By Dave Andrusko

(Left to right) Mary Matalin, Geline B. Williams, NRLC Chairman of the Board Emeritus, and Rachel Campos-Duffy
Imagine a convention that began with the real prospect that a chemical abortion can be reversed if countered early, that was uplifted by the inspirational stories of political consultant Mary Matalin and author/mother/activist Rachel Campos-Duffy, and ended with a Mardi Gras-style “Festival of Life: A Taste of Louisiana,” complete with costumes, beads, jazz band, and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal.
That would be Day One of the annual three-day National Right to Life convention held this year in the New Orleans.
While those may have been the highlights, the very large number of attendees also had 18 different workshops to choose from to sharpen their tools as grassroots activists. And with such a huge number of sessions, the subject matter covered everything from doctor-prescribed suicide, campaign finance laws, and abortion techniques to the never-ending struggle at the United Nations, to working with the press, and tips on how to best use the Internet to move the message of life at breakneck speed.
Dr. George Delgado explained the science behind reversing chemical abortions (RU-486 or mifepristone) and provided numerical and video evidence of success. Progesterone is the natural hormone in a woman’s body that is instrumental in nurturing and sustaining a pregnancy.
Mifepristone doesn’t directly attack the baby; it deprives him or her of their lifeline. It blocks progesterone’s actions by binding to progesterone receptors in the uterus and the placenta.

Gov. Bobby Jindal addressed the crowd.
How do Dr. Delgado and more than 300 physicians reverse the effects of mifepristone? They overwhelm the mifepristone by “flooding the system”—by giving extra progesterone — in the process reversing the effects of mifepristone about 60 percent of the time.
Mary Matalin amused and educated her large audience with many personal anecdotes that illustrated how her pro-life commitment, in effect, moved from head knowledge to heart knowledge.
She began on a very serious note. She lost her first baby in a miscarriage. And when she became pregnant again, at 42, and heard her baby’s heartbeat (this was before sophisticated four color, real-time ultrasounds) for the first time, “My universe changed,” Matalin told her audience. “It was a universe-shattering experience.”
Rachel Campos-Duffy is an accomplished author, television personality, mother of seven “awesome kids,” and the wife of pro-life Rep. Sean Duffy (R-Wis.) In just 20 minutes she not only debunked the bogus pro-abortion myth of a pro-life “war on women,” but demonstrated that it is pro-lifers in general, pro-life women in particular, who are “the greatest defenders of women’s rights.”
She cited the horrific worldwide attacks on women and girls and asked repeatedly where is the voice of outrage from pro-abortion feminists. Closer to home, Mrs. Duffy offered the story of a celebrity couple that reportedly used IVF to seek only a male child (The couple denied using sex-selection.)
Mrs. Duffy’s point was that the news sparked an influx of calls. Most people didn’t know of the technology and wanted to avail themselves of it. Almost always the “preferred” child is a boy.
The first day included a number of great videos, including the winner of the NRLC video contest and an advance look at a pro-adoption movie that will feature the true life story of an almost-aborted baby which culminated years later with a reunion of the near-victim—now a young man–and his birth parents
The theme of the importance of young people was the connecting thread the first day. NRLC’s Derrick Jones and Wisconsin Right to Life’s Joleigh Little reminded us that there is a parallel Teens for Life convention taking place and that this year marks the 30th annual National Teens for Life convention.
Bryan Kemper, the founder of Stand True Ministries, a Christ-centered pro-life group, was one of the many great speakers addressing the teens. He reminded the teens that every age faces a great evil and abortion is the evil of their age. But, he told them, “You are not the future of the pro-life movement. You are the heart of the pro-life movement.”