Final Hearing in Atlanta for HR 536 and HB1
I want to encourage all of our prolifers out there that this has been a successful pro-life run for us. HR 536 was tabled following the hearing yesterday, which means that it is dead. HB1 was passed to the main Judiciary committee with a recommendation to fail. That sounds a little confusing, but it means that the bill is still live, but it’s chance of making it to the House floor is very low.
It was clear that the committee had decided to table HR 536 long before this week. There’s a lot of blame shifting going on within the pro-life world about why this happened. Is it the Archdiocese fault? Is it Georgia Right to Life’s fault? I think that these are distracting issues. The bottom line is that the abortion industry in Atlanta has been running rampant since 1973, and that isn’t going to be undermined in 6 hours of committee testimony.
There are two main ways power is wielded, I think. First, it is wielded from the shadows, those who hold the power control and manipulate the people or civil government officials that we communicate with and elect. Second, sometimes a leader emerges who holds the hearts and minds of the people, and can effect sweeping change by leading the grassroots fervor.
Right now in Georgia our prolife leadership is a bit tangled and off track. GRTL and the Archdiocese are not in cohesive union the way they have been for years. But all of us little people are finding one another, getting educated and getting involved. This is the real triumph. An educated population in Georgia will bring deeper, lasting change. For so long we thought that abortion was being handled and was minimal in Georgia. The ugly truth of the thousands of children slaughtered in Atlanta, the abortionists who operate in violation to law, and civil authorities who sweep the entire thing under the rug is becoming known.
So where do we go from here? First, I would encourage you to inundate Wendell Willard’s office with courteous requests to give HB1 a hearing. His email address: and his phone number 404-656-5125, and fax number: 404-657-8277.
Next we need to come together and develop a strategy for working together in the next couple of months. We are in an election year, and there are a lot of options available to us on how best to proceed in our efforts to abolish abortion this year.
Whatever you do, do not get bogged down or depressed. Obstacles merely assist in pointing out the right way. When Edison created the lightbulb, first he had to figure out 1,000 ways a light bulb was not built. All of these efforts are building blocks for the victory that is in Georgia’s future. Thank you for all your involvement. We are off to a good start. Stay posted for the time and place for the big planning meeting!