Life Advocacy Briefing

Senate Acts

THE U.S. SENATE SPENT MUCH OF LAST WEEK DELIBERATING on the annual appropriation bill for the Departments of Labor, Education and Health & Human Services (HHS), a massive bill with several Life-implicating provisions.

Victory 1: Senators Arlen Specter (R-PA) and Tom Harkin (D-IA) Wednesday dropped their effort to override the President’s policy limiting federal funding of embryo experimentation, ending a bid to force taxpayers to pay scientists to kill embryonic human beings in their quixotic quest for the “holy grail” of unethically developed medical treatments. An official Statement of Administration Policy, issued that very morning, specifically cited the anti-Life provision as a trigger for a threatened Presidential veto of the spending bill, calling the Specter/Harkin provision “a transparent attempt to reverse the clear policy the President has implemented on the ethical conduct of stem cell research.” Since the Senators backed off their provision by agreement, no roll call was needed to excise it.

Victory 2: The Senate adopted an amendment offered by Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-NC) to direct $12 million in HHS funding to the National Cord Blood Inventory established by the Stem Cell Therapeutic & Research Act of 2005, which promotes collection and storage of cord blood for potential therapeutic application. Cord blood stem cells have demonstrated efficacy in relieving a long list of diseases and conditions and can be collected without harm to any human being. The Dole Amendment was accepted without the need of a roll call vote.

Victory 3:Senate liberals failed to table an amendment by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) to reduce “Institute of Museum & Library Services” funding by $1 million, bar the use of any library grants for a “performing arts center” dedicated to Woodstock, and direct that $336,500 of the saved money be added to sums appropriated for services to expectant mothers and their children. The rejection of the motion to table the amendment effectively adopted it. We publish the voting record near the close of this Life Advocacy Briefing.

Loss But Worth the Fight: Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) attempted to disqualify abortion businesses like Planned Parenthood from federal funding under Title X (Ten), the HHS “family planning” program. As when the House rejected such a bid by Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) earlier this year, the roll call vote on the amendment shows clearly which lawmakers are willing to stand up to Planned Parenthood and the abortion industry. We publish that roll call immediately after the Coburn Amendment voting record.

Loss: Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), who continues – with no justification – to be labeled “pro-life” by the news media, offered an amendment clearly intended to nullify the Vitter Amendment, in case that reform were adopted. The Reid Amendment was adopted first, rendering the Vitter Amendment ineffective; Mr. Vitter persisted in order to get a clear roll call and, should his amendment prevail, in order to put the issue into play in conference deliberations between House and Senate. The Reid Amendment states, “Nothing in this Act shall be construed to affect or otherwise modify provisions of current law with respect to abortion funding.” It was a confusing but pernicious tactic, and the usually pro-life Senators who voted for this atrocity owe their constituents an explanation. We publish the roll call at the close of this Life Advocacy Briefing and urge readers to contact Senators about their votes, with a thank-you to the 25 and an inquiry or respectful complaint to the others.

F.D.A. Complicity Documented, Again

DOCUMENTS NEWLY OBTAINED BY A PRO-BONO LAW FIRM reveal more details about what Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton called “the reckless and politicized nature of the Food & Drug Administration’s decision to approve the abortion pill,” also known as RU-486 or mifepristone. Judicial Watch secured the documents through a lengthy legal process forcing FDA disclosure. The documents can be found at the Internet website www.judicialwatch.org.

“Despite the FDA’s refusal to disclose where the abortion pill is manufactured,” reports Judicial Watch in a news release, “these documents confirm that the China-based Hua Lian Pharmaceutical Co. manufactured RU-486 at the time of approval” for marketing in the US. The documents indicate,” reports Judicial Watch, “that not only did Hua Lian fail its first FDA safety inspection, but that the company was not in compliance with safety requirements at the time the FDA approved the facility for manufacturing [the drug] on Aug. 15, 2000.

“The documents also show the extent to which the pro-abortion lobby was involved in the approval process,” notes Judicial Watch, citing drug trials conducted by the president of the National Abortion Federation trade group and by a senior scientist for the pro-abortion Population Council, which holds the US patent.

Solid Appointment

PRESIDENT BUSH HAS APPOINTED A PRO-LIFE ADVOCATE to head the federal government’s Title X (Ten) “family planning” program as Acting Deputy Asst. Secretary for Population Affairs in the Dept. of Health & Human Services. The Title X program disburses $283 million to 4,500 family planning clinics; some $50 to 60 million “goes directly to Planned Parenthood,” reports Peter J. Smith for LifeSiteNews.com.

Dr. Susan Orr is a board member of an organization which encourages teens to abstain from premarital sexual involvement, has authored a book advocating women’s focus on family and served as Senior Director for Marriage & Family Care at Family Research Council before joining the Bush Administration six years ago. The post does not require Senate confirmation.

Somebody’s Finally Noticed!

A CONTROVERSY IN A MAINE SCHOOL DISTRICT has brought to light the sexual delinquency lobby’s agenda of pushing contraception among schoolchildren in school-based clinics, arousing local parents and national media attention.

Portland’s King Middle School “has already been offering condoms to students” without parents’ knowledge, reports Family Research Council president Tony Perkins in his Oct. 17 Washington Update, “and now they want to expand the menu to include prescription contraceptives. While it’s bad enough that the school would implicitly sanction sexual behavior among children by dispensing contraception to young girls,” writes Mr. Perkins, “the school goes even further by not requiring that the clinic notify parents if their child is given birth control pills. …

“Children who are sexually involved,” Mr. Perkins notes, “have much deeper problems that are left unaddressed by the band-aid approach of birth control. This practice also paves the way,” he writes, “for a cover-up of sexual abuse, with children increasingly at risk.”

Associated Press (AP) reports only five of the 134 students treated at the school’s clinic reported sexual activity. “This very dangerous policy,” said Leslee Unruh of the Abstinence Clearinghouse in a news release, “should not be imposed on the entire student body. Those five children need the confidence that abstinence will give them, not birth control pills.”

Here’s the two-pronged irony in the uproar: The federal “family planning” program is the origin of the policy that parents not be notified of government-sponsored dispensation of tools for the sexual misconduct of their minor children, not the Portland school board; that outrageous policy is incorporated into state law in most, if not all, of the 50 states. Second, the dispensing of prescription contraceptives is common in school-based clinics – as opposed to the traditional aspirin-free nurse’s office – in public schools in America; AP reports “One in four” of the nation’s “1,700 school-connected health centers … provides birth control ranging from condoms to prescription contraception.” Portland’s sex clinic is not doing anything that hasn’t been going on for 25 years in urban settings nor anything that isn’t already happening behind parents’ backs in four Portland high schools. The difference is, two of the seven middle school board members resisted the scheme, and Portland parents raised a hue and cry. Parents and board members in every jurisdiction should be examining their own district’s policies pushing sexual delinquency on minors.

Planned Parenthood Indicted in Kansas

FORMER KANSAS ATTORNEY GENERAL PHILL KLINE has filed a 107-count indictment against the local Planned Parenthood shop in his capacity as Johnson County district attorney.

Mr. Kline began his investigation of PP of Overland Park while serving as the state attorney general, at the same time he was probing notorious late-term Wichita abortionist George Tiller, whose business falls outside his current jurisdiction.

Kansas District Judge James Vano found probable cause last week to begin proceedings against Planned Parenthood on more than 20 felony counts and scores of misdemeanor counts including unlawful late-term abortions and failure to determine viability. Kansas law prohibits abortions after 22 weeks of the target’s gestation with loopholes that have allegedly been stretched into absurdity in actual practice.

Among other counts, PP “‘is accused of falsifying records to cover up numerous violations of state law against aborting late-term babies,’” said Concerned Women for America president Wendy Wright, quoted by LifeSiteNews.com. “‘Now we know what Planned Parenthood means by “privacy;” … it is claiming privacy on its own alleged illegal actions.’”

PP is likely to defend the charges by attacking Mr. Kline’s importation of evidence from his previous office, but news coverage of the charges will bring to voters’ attention the need to eliminate the statutory loopholes as well as warning prospective customers about the illegal practices of the shop.

Blood Money Not Welcome

PLANNED PARENTHOOD ADS HAVE BEEN PULLED from a 25,000-watt Pittsburgh radio station licensed by Duquesne University and located on the Catholic university’s campus.

“WDUQ began airing the PP messages Oct. 8,” reports the Associated Press (AP) in a story appearing in the New York Times. “Two days later, officials [at the station] were ordered by Duquesne to yank the broadcasts. …

“The station’s general manager said he received a call from the university’s president, Charles J. Dougherty, on Oct. 10, saying he was concerned that it was inappropriate to accept a gift from Planned Parenthood,” reports AP/NYT. “‘And on reflection, I had to respect his opinion,’ [the manager] told the New York Times.”

A spokesman for the abortion outfit “questioned whether the station’s news content is independent,” reports AP/NYT, “and whether the station should relocate off the university’s campus. … ‘We didn’t realize,’” the spokesman told the NYT, “‘to be an underwriter that you had to agree with Catholic doctrine.’” Or at least be a respectable business!

‘Bella’ to Open Friday

AN AWARD-WINNING MOVIE WITH A LIFE-AFFIRMING STORY LINE, “Bella,” is slated to open in a limited but growing number of cinemas across America this Friday, Oct. 26. Theater and ticket information is available via the Internet at www.bellathemovie.com. The movie, which is rated PG-13, won the People’s Choice Award at the prestigious Toronto Film Festival.

Senate Voting Records

Motion to table Coburn Amendment to Health & Human Services Appropriation bill to cut $1 million from Museum & Library spending, bar a grant to a museum dedicated to Woodstock and add $336,500 to services for expectant mothers and their children – Motion rejected 42 to 52, effectively adopting the amendment – Oct. 17, 2007 (Democrats in italics; “Independents” marked with an “I”)

Voting “no” to table (effectively “yes” to adopt) / pro-Life: AL/Sessions & Shelby, AK/Murkowski & Stevens, AZ/Kyl, CO/Allard, FL/Martinez, GA/Chambliss & Isakson, ID/Craig & Crapo, IN/Bayh & Lugar, IA/Grassley, KS/Brownback & Roberts, KY/Bunning & McConnell, LA/Landrieu & Vitter, ME/Collins & Snowe, MN/Coleman, MS/Cochran & Lott, MO/Bond & McCaskill, NE/Hagel, NV/Ensign, NH/Gregg & Sununu, NM/Domenici, NC/Burr & Dole, OH/Voinovich, OK/Coburn & Inhofe, OR/Smith, PA/Specter, SC/DeMint & Graham, SD/Thune, TN/Alexander & Corker, TX/Cornyn & Hutchison, UT/Bennett & Hatch, VA/Webb, WI/Feingold, WY/Barrasso & Enzi

Voting “yes” to table (effectively “no” on amendment) / anti-Life: AR/Lincoln & Pryor, CA/Boxer & Feinstein, CO/Salazar, CT/Lieberman (I), DE/Carper, FL/Nelson, HI/Akaka & Inouye, IL/Durbin, IA/Harkin, MD/Cardin & Mikulski, MA/Kerry, MI/Levin & Stabenow, MN/Klobuchar, MT/Baucus & Tester, NE/Nelson, NV/Reid, NJ/Lautenberg & Menendez, NM/Bingaman, NY/Clinton & Schumer, ND/Conrad & Dorgan, OH/Brown, OR/Wyden, PA/Casey, RI/Reed & Whitehouse, SD/Johnson, VT/Leahy & Sanders (I), WA/Cantwell & Murray, WV/Byrd & Rockefeller, WI/Kohl

Not voting: AZ/McCain, CT/Dodd, DE/Biden, IL/Obama, MA/Kennedy, VA/Warner

Vitter Amendment to disqualify abortionists (such as Planned Parenthood) from “family planning” funding – Rejected 41 to 52 – Oct. 18, 2007 (Democrats in italics; “Independents” marked with an “I”)

Voting “yes” / pro-Life: AL/Sessions & Shelby, AZ/Kyl & McCain, CO/Allard, FL/Martinez, GA/Chambliss & Isakson, ID/Craig & Crapo, IA/Grassley, KS/Brownback & Roberts, KY/Bunning & McConnell, LA/Vitter, MN/Coleman, MS/Cochran & Lott, NE/Hagel, NV/Ensign, NH/Gregg & Sununu, NM/Domenici, NC/Burr & Dole, OH/Voinovich, OK/Coburn & Inhofe, OR/Smith, SC/DeMint & Graham, SD/Thune, TN/Alexander & Corker, TX/Cornyn & Hutchison, UT/Bennett & Hatch, WY/Barrasso & Enzi

Voting “no” / anti-Life: AK/Murkowski & Stevens, AR/Lincoln & Pryor, CA/Boxer & Feinstein, CO/Salazar, CT/Lieberman (I), DE/Carper, FL/Nelson, HI/Akaka & Inouye, IL/Durbin, IN/Bayh & Lugar, IA/Harkin, LA/Landrieu, ME/Collins & Snowe, MD/Cardin, MA/Kerry, MI/Levin & Stabenow, MN/Klobuchar, MO/Bond & McCaskill, MT/Baucus & Tester, NE/Nelson, NV/Reid, NJ/Lautenberg & Menendez, NM/Bingaman, NY/Schumer, ND/Conrad & Dorgan, OH/Brown, OR/Wyden, PA/Casey & Specter, RI/Reed & Whitehouse, SD/Johnson, VT/Leahy & Sanders (I), VA/Webb, WA/Cantwell & Murray, WV/Byrd & Rockefeller, WI/Feingold & Kohl

Not voting: CT/Dodd, DE/Biden, IL/Obama, MD/Mikulski, MA/Kennedy, NY/Clinton, VA/Warner

Reid Amendment to nullify Vitter Amendment, in case it would be adopted (“Reid” voted first) Adopted 68 to 25 – Oct. 18, 2007 (Democrats in italics; “Independents” marked with an “I”)

Voting “no” / pro-Life: AL/Sessions & Shelby, AZ/Kyl, CO/Allard, GA/Chambliss & Isakson, ID/Craig & Crapo, IA/Grassley, KY/Bunning & McConnell, LA/Vitter, MS/Lott, NE/Hagel, NV/Ensign, NM/Domenici, NC/Burr, OH/Voinovich, OK/Coburn & Inhofe, SC/DeMint & Graham, TX/Cornyn, WY/Barrasso & Enzi

Voting “yes” / anti-Life: AK/Murkowski & Stevens, AZ/McCain, AR/Lincoln & Pryor, CA/Boxer & Feinstein, CO/Salazar, CT/Lieberman (I), DE/Carper, FL/Martinez & Nelson, HI/Akaka & Inouye, IL/Durbin, IN/Bayh & Lugar, IA/Harkin, KS/Brownback & Roberts, LA/Landrieu, ME/Collins & Snowe, MD/Cardin, MA/Kerry, MI/Levin & Stabenow, MN/Coleman & Klobuchar, MS/Cochran, MO/Bond & McCaskill, MT/Baucus & Tester, NE/Nelson, NV/Reid, NH/Gregg & Sununu, NJ/Lautenberg & Menendez, NM/Bingaman, NY/Schumer, NC/Dole, ND/Conrad & Dorgan, OH/Brown, OR/Smith & Wyden, PA/Casey & Specter, RI/Reed & Whitehouse, SD/Thune & Johnson, TN/Alexander & Corker, TX/Hutchison, UT/Bennett & Hatch, VT/Leahy & Sanders (I), VA/Webb, WA/Cantwell & Murray, WV/Byrd & Rockefeller, WI/Feingold & Kohl

Not voting: CT/Dodd, DE/Biden, IL/Obama, MD/Mikulski, MA/Kennedy, NY/Clinton, VA/Warner