Letter Writing Team

Joining our Letter Writing Team is a dynamic opportunity to advance the cause of life in a pro-abortion culture!  You will have the opportunity to look more deeply into the issues that are being debated, and to formulate your own thoughts more succinctly on these important life issues.

How to become a part of the Letter Writing Team.

1) Send us your name and contact information so that we can communicate effectively with you.*

Write us an e-mail to off...@righttolife.to telling us that you would like to be on the Team and how we can get in touch with you.

2) Familiarize yourself with our Mission Statement, our History and some of the Issues that we are working on.

3)  Keep your eyes peeled!  You will be looking for reporting in the news and print media that is inaccurate or unfairly biased, or just for current issues that need public awareness.  The areas of relevance are:

• • Abortion
  • Women’s health after abortion
  • Population rates and how abortion affects them
  • Euthanasia and Physician Assisted Suicide
  • Embryonic Stem Cell Research
  • The Human Reproductive Technologies, such as InVitro Fertilization, cloning, embryo adoption.

4) Write your letter and submit it to us at off...@righttolife.to, or mail it to our office.

5) We will check it for accuracy and minor grammatical editing.  You may submit your letter to the relevant news outlet using your name and ours, if you choose.  However, if you use our name, Toronto Right to Life reserves the right to see and edit all letters to the editor sent on our behalf.

6) As our team grows we would like to be able to contact you when we need a timely response to an important issue in the media.

How to be effective in getting your letter published.

• Each newspaper will have a section about “Letters to the Editor.” Make sure you follow these rules so that the chances of publishing your letter are not frustrated by a technicality.
• Submit the letter by e-mail, but also send it via fax or postal (snail) mail.  E-mails are very easy to miss and your letter will more likely be read and considered if it comes in by these other methods.
• Send your letter to just one paper at a time.  If that paper refuses to print it, then try another.
• Many of the issues that you will be responding to will be time-sensitive.  Write your reply to something that you have read as soon as possible. Waiting more than a day (or two at the most) will significantly decrease the likelihood of being published.
• Cover letters area a good idea if you are sending a fax.
• Contact the head of the editorial department the same day that you submit the letter to ensure its safe arrival and also to draw more attention to it. Statistics show that the personal phone call increases the chances that your letter will be published.
• Do not write more than six times a year. Writing too frequently will diminish the effectiveness of your position because you may come across as a “fanatic”.
• Letters should embrace the very spirit that you are trying to encourage. In other words, if you are seeking a culture of common cause, love, hope, faith, and good will, then your letter should be written in a spirit of common cause, love, hope, faith, and good will. Your letter should never attack, dehumanize, insult, threaten, or divide. Always assume the best intentions on the part of those to whom the letter is directed ­ especially if your letter is directed to the newspaper itself. Seeing the best in people is more likely to bring the best out of them. Insulting people with rude, angry, defensive, or unkind remarks, even if they are clever and humorous, will likely harden the division that already exists, and may even anger people who would otherwise agree with you in principle.
• If your letter is published, send a very short ‘thank you’ letter, email or voicemail.
• And make sure that we receive a copy of your letter as we may publish it also in our quarterly newsletter!

*Please note: all information is strictly confidential and Toronto Right to Life will never sell or divulge any contact information that you give to us.