Enthusiastic Crowds Prove Unborn Have "A Friend for Life".(30th annual National Right to Life's convention)(Brief Article)

Over 1,200 pro-lifers from every part of the United States and beyond came together in Pitts-burgh, Pennsylvania, June 27-29 to enjoy National Right to Life's 30th annual convention. NRLC's annual three-day educational feast provided a superb setting for some of the Movement's very finest speakers who spoke to and interacted with an audience whose enthusiasm was palpable from the opening general session.

"Sometimes everything just gets off on the right foot and it's as if that momentum carries over," said Jacki Ragan, convention coordinator. "The atmosphere was electric that first morning and the attendees clearly were primed for a top-flight educational experience."

Even more than usual, these pro-life champions had a dazzling assortment to choose from. It would be hard to go wrong with the caliber of speakers who graciously agreed to be a part of the pro-life educational event of the year.

Nigel Cameron, Ph.D., offered a penetrating overview of the challenge posed by cloning and related aspects of the biotechnology agenda driven by scientists and venture capitalists. Only a year ago we were assured it would be wrong to "specially create" human embryos for the explicit purpose of harvesting their stem cells. The need would be met, the public was told, by "surplus" embryos "left over" at fertility clinics.

Now there is a loud hue and cry that it is not only not wrong but imperative that human embryos be cloned for the express purpose of mass producing stem cells that are lethally extracted from the cloned embryos. Cameron warned that cloning was the "watershed" issue in the larger battle over whether it will be acceptable to turn humans into manufactured commodities owned by others, the only parallel for which is chattel slavery.

By the time Cal Thomas closed the convention with a stirring speech at the Saturday night closing banquet, convention-goers had 72 workshops, four general sessions, and a Friday morning Prayer Breakfast to select from. Thomas, one of the most widely syndicated columnists in the United States, dedicated his talk to the "little things" pro-lifers do to change a culture of death into a culture of life.

That included everything from writing a letter to the editor (one of the most underrated activities we can do) to making sure everyone we know sees General Electric's life-affirming ad showing its incredibly vivid new 4D ultrasound machine to the quiet work of crisis pregnancy centers.