FROM THE DOME
The 108th Congress is in session . . .
what will they be addressing this year?
CLONING
Since the revelation of the Raelian cult and their claim to have cloned a child, the cloning issue is back in the news. A cloning bill has already been introduced in the House and the Senate will have a bill as well to ban all human cloning. Last year a House bill passed with a large majority to ban this procedure, but it never came up for a vote in the Senate. Now that the leadership of the Senate has changed, the bill may get a hearing.
There is a great deal of confusion about this procedure with “therapeutic” cloning being debated and aired in the media. What is the difference between cloning and “therapeutic cloning?” Nothing, except that in “therapeutic” cloning the Federal government will mandate that the clone not be allowed to be implanted in a human being to grow into a person. Instead it will be mandated to kill the clone (the result of harvesting those stem cells for research) and use the product of the cloning for research. What is the possible result of this sleight of hand? We will be federally mandating that a new “sub-group” of human beings be created for the purpose of research, resulting in the death of the subject. There will be no informed consent of the participant in the research, which is the crux of the Nuremburg trials . . . that no human being be subjected to research without their consent. A plentiful supply of human embryos will be produced to satisfy the appetite of science and the biotech industry to use these cells for possible therapies in the future.
The fact that adult stem cells, obtained in the proper way with consent of the donor, have already had great success is being ignored by the media and by some in Congress. Some in Congress remain confused about this issue, hoping that by allowing “therapeutic” cloning or “clone and kill” that they will be helping a person like Christopher Reeves or their grandmother be cured of some horrible disease. The fact is that embryonic stem cells have not been useful in treating diseases, other than stem cells obtained from cord blood. The House version of the ban on cloning will probably pass easily, but there are not enough votes in the Senate to pass the total ban on human cloning. Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) hopes that there can be at least some compromise on this issue . . . at least a moratorium on human cloning until the public can be educated on this issue. He is the sponsor of the Senate version of the bill.
Action: Call Senator Roberts and ask him to be a co-sponsor of the bill. Capitol Switchboard: 877-762-8762 / or call his regional office in your area.
PARTIAL BIRTH ABORTION
It is being reported that there is a three-fold increase in the number of partial-birth abortions being done in the past four years. An estimated 2,200 dilation and extraction abortions, as the abortion industry likes to call the procedure, were conducted in 2000 according to the Alan Guttmacher Institute. In a survey of all known U.S. abortion facilities, it was found that partial-birth abortions account for 0.17 of all abortions. This is compared to 650 reported partial-birth abortions reported in 1996.
Doug Johnson, legislative director of the National Right to Life Committee states, “We think even the new number only represents a fraction of the true number.” He notes that the survey question about the procedure describes the procedure in a confusing and inaccurate way that may provide cover for abortionists who are in fact using the procedure but could claim they are not. Responses are purely voluntary, so abortionists who are performing large numbers might under-report.
The Partial Birth Abortion Ban will most likely be voted on early in the session according to Michael Schwartz, CWA’s vice-president of legislative affairs. It will pass the House, and the Senate probably has the votes to over-ride a filibuster. This is important legislation that the President has indicated he will sign. It has been written to pass muster with the Supreme Court.
Pray that we will end this ghoulish procedure.
THE CHILD CUSTODY PROTECTION ACT
This bill makes it a federal offense to take a child across state lines to avoid a parental consent law in the state in which the child lives. This bill passed by a large margin in the House but failed to be heard in the Senate. This bill is narrowly drawn according to Michael Schwartz and will pass the House again, but will have trouble in the Senate.
THE UNBORN VICTIMS OF VIOLENCE ACT
This bill makes it federal offense to kill or injure an unborn child in a criminal assault against the child’s mother on a location where there is federal criminal jurisdiction.
THE ABORTION NON-DISCRIMINATION ACT
This bill protects health-care providers . . . institutions and individuals . . . from being penalized for refusing to participate in abortion. All of these bills will probably pass the House but the Senate is a different story. Michael Schwartz states that “even Senators that are faithful allies of the abortion lobby need to think about re-election, and opposing these measures puts them on the side of (a) kidnapping, (b) criminal assailants, or (c) forced abortion. These are not winning positions, and it will simply not be possible to hold 40 votes (the number needed to maintain a filibuster) time after time on tough issues such as these.”
Action: Re-affirm your commitment to support regulations for abortion procedures . . . let your senators know you support them in this.
Pass this information on to friends and relatives who live in other states so that they can gently urge their senators to get on board.
Capitol Switchboard: 877-762-8762.
PRAY ABOUT THIS ISSUE . . . IT IS A STRONGHOLD OF THE ENEMY OF OUR SOULS. PRAY THAT THE HOLOCAUST OF ABORTION WILL BE ENDED IN THIS COUNTRY AND THAT ALL LIFE WILL BE PROTECTED.
Planned Parenthood acknowledges that 700,000 abortions were performed in the United States in 2001. Planned Parenthood claims that children “flourish best in families and communities where they are nurtured, honored and loved.” Duh. Wendy Wright, CWA, states that Planned Parenthood believes that children must “earn the right to be nurtured, honored and loved before they can be welcomed into the world. The onus of that statement ought to be on families and parents and communities that we’re nurturing and loving all children.”
A spokeswoman for the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, Marjorie Signer states, “We’re delighted that more people are using emergency contraception, and we’re delighted that there is another choice for people. We hope that in more and more states, it will be available over the counter.” Emergency contraception is a euphemism for pills given to women after unprotected sex that often cause an early abortion. In a small number of cases they do prevent conception, but generally work to keep the embryo from implanting in the womb. The Life Dynamics Institute found that Planned Parenthood’s total liabilities for the 2000-2001 Fiscal Year were $121 million, while total assets were recorded as $774.1 million. Planned Parenthood also maintained $246.1 million in unrestricted assets and another $94.6 million in “temporarily restricted assets.” They call themselves “not-for-profit.” However, most non-profit organizations are set up to help people and they usually try to end up with close to a zero balance, according to Wendy Wright of CWA. [CNSNews.COM, Michael L. Betsch, January 14, 2003]