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CHURCH ‘LIT DROPS’ IS WAY TO WIN

If you want your pro-life candidates to win, “lit drops” at churches is the way to go, two politically savvy speakers advised at the Maryland Right to Life Convention in Baltimore November 12.

Literature drops at pro-life churches work because you are targeting the right audience, said Ernie Ohlhoff, head of National Right to Life’s Department of Outreach.

A recent Gallop poll showed that 74 percent of Catholics and 78 percent of Protestants who attend church weekly think abortion is wrong, said Ohlhoff.

Furthermore, studies indicate that effective pro-life political action can shift the vote 3 to 5 percent, enough to change the outcome of an election.

The church lit drops work so well because “The more you can reach pro-lifers and motivate them without reaching the pro-abortionists, the better your net advantage is,” explained Darla St. Martin, first vice-president of Maryland Right to Life.

“We use a questionnaire to nail candidates down on where they stand,” she said.

“Then, on our flyers, we compare the two candidates:  this guy says this; this gal says that – so people feel they can make a judgment.”

The clearer the difference in positions between the two candidates, the better the chance you have of convincing people to vote for the pro-life candidate, said Ohlhoff.

In a pro-life lit drop campaign, on the Sunday before an election, volunteers distribute flyers in parking lots of churches thought to be pro-life.

“Do not ask the pastor’s permission to conduct the lit drop,” Ohlhoff cautioned, because, although literature distribution is protected by the First Amendment, the pastor is limited as to political involvement.

Sometimes a pastor or other church member will come out and say “Stop!” he said.  “We stop.  We don’t argue.”

Catholic pastors have at times been instructed by the Catholic Conference not to allow lit drops, he said.

“And some priests are dyed-in-the-wool Democrats.

“But we follow the rules closely.  In all the years we’ve been doing this, we’ve had only one or two occasions when the police were called.”

St. Martin said that although some people disparage “single-issue voting,” she believes it is “the most effective way to get rid of politicians who just won’t listen to us:  the politicians sit up and take notice.”

She also favors backing pro-life candidates who have a chance of winning.

“To vote for the perfect candidate instead of the candidate who can win is to help the pro-abortion candidate,” she asserted.

Ohlhoff agreed.  “Any candidate we support has to be a realistic candidate,” he said.  “If the point spread is so wide that there is no chance, we won’t put the money into a race we can’t win.”

To help get out the single-issue, pro-life vote, St. Martin recommended:

Donate to the Maryland Right to Life or National Right to Life PACs.  “You can’t imagine the tragedy of going over what we need to do and saying, ‘We can’t do this,’ or ‘We can’t do that’ because we don’t have the money.”

Volunteer for the Maryland Right to Life PAC.  “The reason we are so effective with a relatively small amount of money is because of our volunteers.”

Thank and encourage pro-life politicians; they need it.  “Pro-abortionists tend to be mean and nasty; they are fairly aggressive and harass the pro-life candidates.”

Get out the vote.  Encourage pro-life friends, family and church members to vote.  Use phone calls, offer rides, get absentee ballots for housebound people.

In the last nation-wide election, Ohlhoff noted, 68 percent of the candidates supported by National Right to Life won.

“We win some, we lose some,” said St. Martin.  “But step by step, we are making progress.”