Action Alert

Urgent Congressional Alert:

Pro-Cloning Forces Pushing U.S. Senate to Approve Clone­and­Kill Bill!

WASHINGTON (Feb. 3, 2003)--President Bush called on Congress to ban all human cloning during his January 28 State of the Union address.

The legislation supported by President Bush and by National Right to Life is the Brownback-Landrieu bill in the Senate (S. 245) and the Weldon-Stupak bill in the House (H.R. 534).

These bills would prohibit the cloning of human embryos--thereby preventing what President Bush has previously called human "embryo farms" from beginning operations in the United States.

This legislation is strongly opposed by elements of the biotechnology industry, some patients' advocacy groups, and some scientists. Many of these opponents have endorsed competing legislation (S. 303) sponsored in the Senate by Senators Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Dianne Feinstein (D-Ca.), and others, that is misleadingly labeled as a "ban on cloning" but that actually would allow the cloning of human embryos to be killed in research. NRLC is strongly opposed to this "clone and kill" legislation.

The House of Representatives passed the true cloning ban in 2001, and is expected to do so again. But so far, neither the true cloning ban (Brownback-Landrieu) nor the phony ban has garnered the level of support needed to pass the Senate.

To help pass the Brownback-Landrieu bill and defeat the phony ban, it is essential that all senators (pro-life or pro-abortion) hear from large numbers of citizens who are opposed to human cloning and human embryo farms.

How to Communicate with Your Senators

Please visit the NRLC Legislative Action Center at www.nrlc.org and send a free e-mail to both of your two U.S. senators, urging them to oppose the "clone and kill" bill (S. 303) to allow human embryo farms. Urge them to support the only real ban on human cloning, the Brownback-Landrieu bill (S. 245).

You should also contact your senators' offices by telephone and fax. Once you have entered your zip code or state name, the NRLC Legislative Action Center will provide a profile of your senators which will include the phone numbers of their Washington and in-state offices (often including fax numbers).

Urge other like-minded citizens to do the same!

You can also reach the Washington office of any senator through the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121--however, this general number is sometimes jammed up during major legislative activity.

In addition, letters can be sent by regular mail to any senator at U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C. 20510. But 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.

Please 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. Also, write letters or op-ed essays for local newspapers, highlighting the critical votes that senators may soon cast on the issue of human embryo farms.

Your message to senators should be along these lines:

* Tell them you are strongly opposed to the clone-and-kill legislation (S. 303) being proposed by Senators Hatch, Feinstein, Specter, and others, that would permit human embryos to be cloned and require that they be killed by two weeks of age.

* Tell them that so-called "therapeutic cloning" creates human embryos, and that you are opposed to creating human embryos for the purpose of killing them. Tell them that a vote for the Hatch-Feinstein proposal is a vote to permit what President Bush has called human embryo farms, and that you are strongly opposed to this.

* Tell them that you are also opposed to giving the FBI and other federal law enforcement agencies the unethical task of making sure that human embryos are killed.

* Urge them to support the true cloning ban, S. 245, the Brownback-Landrieu bill.

Important Request

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.

Please do not assume that NRLC already has the information! Often, senators first reveal their leanings in interviews with their home-state news media, or in letters to their own constituents. By promptly forwarding such information to NRLC, you can provide invaluable assistance to NRLC's lobbying efforts.