Buerkle (NY-25), Renee Ellmers (NC-02), Sandy Adams (FL-24), Martha Roby (AL-02), Vicky Hartzler (MO-04), Jaime Herrera (WA-03), and Diane Black (TN-06). We also heard from the bipartisan dynamic duo—Reps. Chris Smith (R-NJ) and Dan Lipinski (D-IL)—about their bill to end all federal funding of abortion. And to cap it all off, we were joined by the next Speaker of the House John Boehner, who pledged to be a leader in the fight to protect human life. Now, the only thing that could have made the event better was if YOU and every single one of our 280,000 members across the country were there with us. Unfortunately —and this was a good problem to have— it was hard enough to fit this incredible group of pro-life leaders into our reception room! That's why we made sure to take videos and snap pictures so you could be a part of the event. In my personal conversations with these newly-elected Members, they asked me to thank you on their behalf. As you'll see in the videos, they know they could not have reached the halls of Congress without the support of pro-life Americans. That's something they will keep in their hearts and never forget when they're called to be a voice for the voiceless, to stand up for innocent unborn children and their mothers in the halls of Congress. And that time will come, as I lobbied on your behalf for our Stop Abortion Funding campaign and was excited to tell the new and current pro-life members that over 25,000 Americans have signed the petition in under two weeks. Just to remind you, our Stop Abortion Funding campaign is aimed at passing two pieces of legislation that would save lives and protect the conscience of the U.S. taxpayer: • The “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act,” a bipartisan bill sponsored by Reps. Chris Smith (R-NJ) and Dan Lipinski (D-IL), would create a government-wide statutory ban on abortion funding including those funding provisions contained in Obamacare. • The “Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act,” sponsored by Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN), would ensure that abortion providers, including organizations like Planned Parenthood, do not receive federal dollars under the Title X federal family planning assistance program. If you haven't already, please sign our Stop Abortion Funding petition to get these two bills passed, e-mail the petition to your like-minded friends and family, and post the link to all your social networks especially Facebook and Twitter. John, we have a lot of work to do to ensure our electoral victories translate into pro-life legislative victories, but based on my conversations last night and the incredible response to our Stop Abortion Funding campaign, the future looks very bright.  
Marjorie Dannenfelser
President, Susan B. Anthony List
www.sba-list.org P.S. Last night, the SBA List and Students for Life of America held a gathering to welcome new pro-life members of the next Congress. New faces such as Kelly Ayotte, Kristi Noem, Sean Duffy, and Bobby Schilling were joined by veteran pro-life stalwarts, including Reps. Chris Smith, Michele Bachmann, Trent Franks, and Joe Pitts, for an evening of encouragement and mentoring. Since I wish you could have been there with me, we shot some video and snapped some pictures for you to see. | |
