Pro-Life Training Program Series
Planning physical aspects,
tactics is vital
By Janet Baker
Treasurer,Pro-Life Maryland, Inc.
No pro-life effort should be undertaken without adequate
planning.
Planning is not a useless preliminary. In Luke 14:28-33 Jesus
comments on how a king preparing to war against another
king first considers his ability to do so.
Last time, we listed six elements of planning:
- The mission
- The focus of the mission
- Opponents of the mission
- Available resources
- The physical environment
- Pro-life tactics
Continuing from where we left off,we will look at the physical
environment.
Recently,some of us picketed the appearance of
Ted Kennedy at a Catholic function, on the eve of Hurricane
Isabel's descent upon Maryland.
Had Isabel accelerated her appearance,
I would have canceled the picket because: 1) the high
winds would have rendered dangerous the carrying of large picket
signs, and 2) the hurricane would probably have caused
the cancellation of the Kennedy debacle itself.
Other things to consider, particularly for street activities
are: 1) in hot weather, can folks get something to drink? 2)
are rest room facilities available? 3) will picketers be suitably
visible to achieve maximum impact?
When planning a picket, it
is wise to reconnoiter the scene beforehand to plan for travel
routes, parking and optimum placement of picketers.
Another facet of the physical environment to consider is
what else is on the calendar. One probably would not want to
schedule a major event on the July 4th weekend or the last week
in December; many pro-lifers will be away for these holidays
or spending time with families, etc.
A troublesome scheduling
bugaboo for pro-lifers happens in October, particularly the
first Sunday, which is "Pro-Life Sunday."
Not every
pro-life group has to schedule all their big activities then.
That creates competition among pro-lifers, and is symptomatic
of a lack of communication and cooperation between them.
There are 11 other months during the year in
which we should be just as pro-life in our focus! Moving onto
the sixth element, Brian Clowes defines "tactic" as
a "method or technique used to accomplish short-term or
long-term goals in support of the overall strategy."
Pro-life
tactics can be divided into three categories:
- Direct action - face-to-face contacts with women considering
abortions, which saves specific babies from being killed.
These include sidewalk counseling, praying outside abortion
mills, rescues, and working in crisis pregnancy centers and
sheltering homes.
- Support activities - assist in stopping abortion in general.
Includes political activity,offensive legal action, all types
of education.
- Foundation activities- essential to all pro-life activities.
Clowes identifies four: training,recruitment,information and
prayer. I add two: communication and solidarity. Clowes mentions
that direct action will never stop abortion completely; that will happen through the other two types of activities.
I agree. Still, I believe that every activist should commit
to spending one morning or afternoon at least monthly in direct
action.
In that way he will see firsthand the crying need of
women; it will help prevent pro-life activism from being just
"a good thing to do," but rather one that is critical
for the survival and salvation of real, flesh-and blood people,
and civilization itself.
Secondly,the activist will be convinced
that we are dealing with spiritual warfare here. Satan is behind
abortion,which is the closest he can come to deicide.
The activist will be convinced of his need to bolster his
spiritual life by prayer, frequent reception of the sacraments
of Penance and the Eucharist and of not tolerating sin in his
personal life.
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