Pro-Life Groups Launch “Shake the Nation” Campaign



(This article courtesy of the Pro-Life Infonet email newsletter. For more information or to subscribe go to www.prolifeinfo.org or email infonet@prolifeinfo.org.)



WASHINGTON, DC — As members of the U.S. Senate returned to Washington

Tuesday, there was a little something extra in their mailboxes, and it

rattled.

More than two-dozen pro-family and pro-life organizations have joined

together to create the “Shake the Nation Back to Life” campaign. The

signature of the campaign is a baby rattle, with a card attached for

senators. The card states:

“Dear Senator, Please vote to confirm pro-life justices to the U.S.

Supreme Court, and do everything within your power to protect children

from all the brutal methods of abortion.”

More than 20,000 of the rattles were mailed or delivered to senators'

offices Tuesday in anticipation of a scheduled meeting of the Senate

Judiciary, Administrative Oversight, and the Courts subcommittee entitled,

“The Senate's Role in the Nomination and Confirmation Process: Whose

Burden?”

The Florida pro-family group Center for Reclaiming America is spearheading

the campaign. Janet Folger, the Center's director and former legislative

director of Ohio Right to Life, says the rattles are just the first step

in a comprehensive effort that includes television commercials.

“The launch, the kickoff, and the first media buy, was over $2.2 million,

and the first buy will run in the Washington, D.C. market,” Folger said.

“That portion is over $70,000, which will take us through mid-October.”

The first commercial features numerous infants, holding rattles and

pro-life placards, super-imposed into video of the National Mall and other

landmark locations in Washington, D.C. The children are laughing and

smiling until a gavel drops and viewers see a mock newspaper headline

reading, “Supreme Court Okays Abortion.” The infants then begin crying,

and the commercial shows their rattles and posters dropping to the ground,

as the children disappear from the screen. The commercial ends with a

voiceover announcer stating, “Tell your Senator to Shake the Nation Back

to Life.”

Folger believes the positive nature of the commercials, and the large

number of groups supporting the campaign will influence both President

Bush and members of the Senate.

“This is more than an ad campaign,” according to Folger, “there are now 24

national groups – virtually the 'Who's Who' of the pro-life and pro-family

movement that have, for the first time in history, joined together to see

children protected again in our lifetime.”

Folger says the campaign, particularly its television advertising

component, is not targeted just at President Bush and senators.

“We also need to bring a message to the American people, and let the

American people know the truth regarding abortion,” she says. “We know …

that the more the American people know about abortion, the more pro-life

they become.”

Kristi Hamrick, a spokesperson for Shake the Nation, acknowledges that the

current climate of the Senate may not be the most conducive to securing

confirmations for pro-life justices, but she says it can be done.

“Republicans have not been in control of the Senate during many other past

nominations that have gone through. Scalia is a good example,” Hamrick

recalls. “Democrats were in control of the Senate when he did go through.”

While there is no vacancy on the court, three justices — Chief Justice

William H. Rehnquist and Justices John Paul Stevens and Sandra Day

O'Connor — are over 70. Many court watchers expect at least one

retirement within the next few years.

The Shake the Nation television commercial is currently airing on the CNN,

FOX, and MSNBC cable outlets, and on local ABC and CBS television

affiliates in the Washington, D.C. market. Folger says a nationwide

purchase of advertising time is one of the options under consideration by

the Shake the Nation coalition.

Heartbeat International, an association of pregnancy resource centers, has

arranged for at least one collection point in each state, to insure that,

after the rattles have been used to make their political point, they are

ultimately given to newborn babies.

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