Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 7, 1992 TAG: 9202070290
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: KIM SUNDERLAND NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Medium
ANTI-ABORTION GROUP REORGANIZING CHAPTER
The New River Valley Chapter of the Virginia Society for Human Life, an anti-abortion group, will have a reorganization meeting Tuesday starting at 7 p.m. in the Radford Municipal Building."We want to educate the public on the realities of abortion," said chapter Chairwoman Lynn Morris.
"We want to make them understand what abortion is: It is not pro-choice."
Morris, a preschool teacher in Radford, said the 2-year-old chapter has 200 people in the valley on its mailing list.
She hopes more people will attend next week's meeting.
"We need people to be the voices of truth," she said Thursday.
"If people realize the atrocities of abortion, they can't help but have a voice against it."
Morris said that it is a coincidence that the group's reorganization is occurring during an election year and at a time when controversial U.S. Supreme Court decisions on abortion are likely.
The chapter is the local arm of the National Right to Life Committee and is the only active group in Virginia's 9th Congressional District.
Galax also has a chapter, but district Coordinator Karen Brown of Blacksburg said it is not active.
"We're always trying to get people organized," said Brown, an adjunct professor at New River Community College.
The chapter promotes community awareness of euthanasia, infanticide and abortion, Brown said, but currently is rallying around the abortion issue.
She said the group does not interfere with abortion clinics, but lobbies legislators and sponsors educational activities.
The chapter hopes to see the federal ban on abortion counseling at clinics that receive federal money upheld.
It also would like to see Virginia's parental notification bill passed. The House of Delegates approved such a bill Thursday; earlier this week, the Senate Education and Health Committee rejected a parental notification bill.
Tuesday's meeting is open to the public.
For further information on the Virginia Society for Human Life's New River Valley Chapter, call Brown at 951-1846 or Morris at 639-5425. RICHMOND (AP) - The House of Delegates today voted 63-36 to pass a bill to require parental notification when an unmarried minor seeks an abortion.