Pro-Life Measures Advance
As Congress Begins Summer Break
By NRLC Federal Legislative Office
WASHINGTON - - Key votes on top-priority pro-life measures will occur in Congress during
September and October.
Several key pro-life measures advanced in the weeks prior to the beginning of Congress's annual summer recess on August 6. Congress will reconvene on September 8, and will conduct at least eight more weeks of legislative business before recessing for the rest of the year.
(Except for annual appropriations bills, Congress operates on a two-year cycle. Therefore, bills on which action is not completed this year will be carried over into the second session of the 106th Congress, which will convene in January.)
What follows is an update on the status of many major pro-life legislative priorities:
Unborn Victims of Violence Act (H.R. 2436). This NRLC-backed bill would make it a federal offense to injure or kill an unborn child while committing a federal crime of violence. It was introduced by Congressman Lindsey Graham (R-SC) on July 1.
The House Judiciary Subcommit-tee on the Constitution approved the bill on August 4. Pro-life forces hope that the bill will be considered by the full committees on Judiciary and Armed Services, and by the full House, in September or October. (Please see the Action Request on the Unborn Victims of Violence Bill that appears on page 31.)
No companion bill has been introduced yet in the Senate. The Clinton-Gore Administration has not yet taken a position on the bill. For a detailed report on recent developments on this measure, see the story that begins on page 1 of this issue.
Child Custody Protection Act (H.R. 1218). This bill, sponsored by Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fl.), would make it a federal offense for a non-parent to take a minor girl across state lines for an abortion, if this abridges the right of her parents (under state law) to be involved in the abortion decision. The House approved the bill on June 30, 270-159. (The roll call was published in the July 6 edition of NRL News, page 30.)
The prime Senate sponsor of the bill, Sen. Spencer Abraham (R- Mi.), is expected to seek action on the bill by the full Senate in late September or October.
The Clinton-Gore White House has placed the bill under a veto threat. (Please see the Action Request on the Child Custody Protection Act on the back cover.)
Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act (S. 928): In 1996 and again in 1997, President Clinton successfully vetoed legislation to place a national ban on partial-birth abortions. Pro-life lawmakers are now preparing to make a third attempt to pass the federal Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act (S. 928). The chief Senate sponsor of the bill, Senator Rick Santorum (R-Pa.), expects the Senate to take up the bill in early October. In the House, the author of the bill, Congressman Charles Canady (R-Fl.), expects the House to revisit the issue in early 2000. (Please see the Action Request on the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act on the back cover.)
Embryo Experimentation: Current law (the Dickey-Wicker Amendment) prohibits federal funding of medical experimentation in which living human embryos are injured or killed. Disregarding this law, the Clinton-Gore Administration (through the National Institutes of Health [NIH]) is preparing to provide funding of experiments that utilize human "stem cells" that are obtained by killing human embryos.
Soon, NIH will publish in the Federal Register a set of procedures (called "guidelines") by which NIH intends to commence funding of such research. There will be a 60-day period for public comment. In addition, the Administration's policy may be debated during September consideration of the Fiscal Year 2000 appropriations bill for the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS).
For further information on this important issue, please see " Threat of Science without Humanity," by Richard Doerflinger, on page 24 of this issue.
Chemical Abortion: On June 8 the House voted 217 to 214 to prohibit the Food and Drug Adminis-tration from granting approval for drugs intended "for the chemical inducement of abortion," such as RU 486. (The roll call was published in the July 6 edition of NRL News, page 30.) The NRLC-backed amendment was offered by pro-life Congressman Tom Coburn (R-Ok.) to the agriculture appropriations bill (H.R. 1906). The Senate has not approved such language, and the Clinton-Gore Administration strongly opposes the Coburn Amendment. A House-Senate conference committee will consider the issue in the fall.
Foreign Aid for Abortion: Pro-life forces won an important victory on July 29, when the House approved an amendment offered by Reps. Chris Smith (R-NJ) and Jim Barcia (D-Mi.) to the foreign operations appropriations bill (H.R. 2606) to cut off U.S. population-control assistance to any private organization that works to weaken foreign abortion laws. (This is a piece of the so-called "Mexico City Policy" that was enforced from 1984-92 by pro-life Presidents Reagan and Bush.) The Smith-Barcia Amendment passed 228-200. The roll call appears on page 22-23 of this edition.
Unfortunately, the House also passed a separate, inconsistent amendment offered by pro-abortion champion Rep. Jim Greenwood (R- Pa.). Under the Greenwood Amendment, the U.S. would continue to subsidize private organizations that work to change foreign abortion laws, so long as they do not actually violate the laws of those nations. Moreover, the Senate-passed version of the bill (S. 1234) does not contain the pro-life language. A House- Senate conference committee will meet in September to decide what language to include in the final bill.
The Clinton-Gore Administration strongly opposes the Smith Amendment. Last year, Congress sent Clinton a bill that authorized payment of $819 million in "back dues" to the United Nations, a top Administration prioritybut linked that provision to the Smith-Barcia pro-life language. Clinton vetoed the entire bill in order to prevent enactment of the Smith-Barcia language.
Smith and other pro-life House leaders have continued to insist that the UN money desired by the White House should not be approved unless the White House accepts the pro-life provision. That linkage was debated on the House floor on August 5, when Congressman Tony Hall (D-Ohio) offered an amendment to release $244 million in UN back dues, saying that the money should not be held "hostage" to a dispute over abortion policy. But Rep. Smith successfully opposed the amendment, arguing that the White House should not be granted one of its top foreign policy priorities without giving ground on the issue of pro-abortion lobbying by U.S.-subsidized organizations. The Hall Amendment was rejected, 221-206, thereby strengthening Smith's hand in the upcoming confrontation with the White House over the issue.
On another issue, however, pro-life forces lost ground. Last year, pro-life lawmakers were able to cut off U.S. funds to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), an agency that participates in China's coercive population-control program and which promotes abortion in a variety of ways. But on July 20, the House voted 221-198 in favor of an amendment offered by pro- abortion Con-gressman Tom Campbell (R-Ca.) to the State Department reauthorization bill (H.R. 2415), to authorize resumption of an annual payment of $25 million to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). The roll call on the Campbell Amendment appears on pages 22-23 of this issue.
Federal Funding of Abortion: Currently, federal health programs cover abortions only to save the life of the mother, or in cases of rape or incest. These pro-life restrictions are maintained by a panoply of "riders" to various annual appropriations bills (and, in a few cases, by permanent laws). Each year, pro-abortion lawmakers seek to block renewal of some of these provisions. So far this year, all such attempts have failed.
On July 1, the Senate voted 51-47 to continue an existing ban on coverage of abortions under federal employees' health plans (except to save the mother's life, or in cases of rape or incest). The roll call was published in the July 6 edition of NRL News, page 24. On July 15, the House voted 230-188 to continue this pro-life policy; the roll call appears on pages 22- 23 of this issue.
On August 4, the House voted 268-160 to continue an existing ban on coverage of abortions (except to save the mother's life, or in case of rape) by the federal Bureau of Prisons. The roll call appears on pages 22-23 of this issue.
Abortion on Military Bases: Current federal law prohibits performance of abortions at U.S. military facilities, even at private expense (except to save the life of the mother, or in cases of rape or incest). Both the Senate and the House have rejected amendments to the defense authorization bills to repeal this pro-life policy. The Senate upheld the current pro-life policy on a May 26 roll call, by the narrowest possible margin, 51 to 49. (See June 10 NRL News, page 23.) The House upheld the pro-life policy on June 9, 225-203. (See July 6 NRL News, page 30.)
Assisted Suicide and Euthan-asia: On July 20, the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution approved the Pain Relief Promotion Act (H.R. 2260), sponsored by Reps. Henry Hyde (R-Il.) and Bart Stupak (D-Mi.). This NRLC-backed bill promotes appropriate pain management and palliative care, fosters positive alternatives to euthanasia, and prohibits the use of federally controlled narcotics to kill patients, even in a state such as Oregon that has legalized assisted suicide.
Action by the full House Judiciary Committee is expected in early September. Action is also pending in the House Commerce Committee. In the Senate, a companion bill has been introduced by Senator Don Nickles (R-Ok.).
An article containing detailed information on recent developments on the Pain Relief Promotion Act appears on page 11 of this issue.
Free Speech/"Campaign Re-form": Both the House and the Senate are scheduled to consider speech-restrictive "campaign reform" bills in September and October.
In the House, advocates of restrictions on free speech about politicians are pushing for approval of the Shays-Meehan bill (H.R. 417). NRLC opposes the bill because it would place sweeping restrictions on the right of issue-oriented groups, such as NRLC and its affiliates, to communicate with the public about the positions and votes of officeholders and officeseekers.
Supporters of the bill attempted to force a House vote on the bill this summer through use of a "discharge petition," but that drive failed in the face of strong opposition from pro-life House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Il.), and from groups such as NRLC and the Christian Coalition. The House is now expected to take up the Shays-Meehan bill the week of September 13.
In the Senate, presidential candidate Sen. John McCain (R-Az.) threatened to obstruct Senate business unless given an opportunity to seek approval of "reform" legislation that he is pushing in concert with Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wi.). A deal was struck, under which the Senate will consider the latest version of the legislation proposed by McCain and Feingold in early to mid-October.
McCain and Feingold are currently reworking their legislation. All earlier versions have been opposed by NRLC because they have contained numerous restrictions on free speech about politicians, and there is little doubt that this will also be the case with the next version.
Under the deal, McCain and Feingold must print their new version in the Congressional Record by September 14.
For additional resource material on many of these issues, see the NRLC website at www.nrlc.org.
Please forward any information on the positions of lawmakers on these and other pro-life issues (including copies of letters from lawmakers to constituents) to the NRLC Federal Legislative Office, 419Seventh Street, Northwest, Suite 500, Washington, D.C. 20004. Phone: (202) 626-8820. Fax: (202) 347-3668. E-mail: Legfederal@aol.com.