Urgent Congressional Alert:
Urge Senate to Reject Embryo-Killing Research
WASHINGTON (July 5, 2005)—The U.S. Senate is expected to vote around mid-July on a bill that would mandate federal funding of research that requires the killing of human embryos. Such legislation has already passed the U.S. House of Representatives. (See story)
In addition, the Senate may vote on legislation that would ban the creation of human embryos by cloning.
Your help is needed! Please communicate with your two U.S. senators, urging them to oppose legislation that would mandate federal funding of research that requires killing human embryos (H.R. 810/S. 471).
Also, urge them to support legislation that would prohibit the creation of human embryos by cloning (the Brownback-Landrieu bill, S. 658).
You can send messages to your representatives by e-mail, telephone, fax, or U.S. mail. Details appear below.
Background
On May 24, 2005, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 810, a bill to mandate federal funding of stem cell research that requires killing human embryos. That bill is now before the Senate, along with its identical companion bill, S. 471, which is sponsored by anti-life Senators Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) and Tom Harkin (D-Iowa). This legislation is strongly opposed by President Bush (see story, page 1), and by NRLC.
Specter, Harkin, and Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid (D-Nv.) are pushing for an early vote on H.R. 810/S. 471.
Senator Sam Brownback (R-Ks.) is leading the opposition to H.R. 810/S. 471, and is seeking a vote on his own bill to ban the creation of human embryos by cloning (S. 658), a bill that is strongly supported by National Right to Life.
(To obtain further information on any of these bills, including always-current lists of cosponsors, go to the Legislative Action Center on the NRLC website at http://www.capwiz.com/nrlc/home/, click on “Issues and Legislation,” and then select the bill number.)
Take Action Now!
Please urge all U.S. senators to oppose federal funding of research that requires killing human embryos, and specifically to oppose H.R. 810/S. 471.
Also, urge all U.S. senators to support legislation to ban the creation of human embryos by cloning, the Brownback-Landrieu bill (S. 658).
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 Position
* 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, 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.”
* The biotech industry intends to create human embryos by cloning, specifically for the purpose of using them in medical research, including stem cell research, that will kill them. Congress must act now to ban human cloning before these “human embryo farms” get started.
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
To communicate quickly
and effectively with your congressional representatives,
use the NRLC
Legislative Action Center
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 and in opposition to human cloning.
Once you are at the Legislative Action Center, click on the latest action alerts on these issues. 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. Or, you can use the Zip Code Finder in the “Take Action Now” box at the Legislative Action Center.
It is very helpful to
also call the local in-state offices of your representatives. Those numbers are
available at the
Legislative Action Center
under “Elected Officials.”
http://www.capwiz.com/nrlc/dbq/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), 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.