Urgent Congressional Alert: Urge Congress to Reject Embryo-Killing Research

Urgent Congressional Alert:
Urge Congress to Reject Embryo-Killing Research

WASHINGTON (May 4, 2005) - - President Bush has vowed that federal funds will not be used to support research that requires killing human embryos, but Congress may soon vote on bills that would overturn the President's pro-life policy.

Your help is needed! Please communicate with your representative in the U.S. House of Representatives and your two U.S. senators, urging them to support President Bush's pro-life policy and to oppose legislation that would authorize federal funding of research that requires killing human embryos.

You can send messages to your representatives by e-mail, telephone, fax, or U.S. mail. Details appear below.

Background

Near the end of his administration, President Bill Clinton took steps to authorize federal funding of research which would use stem cells obtained by killing human embryos, originally created by in vitro fertilization in infertility clinics. However, after President Bush took office in January 2001, he blocked such funding.

On August 9, 2001, President Bush gave a televised speech in which he announced that no federal funds would be used for any research which would require the destruction of human embryos, including embryos created during infertility treatments and later "donated" for research by the biological parents. The President's policy allowed federal funds to be used on "cell lines" based on cells obtained from human embryos prior to the adoption of the policy.

Now, organizations that favor embryo-destructive research are pushing Congress to approve legislation, known as the "Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act," that would overturn President Bush's pro-life policy. This legislation would authorize federally funded research using stem cells from human embryos who are donated by their biological parents; the process of removing the stem cells will kill the embryos.

In the House, the bill has been introduced by Reps. Mike Castle (R-De.) and Diane DeGette (D-Co.) as H.R. 810.

In the Senate, the bill has been introduced by Senators Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) and Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) as S. 471.

As of May 4, 2005, H.R. 810 had 198 cosponsors - - only 20 short of an absolute House majority, which is 218 votes. The large number of cosponsors has resulted in a situation in which a vote on this bill, or some very similar bill, is very likely to occur on the House floor this summer. An always-current list of cosponsors of H.R. 810 is available on the NRLC website at http://www.capwiz.com/nrlc/issues under "Issues and Legislation."

There is also likely to be a vote on this issue this year in the Senate, where the rules allow entire bills to be offered as amendments to unrelated bills. An always-current list of cosponsors of S. 471 is available at http://www.capwiz.com/nrlc/issues/ under "Issues and Legislation."

Take Action Now!

Please urge all members of Congress to oppose federal funding of research that requires killing human embryos, and in particular, to oppose the Castle-DeGette bill (H.R. 810) (when communicating with House offices), or the Specter-Harkin bill (S. 471) (when communicating with Senate offices).

Urge other pro-life citizens to do the same. 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 federal lawmakers will soon cast.

Key points in support of the pro-life policy

* Each human being begins as a human embryo. Tell your representatives that you agree with President Bush that the government should not fund research that requires the killing of human embryos.

* Stem cells can be obtained without killing human embryos, from umbilical cord blood and from various types of adult tissue. Already, humans with at least 58 different disease conditions have received therapeutic benefit from treatment with such "adult stem cells." In contrast, embryonic stem cells have not been tested in humans at all because of the dangers, including frequent formation of tumors. Tell your representatives that you favor "ethical adult stem cell research, not research that requires killing human embryos."

* Those who favor federal funding of research that kills human embryos sometimes claim that these embryos "will be discarded anyway," but this need not be so. Many human embryos have been adopted while still embryos, or simply donated by their biological parents to other infertile couples, and are happy children today. Tell your representatives that you favor "human embryo adoption, not dissection."

For additional information on ethical and unethical forms of stem cell research, see www.stemcellresearch.org and the NRLC Human Embryos webpage at http://www.nrlc.org/killing_embryos/index.html

Different ways to communicate with members of Congress

If you have access to the Internet, visit the Legislative Action Center at the National Right to Life website, at http://www.capwiz.com/nrlc/home/. This resource will help you easily send messages to your two U.S. senators and to your representative in the U.S. House of Representatives in opposition to federal funding of embryo-killing research.

Once you are at the Legislative Action Center, click on the latest Action Alert that deals with this issue. You will see a link that allows you to easily check to see whether your representative or senators have cosponsored the bad bills that are opposed by National Right to Life. You will also see suggested e-mail messages (which are easy to modify) to send to lawmakers, with different messages for sponsors and nonsponsors of the bad bills.

Faxed letters

If you prefer to send a faxed letter, you can use the tab "Elected Officials" to find the fax numbers of your senators and representative (for those who choose to publish a fax number).

U.S. mail

You can communicate with your representatives by U.S. mail at the following addresses:

Senator ______________________

U.S. Senate

Washington, D.C. 20510

The Honorable ________________

U.S. House of Representatives

Washington, D.C. 20515

Telephone

You can communicate with your representatives by calling their Washington, D.C., offices through the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 225-3121 or (202) 224-3121. If you are unsure of who represents you, just give the operator the name of your state (for senators) or your zip code (for House members), and you will be connected to the correct offices.

It is very helpful to also call the local in-state offices of your representatives. Those numbers are available on the NRLC website under "Elected Officials," or from local telephone information.

Please keep NRLC informed!

If you obtain a response from a Member of Congress, or any other information on any lawmaker's position on this issue (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 U.S. mail to NRLC, Federal Legislation Department, 512-10th Street Northwest, Washington, D.C. 20004-1401.