CARY-Nancy Lischwe kept envisioning baby booties. Thousands of them.
 The full-time mom from Cary felt compelled three years ago to give an identity to the approximately 4,000 babies that are lost to abortion daily in America. She thought, "What do 4,000 look like?"

Her inspiration, with a little help from her friends, turned into LifeTree: a Christmas tree-shaped structure that dangles 4,000 baby booties as a remembrance of those children who are aborted every day. The tree has now spawned its own non-profit organization, and Lischwe and LifeTree cohort Betty Wickham have become activists in pro-life causes in North Carolina. The tree is shared with communities all over the state; it's current stop is Wilmington, where it has been placed inside a church for the first time. It is also erected every year at the March for Life in Raleigh.

"The whole concept of LifeTree is wonderful," said Barbara Holt, executive director of N.C. Right to Life. "It's a sign to the community as a whole, telling them how many abortions there are every day."

Lischwe and Wickham are now influencing legislators on the issues of abortion and contraception. Both ladies' recent doggedness led them to challenge State Sen. James Forrester (R-Gaston) to determine how much the state employees' major medical plan is paying for abortions and contraceptive drugs. They were disturbed that the legislature, in considering the elimination of "lifestyle" drugs from the employees' health plan to save money, were not looking at lifestyle options such as abortion and contraception.

"We don't see fertility as a medical problem," said Lischwe.

The numbers that Forrester retrieved were staggering. North Carolina taxpayers have spent more than $3.3-million on abortion procedures for state employees over the past five years. In addition, more than $4.3 million was paid out for contraceptive drugs during the last three years.

In an analysis of the figures, Lischwe and Wickham discovered that the state plan was paying an average of $1700 per abortion procedure. Abortions from licensed clinics usually don't cost more than $500. LifeTree is now working with Rep. Russell Capps (R-Wake) to find out the reasons for the large discrepancies.

Both ladies are Catholic, and campaign strongly against the use of contraception. They have written about the dangers of birth control pills, saying that they are often abortifacient. They lobbied last year against a state bill that mandated all health insurance plans that cover prescription drugs and devices to cover all FDA approved contraceptive drugs and devices. The bill eventually passed.

Still, they are lobbying hard on the employees' insurance plan issue. The state employee health benefit plan has a $50 million premium shortfall, and legislators are looking for benefits to cut.

"If they're looking for ways to reduce this $50 million hole, (abortion and contraceptives) are two way to achieve it," said Lischwe.