ACTION ALERT Urge your senators to demand that the Senate send the Partial

ACTION ALERT
Urge your senators to demand that the Senate send the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act to President Bush!

WASHINGTON (Sept. 3, 2002) -- The House of Representatives has already passed the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act (H.R. 4965), and President Bush is eager to sign the bill into law. Just one obstacle now remains to enactment of a national ban on partial- birth abortions: the Senate Democratic leadership.

Under Senate rules, the leader of the majority party has broad powers to schedule or to obstruct legislation. The Democrats currently control the Senate by a single seat, 51-49.

Congress has approved national bans on partial-birth abortion twice before, but they were vetoed by President Clinton in 1996 and 1997, and pro-life forces fell short in the Senate of the two-thirds vote needed to override those vetoes. But a two- thirds vote is no longer required, because President Bush strongly supports the bill. All that is required is a vote by the Senate to send the bill to the President for his signature.

"If there was a clean up-and-down vote on the bill passed by the House, the Senate would approve it," said NRLC Federal Legislative Director Douglas Johnson. "If the ban on partial- birth abortion does not reach President Bush for his signature before Congress adjourns, the blame will rest squarely on the Senate Democratic leadership."

According to the New York Times (July 25), "Abortion rights advocates are counting on the majority leader, Senator Tom Daschle, Democrat of South Dakota, to prevent a bill from coming to the floor. 'The Senate is our firewall,' one abortion rights supporter said."

Daschle actually claims to support the ban on partial-birth abortions -- but he also says that the Senate is too busy to take up the bill before Congress adjourns in early October so that lawmakers can campaign before the November 5 general election.

Daschle's excuse is phony. The chief Senate sponsor of the ban, Senator Rick Santorum (R-Pa.), said, "We should never claim to be too busy to consider legislation promoting the protection of life. There is no need for a long debate -- a few hours will suffice. The Senate has debated similar legislation many times."

Daschle will succeed in killing the bill -- unless enough other senators demand action before adjournment. That means they need to hear immediately from many constituents, demanding action on the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act now!

Please visit the NRLC Legislative Action Center at www.nrlc.org and send a free e-mail to each of your U.S. senators, urging them to demand an immediate vote to send H.R. 4965 to President Bush for his signature.

You also can send messages to your U.S. senators by calling their offices through the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121. In addition, for many senators you can obtain fax numbers and phone numbers for both their Washington and in-state offices at the NRLC Legislative Action Center.

Because of security concerns, there are sometimes considerable delays in delivery and counting of regular mail. Therefore, e- mail, faxes, and phone calls are highly recommended.

Your message to senators should be along these lines:

I am strongly opposed to the brutal partial-birth abortion procedure. The House passed the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act (H.R. 4965) in July by an overwhelming margin, and President Bush is eager to sign this bill into law. I urge you to demand an immediate vote to send this bill to President Bush for his signature. If this bill is not enacted, it will be the Democratic leadership of the Senate that is entirely to blame.

Please oppose any attempts to kill this bill with procedural obstructions or with "killer amendments," such as the Durbin Amendment. The Durbin Amendment would allow partial-birth abortions without restriction before a baby has provably reached the point of "viability," and even after "viability" based on abortionists' assertions that the mother is at any degree of "risk" of health problems. This amendment is a complete sham, which would allow abortionists to perform partial-birth abortions even on babies who could easily survive independently of their mothers.

Please also take these steps:

* Urge your fellow citizens to communicate with the senators, too. Utilize newsletters, church bulletins, call-in radio shows, and other means to alert pro-life citizens to this crucial fight. * Write letters or op-ed essays for local newspapers, highlighting the critical votes that senators will soon cast.* If you obtain information on any senator's position (including information reported in the press), please forward it to NRLC by e-mail to Legfederal@aol.com (preferred), or by fax to (202) 347- 3668, or by regular mail to NRLC, Federal Legislation, 512-10th Street, Northwest, Washington, D.C. 20004-1401.