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For our latest posts, please go to http://ncrtl.org/blog/, or look on our website under the "about us" tab. 

Registration for Camp Joshua is Open!

Registration for our second annual Camp Joshua, held at the Short Journey Retreat Center in Smithfield, is now open!

What is Camp Joshua? Quite simply, an exciting pro-life weekend camp for high school students! At Camp Joshua, we train teens to be pro-life leaders now and in the future. We know that college-age women are the largest demographic receiving abortions, and it's essential that we teach our teens what being pro-life means, why being pro-life is important, and how they can be effective pro-life leaders in their communities. In short, they need to be able to defend their pro-life beliefs. 

Our goal is to teach the basic facts of pro-life issues like abortion and euthanasia, as well as the skills to communicate these facts well. As our website says, "Just as Joshua brought down the walls of Jericho, the young men and women of Camp Joshua will lead their generation in bringing down the walls of the culture of death. They will be Be Joshua to our world in need." 

So what can you do to help these young leaders-in-training?

• Promote! Do you attend a school, church, or homeschool group that would be willing to send students to Camp Joshua? Promoting our camp in your community is a great way to help us expand this awesome program. We can provide posters, flyers, and even a speaker!
  
• Attend! Send your teens to Camp Joshua! They'll learn a lot, make new friends, and have a wonderful time. We're also in need of college-aged volunteers to help as counselors at the camp.
  
• Donate! Unfortunately, camps don't run themselves, and your generous donations ensure that we can continue this program now and in the future. All funds raised go towards student scholarships, basic materials like binders and T-shirts, and overhead administrative expenses. 

If you have any questions about Camp Joshua, our mission, the camp schedule, or how to be more involved, please don't hesitate to contact Erin at ncrtl.erin@gmail.com. 

Camp Joshua 2014 will be July 18-20 in Smithfield, NC. Cost is $95 per student, which includes food and lodging, materials, and a T-shirt. 

NRLC, Representative Stam Endorse Tillis for Senate

Rep. Thom Tillis

This week, both National Right to Life and Representative Paul "Skip" Stam have endorsed Speaker of the NC House Thom Tillis for U.S. Senate. 

In a statement released by National Right to Life, president Carol Tobias describes Tillis as "an outspoken leader in the fight to protect innocent human life in North Carolina, and . . . the only candidate with a proven record of leadership who can defeat pro-abortion Sen. Kay Hagan this fall.

Representative Stam also notes Tillis' excellent pro-life accomplishments as Speaker of the House in the General Assembly. He additionally comments on his solid conservative leadership and ability to work with Democrats and Republicans alike to pass commonsense legislation on the state level. 

Representative Tillis and several other Republican candidates will be on the May 6 primary ballot. Please encourage your pro-life friends to vote!

Oratory Contest for High School Students

The annual Jane B. Thompson Oratory Contest (Regional Competition) will be May 17, 2014, in Greensboro! 

To participate, interested high school juniors and seniors should fill out the registration form and prepare a 5-7 minute speech on a pro-life topic. Appropriate issues include abortion, infanticide, euthanasia/assisted suicide, and stem cell research.

The winner of the regional competition will receive admittance to Camp Joshua NC, as well as a chance to compete in the national competition at the National Right to Life Convention in June. As the national competition is in Louisville, KY, our regional winner will receive up to $300 to be used for travel expenses to the convention. 

At the national competition, regional winners from each state compete for the $1000 prize and the opportunity to give their speech at the popular closing banquet. 

For more information or to register, please visit http://ncrtl.org/ncrtl-oratory-contest/. 

Stephen Holly, 2013 Regional Winner

Academy Deadline Extended!

It's not too late! College students interested in receiving an outstanding education from the leaders of the pro-life movement still have time to apply to the National Right to Life Academy.

The NRL Academy is a five week summer program located in Washington, D.C., at National Right to Life's headquarters. Students spend their days studying with the country's experts on abortion, euthanasia, and
medical ethics; by completing the course, students can earn three college credits through the Franciscan University of Steubenville's Human Life Studies program. 

Although the Academy's curriculum is challenging, the summer is not without fun! Attendees have ample time in the evenings and on the weekends to explore the city and visit its many attractions. Best of all? You're guaranteed to make solid pro-life friendships with people from all over the country. 

North Carolina has had the privilege of sending a total of five students to the NRL Academy since its founding in 2007. This is, in part, due to the Scholarship for Life, a full-tuition scholarship for one NC student each year. 

Still need convincing? Here's what some of our graduates have to say about the Academy:

"This summer has reaffirmed and strengthened my knowledge and hope of the pr-life movement. I have made connections that I will cherish for a lifetime. I am truly blessed to be chosen to this lifetime opportunity." -Will Moore, 2013

"The Academy has made me more aware of how much we have accomplished in the movement and how much work that needs to be done. It renewed my enthusiasm to protect the vulnerable among us." -Teresa Pincus, 2012

"My five weeks at the Academy gave me a greatly expanded knowledge about various life issues, but more importantly, I learned how to effectively implement that knowledge by practicing lobbying, debating, and giving speeches. I still use these important skills in discussions today.... The Academy is a place where pro-life students can meet each other and form lasting friendships in support for life." -Sarah Urdzik, 2012 

To apply to the Academy, simply send in the form found here. Then, fill out the Scholarship for Life application and inform our office of your interest in attending the Academy. 

Save the Date!

The 44th Annual National Right to Life Convention is just around the corner! This year, join pro-lifers from all over the country in Louisville, Kentucky, from June 26-28 for informational workshops, inspiring speeches, and an all-around great time! 

This year's speakers include National Right to Life President Carol Tobias; Kathryn Jean Lopez, editor-at-large of The National Review Online; Bobby Schindler, executive director of the Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network; and many more! 

Registration is now open, with many different rates to choose from (adult, senior, student, couple, etc). Teenagers who would enjoy learning more about pro-life issues are also welcome to attend, as the Teens for Life Convention meets at the same time. For families with small children, complete childcare services are available. 

Special events, such as the Prayer Breakfast and Closing "Stand for Life!" Banquet, require additional tickets. 

Visit the convention website for more information!

National Right to Life Releases Report, "The Affordable Care Act and Health Care Access in the United States"

From the National Right to Life Committee: 

“THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT AND HEALTH CARE ACCESS
IN THE UNITED STATES”
National Right to Life Releases New Report
Examining the Effect of the Affordable Care Act in the United States

WASHINGTON – With a March 31, 2014, deadline impending for open enrollment in the insurance exchanges established by “The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act” (also known as Obamacare), the Robert Powell Center for Medical Ethics at the National Right to Life Committee today issued a new report, “The Affordable Care Act and Health Care Access in the United States.” The report analyzes four fundamental policy areas of Obamacare and concludes that they will drastically limit access to life-saving medical treatment under the law. These four areas include: the “excess benefit” tax coming into effect in 2018, the current exclusion of adequate health Insurance plans from the exchanges, present limits on senior citizens’ ability to use their own money for health insurance, and federal limits on the care doctors give their patients to be implemented as soon as 2016.

“For pro-life Americans concerned about the impact on innocent human life—both born and unborn—the policies of Obamacare couldn’t be worse,” said Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life. “Americans are just as concerned with the law’s impact on our ability to access life-saving medical treatment for ourselves, our family members, and our loved ones as with Obamacare’s funding of abortions. Obamacare is bad medicine for America.”

Since it was first debated in Congress, National Right to Life’s Powell Center for Medical Ethics has argued that key provisions of Obamacare would limit what Americans could spend—out of their own funds—to access life-saving medical treatment. As the Center’s new report concludes, Americans will see a significant shift in how they are able to access health care, and just what types of treatment they will be able to obtain.

As documented by media reports and the language of the law itself, Obamacare will limit access to life-saving treatment in four different ways:

1. Obamacare imposes a 40% excise tax on employer-paid health insurance premiums above a governmentally imposed limit that does not keep up with medical inflation. Consequently, insurance companies will be forced to impose increasingly severe restraints on policy-holders’ access to medical diagnosis and treatment—limits that will make it harder to get often-expensive treatments essential to combatting life-threatening illnesses.

2. Under Obamacare, consumers using the exchanges may only choose plans offered by insurers who do not allow their customers to spend what government bureaucrats deem an “excessive or unjustified” amount for their health insurance – regardless of whether the insurers offer such plans inside or outside of the exchanges established by the law.

3. Most senior citizens know that the law will significantly cut government funding for Medicare, but they may not be aware of the law’s provision allowing Washington bureaucrats to prevent them from making up the Medicare shortfall with their own funds by limiting their right to spend their own money to obtain insurance less likely to limit treatments that could save their lives.

4. The “Independent Payment Advisory Board” is directed to recommend measures to limit spending on health care to a growth rate below medical inflation – not just for Medicare, but also for all private, nongovernmental health care spending. The federal Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) is then authorized to implement these measures by placing limits on the treatments providers may give their patients by requiring them to abide by so-called “quality and efficiency standards” imposed by HHS.

“Obamacare authorizes Washington bureaucrats to create one uniform, national standard of care that is designed to limit what private citizens are allowed to spend to save their own lives,” stated Burke Balch, J.D., director of the Robert Powell Center for Medical Ethics. “We are convinced most Americans do not believe that the government should limit the right of Americans to use their own money for health care necessary to save their lives. Yet, that is exactly what Obamacare does. ”

The report is available from the National Right to Life Communications Department here:www.nrlc.org/communications/healthcarereport.

Founded in 1968, National Right to Life, the federation of 50 state right-to-life affiliates and more than 3,000 local chapters, is the nation's oldest and largest grassroots pro-life organization. Recognized as the flagship of the pro-life movement, NRLC works through legislation and education to protect innocent human life from abortion, infanticide, assisted suicide and euthanasia.