Legislative Update
Two pro-life issues are set to come before Congress in the near future. Please contact your Senators and Representatives to urge them to vote no on these bills.
Abortions at Military Hospitals
WASHINGTON, D.C.: The Senate is expected to vote next week on whether to stop a filibuster on an amendment, sponsored by Sen. Roland Burris (D-Ill.), which would allow elective abortions at military bases. The Senate Armed Services Committee voted 15-12 for the amendment with all Republicans and Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson voting against it and all other Democrats voting for it. The Senate is expected to vote on Tuesday on a cloture vote on the motion to proceed—with pro-abortion Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid asking senators to end debate so the measure can have an up or down vote. Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi led the fight in the committee against the amendment and planned an amendment of his own to strike the language. However, it appears the Reid motion will not allow Wicker’s amendment to be considered. Current law in effect since 1996 prohibits the performance of abortion by Department of Defense medical personnel or at DOD medical facilities. A separate provision prohibits the use of DOD funds for abortion except to save the life of the mother. See http://www.lifenews.com/nat6696.html.
Embryonic Stem Cell Research
WASHINGTON, D.C.: On Monday Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) proposed legislation that would repeal the Dickey-Wicker amendment thereby authorizing the taxpayer funding of human embryonic stem cell research. This legislation comes after last week’s U.S. Court of Appeals decision that put on hold the injunction barring federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. (The case challenge the Obama administration’s funding guidelines, Sherley v. Sebelius is ongoing.) Whether lawmakers will try to push a bill to fund embryonic stem cell research with taxpayer funds at this time is unclear. They may decide the time is right to move the legislation while supporters still have the votes in Congress before what may be a landslide election. Or they may recognize that polling data shows a majority of Americans don’t want their tax dollars used to fund the destruction of human embryos in experiments that have never been tried in humans. A recent Rasmussen Reports poll finds 57 percent of Americans oppose the use of taxpayer funds to pay for embryonic stem cell research. See http://www.lifenews.com/bio3175.html.