Environment for Pro-Life Legislation Getting "Better and Better and Better".

Listen to Mary Spaulding Balch patiently explain the labyrinth that state legislators have to negotiate as they attempt to draft, perfect, and pass legislation and it's easy to see why she is as good as it gets. In answering my questions, her voice quietly rings with expertise, authority, passion, and hope.

That is when she isn't politely putting me on hold to take a call...and another call...and yet another call from people all over America who wish to tap into her vast pool of insight and experience.

"I am confident that we will get solid legislation this session," NRLC's director of state legislation told me, before apologizing for asking me to hold momentarily. A minute later Balch returns to finish her thought: "Just as what we're doing this time around built on recent successes, the progress we make in the states in 2004 will open new doors in 2005."

For NRLC state affiliates, state legislators, and attorneys general searching for the best way to pass or defend a pro-life proposal, Balch's office has long since become control central. It's not hard to understand why.

Success at passing legislation combines lots of experience in the legislative arena, tons of research, a keen appreciation of legislative and judicial dynamics, a vast database, and intuition. "It's both art and science," she explained, as she proceeded to rattle off the status of bills in legislatures all over the country.

Balch's days as a pro-life activist go back to the 1960s. The next time someone mentions "institutional memory," think of Balch. She is a walking repository of what has worked/not worked and why, and she is an authority on gauging what legislation ought to be proposed and - - (most important) - - when.

As of our conversation in early February, Balch described pro-life proposals as "largely at the embryonic stage." At this juncture, she explained, "one of our primary jobs is to get all our ducks in a row - - make sure that the laws we will be offering are as air-tight and error-free as possible."