Senators Hear REAL Women's Voices
By Elizabeth Maier, NRL Political Assistant

Nearly 200 passionate pro-life women, flying into Washington, D.C. from as far away as San Francisco, ventured to our nation's capital to attend REAL Women's Voices, where they lobbied Congress and debunked the myth that a majority of women are pro-abortion. Over 1,200 more who were not able to come in person committed to joining "in spirit" by contacting senators.

On April 27 these citizen lobbyists trekked through the halls of the Senate office buildings, some for the first time in their lives, to speak with their senators and their aides on judicial nominations, human cloning, and other important pro-life legislation.

The National Right to Life Committee, the Susan B. Anthony List, Concerned Women for America, Silent No More Awareness, Eagle Forum, and the Family Research Council Action joined together to collectively sponsor the unprecedented effort to make pro-life women's voices heard.

The lobby day started early in the morning with a training session where Congresswomen Sue Myrick (R-NC) and Marilyn Musgrave (R-Col.) encouraged the women to persevere to have their voices heard for those without voices - - the unborn.

David Prentice, senior fellow for life sciences at the Family Research Council, offered a succinct overview that helped prepare the women to lobby for one of the key issues of the day - - the enactment of a complete ban on human cloning.

The women lobbyists learned that stem cells lethally extracted from human embryos have not cured a single human and run the risk of dangerous side effects, such as the production of tumors. Dr. Prentice explained that adult stem cells, the ethical alternative, have produced treatments for 58 different diseases in humans.

Dr. Prentice also stressed the distinction between the true cloning ban, the Brownback-Landrieu Human Cloning Prohibition Act (S. 658), and the most prominent phony ban, the "clone-and-kill" Hatch-Feinstein bill (S. 876).

Moving onto another key topic on the pro-life women's agenda, Bill Wichterman, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's policy advisor, shared an insider's perspective on the Senate showdown on judicial nominations.

NRLC Federal Legislative Director Douglas Johnson followed with more background on judicial nominations and human cloning, while also preparing the women for lobbying on current abortion-related bills.

The women citizen-lobbyists, armed with training packets, lobbying packets for senators, and knowledge of the key issues on the tip of their tongues, headed off to the Senate office buildings for their appointments.

Several well-known pro-life activists, including Dr. Alveda King, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s niece, and Rachel Campos-Duffy, from Lifetime Television and Real World: San Francisco, spoke at the REAL Women's Voices mid-day press conference. Among the most important issues they addressed is the common misconception that the majority of women support abortion.

NRL Political Director Carol Tobias highlighted the results of a recent poll on judicial nominees. The public believes in fairness and the right of qualified nominees to get an up-or-down vote, she said. (See sidebar, below.)

Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fl.), one of only two pro-life women in Congress when she was elected in 1989, stressed the importance of the Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act (CIANA), which the House debated as she spoke. CIANA later passed the House with a large bipartisan majority.

Encouraging results of a new poll conducted by the polling company were released by Kellyanne Conway at the press conference. The poll found that 55% of adults believed that all human cloning should be banned.

In addition, 62% believed that abortion should be allowed at most in life of mother cases or in cases of rape or incest, or not at all. Only 35% held a "pro-choice" position.

A mere 10% of the respondents agreed with NARAL and National Organization for Women's view that "abortion should be legal for any reason at any time during a woman's pregnancy."

The results assured the women participants that their lobbying efforts were on behalf of a majority of Americans, not the small minority of pro-abortion women that NOW represents.

Leaders from each of the six sponsoring organizations gave statements at the press conference.

REAL Women's Voices concluded with a reception for the attendees and members of Congress. The sponsor of the authentic cloning ban, Senator Brownback (R-Ks.), praised the women for making a difference as did Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn (R-Tn.) and Congressman Roscoe Bartlett (R-Md.).

Terri Schindler Schiavo, who died from starvation and dehydration, was the inspiration for Kara Klein's song "Beautiful Still," which left many strong pro-life women activists in tears.

Several women spontaneously shared their accounts of their lobbying experiences - - including an elevator encounter with Senator (and 2004 Democratic presidential nominee) John Kerry being the one most cited.

The 200+ women returned home eager to involve themselves in pro-life activities on all levels. They were confident that their efforts will help spur an up-or-down vote on President Bush's judicial nominees, a ban on all human cloning, and a dispelling of the myth that a majority of women are pro-abortion.

The organizations may plan to develop REAL Women's Voices into an annual event.

Public Overwhelmingly Supports Up-or-Down Vote on Well-Qualified Judicial Nominees

Editor's note. The following is a portion of a statement delivered by Carol Tobias, NRL Political Director, at an April 27 "REAL Women's Voices" press conference.

Last month, a poll was conducted by the Judicial Confirmation Network. Registered voters were asked, "If a nominee for any federal judgeship is well-qualified, he or she deserves an up or down vote on the floor of the Senate." 82% of all agreed. 81% of women agreed.

They were also asked to respond to this statement: "If a nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court is well-qualified, he or she deserves an up or down vote on the floor of the Senate." 81% said they agreed. 80% of women said they agreed.

These registered voters were further asked if they agreed or disagreed with this: "If a well-qualified nominee is pro-life on abortion, he or she should be disqualified from serving on the U.S. Supreme Court." 79% disagreed with the statement. 81% of women disagreed.

They believe someone should not be disqualified for being pro-life.