LIBERAL CONGRESS TRYS TO NULLIFY SUPREME COURT ON PARTIAL BIRTH ABORTIONS

The Legislative Alert from the National Right to Life Committee, is rather self-explanatory, however, as usual I will add just a few personal observations, and that would be that our Liberal Democratic-controlled Congress are nothing more than over-sized children having a temper tantrum---WAH WAH WAH--The Supreme Court handed down a ruling they didn't like so they're going to introduce legislation to nullify the decision. I thought that once the Highest Court of our Land spoke on a given issue that was the end of the road. I wonder-would the Liberals in Congress have their tails in a knot had the decision gone the other way? I think we all know the answer to that question. Gonzales v. Carhart may well represent the beginning of the end for the infamous Roe v. Wade decision of January 22, 1973. GET USED TO IT LIBERALS! THE PENDULUM IS SWINGING TO THE RIGHT AND I FOR ONE SAY IT'S ABOUT TIME.

I encourage everyone who may read this posting to contact their U.S. Representative and two U.S. Senators and urge him/her to oppose HR 1964 and S 1173.

Source: National Right to Life Committee Legislative Department

WASHINGTON (April 28, 2007) – In response to the April 18, 2007 U.S. Supreme Court decision (Gonzales v. Carhart) upholding the federal Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, prominent Democratic members of Congress the next day reintroduced the so-called "Freedom of Choice Act" (FOCA), a proposed federal law to nullify virtually all federal and state limitations on abortion.

To take immediate action against the bill, click on the "Take Action" button.

In the interests of truth in advertising, the bill should be renamed the "Freedom for Partial-Birth Abortionists Act." The lawmakers proposing the legislation, and groups endorsing it, repeatedly emphasized that the bill would, among other things, completely nullify the national ban on partial-birth abortion that the Supreme Court upheld in Gonzales v. Carhart on April 18.

The House bill, H.R. 1964, was introduced by Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), who in the new Democratic-majority Congress is the chairman of the House Judiciary subcommittee that has jurisdiction over such legislation. The Senate bill, S. 1173, was introduced by Senator Barbara Boxer (D-Ca.).

Congressman Nadler issued a statement harshly attacking the Supreme Court ruling. "Overturning a decision only a few years old, the Court has, for the first time since Roe v. Wade, allowed an abortion procedure to be criminalized," Nadler said. The FOCA, he noted, "would bar government – at any level -- from interfering with a woman's fundamental right to choose to bear a child, or to terminate a pregnancy."

The promoters of the FOCA sometimes claim that its purpose is to "codify Roe v. Wade," and they hope that journalists will lazily characterize it in that way. But the key binding provisions of the bill would go further than Roe, invalidating all of the major types of laws that have been upheld by the Supreme Court in the decades since Roe.

The bill flatly invalidates any "statute, ordinance, regulation, administrative order, decision, policy, practice, or other action" of any federal, state, or local government or governmental official (or any person acting under government authority) that would "deny or interfere with a woman's right to choose" abortion, or that would "discriminate against the exercise of the right . . . in the regulation or provision of benefits, facilities, services, or information." This no-restriction policy would establish, in Senator Boxer's words, "the absolute right to choose" prior to fetal "viability."

The no-restriction policy would also apply after "viability" to any abortion sought on grounds of "health." The bill does not define "health," but in past abortion cases the Supreme Court has sometimes used the term to apply to any physical or emotional consideration whatsoever, including "distress." The bill also prohibits enactment of objective criteria for "viability" that would be binding on abortionists.

Among the types of laws that the FOCA would invalidate are:

-- The Hyde Amendment, which prohibits most federal funding of abortion, and the laws of many states that restrict state funding of abortion.

-- Laws in effect in some jurisdictions that bar abortions in government-operated hospitals.

-- Laws requiring parental notification or consent, or judicial authorization, before an abortion can be performed on a minor daughter.

-- Laws requiring that girls and women seeking abortion receive certain information on matters such as fetal development and alternatives to abortion, and then wait a specified period before the abortion is actually performed, usually 24 or 48 hours.

-- "Conscience" laws, allowing doctors, nurses, or other state-licensed professionals, and hospitals or other health-care providers, to decline to provide or pay for abortions.

For more detailed information on the FOCA -- including revealing statements by its sponsors and supporters -- click here. To read the full text of the bill, click here.

What You Can Do

There are several ways that you can communicate with those who represent you in Congress in opposition to the FOCA.

(1) To easily send appropriate e-mail messages to your two U.S. senators and your representative in the U.S. House, click the "Take Action" box above, and enter your zip code information -- this will lead you to a model message. You can edit the model message in any way you prefer before you send the messages -- delete paragraphs, rearrange, add new material, etc.

(2) You can telephone any congressional office through the Capitol Switchboard, 202-225-3121 or 202-224-3121. If you don’t know the names of those who represent you, click here and enter the your zip code -- this will lead you to information on who represents you in Congress and their individual contact information, as well as information on their voting records and bills they have sponsored. Or, just give the Capitol Switchboard operator your zip code and you will be connected with the correct offices. Politely tell the congressional staffpersons that you are a constituent and that you are urging the lawmakers to vote against the "Freedom of Choice Act" (H.R. 1964 in the House, S. 1173 in the Senate), briefly giving whatever reasons you wish.

(3) If you wish to fax a letter to a senator or representative, click here to reach the page that contains contact information for his or her office. Faxed letters are an excellent way to register your opinion. Do NOT rely on U.S. mail to communicate with your federal representatives, because security policies on Capitol Hill result in long delays in the delivery and counting of U.S. mail.

Now, please use the "Take Action" button above, to send immediate messages to those who represent you in Congress. Remember, you can edit the model messages in any way you like, before you send them.

NOTE: Please keep NRLC in the loop! It will greatly assist NRLC’s lobbying efforts if you send NRLC a copy of any response you receive from a lawmaker on the FOCA, or any other pro-life issue. You can send such copies either (1) by e-mail, to Legfederal@aol.com, or (2) by fax to 202-347-3668, or (3) by U.S. mail, to NRLC, Federal Legislation Dept., 512-10th Street, Northwest, Washington, D.C. 20004. Thank you!