Use easy ICAN service to encourage legislators to enact pro-life laws

Criterion staff report

As the Indiana General Assembly gears up for the special session starting on July 25 to discuss abortion legislation, among other topics, all Catholics are encouraged to reach out to their legislators and encourage them to promote pro-life legislation.

The Indiana Catholic Action Network service (ICAN) of the Indiana Catholic Conference (ICC)—the public policy voice for the Church in Indiana—has made this imperative task simple, including finding your specific legislators based on your ZIP code and providing draft messages that can be modified and sent to those legislators.

To send a message or to call your legislators asking them to protect the life of the unborn and promote services that help women and children, go to indianacc.org/action-alerts and select “Encourage Legislators to Support Unborn Life in Special Session.” Add to the “Message Body” if desired. Next, add the required information under “Enter Your Info” (home address is required to identify the appropriate legislators to contact). To receive action alert e-mails in the future regarding legislation of importance to the Church’s values and teachings, select “Send me e-mail alerts.”

If you wish to contact your legislators by e-mail, click on “Send Message.” If you wish to call your legislators, click on the telephone “Call” button, select which legislator to call, and a screen will appear with their phone number and the text of the drafted message.

ICAN also lets you find and contact your legislators about non-action alert legislation. Go to indianacc.org/action-alerts and choose “Elected Officials” under “Find Officials.” Enter your ZIP code, click on the arrow then enter your street address. Click the arrow again, then a list of federal and state officials specific to your location will appear.

To contact a specific official, click on their name for their address, phone number(s), e-mail address and media sites.

To send an e-mail message to multiple officials simultaneously, check the box next to each person’s name then click on the “Compose Message” button at the bottom of the page.

On the next page, enter the requested information and your message, then click “Send Message” at the bottom of the page.

For more information on the ICC, to view the latest ICAN action alerts and to listen to ICAN podcasts, go to indianacc.org. †