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NRL News "And
They Call Us Ideologues" At the risk of playing armchair psychologist, I can't help but wonder if the constant flow of disingenuous and dishonest statements that streams out of the mouths of pro-abortionists doesn't work on their souls over time. I'm not naive. I've been active in politics since the early seventies and an observer in Washington, D.C., since 1981, so it's not as though much surprises me. But the games that pro-abortion Democratic Senate leaders are playing on a parental notification bill are so sleazy, even by the truth-is-the-first-casualty standard they long ago established for themselves, that you have to wonder how they look in the mirror. The truth has been so battered by pro-abortionists it needs a tourniquet. For instance, ask yourself, is the following remedy "radical," "outside the mainstream"? All too often a teenager is impregnated by an older man, sometimes much older. The state has a law that requires that the parent or parents be notified before their grandchild is aborted. (There is always a judicial bypass.) But the state next door doesn't have such a law. The girl is whisked off and the parents are none the wiser until, under the stress of some physical or emotional complication, the young girl breaks down and tells them about her abortion. This is wrong on so many levels it makes you angry just to think about it. You wonder how anyone can oppose what is called the Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act in the House and the Child Custody Protection Act (CCPA) in the Senate to address this rampant abridgement of parental rights. Even 14 Democrats voted for the CCPA that passed overwhelmingly. But that was for public consumption. Then began the stealthy gamesmanship of the likes of Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid and assistant leader Dick Durbin. Douglas Johnson explains the ins and outs of this tangled web of deceit in a story that begins on page one. For our purposes here, what matters is that just after 14 Democrats voted for CCPA, the pro-abortion Democratic Senate leadership erected a behind-the-scenes procedural roadblock to prevent the utterly routine from occurring--the naming of a House-Senate conference committee to reconcile the differences between the two bills. Pro-abortionists are convinced they can ride out the storm. To quote Congressional Quarterly, they "are gambling that [Senate Majority Leader Bill] Frist will not want to devote a significant chunk of precious Senate floor time after the August recess to jumping procedural hurdles." They also believe the American public will be kept in the dark about their duplicity. Enough said here. What matters is that you respond to the Action Alert on page 12. What transpired with respect to another piece of legislation that no one should have opposed is equally instructive. Consistent with what he has said and done for five years, President Bush refused to treat unborn life as raw material for researchers to exploit. He vetoed H.R. 810, a bill that would have required federal funding of some types of stem cell research that require the killing of human embryos who were created by in vitro fertilization. Supporters in the House fell far short of the two-thirds vote needed to override the veto. Meanwhile the Senate had unanimously approved S. 2754, to encourage federal funding of research into methods of obtaining pluripotent stem cells without harming human embryos. (Pluripotent cells are those that can morph into most types of body tissue.) Regardless of a member's position on lethal embryonic stem cell research, he or she should have embraced an approach that avoided all the ethical landmines. Fat chance of that. The good news was that the House overwhelmingly passed the measure 273–154. The bad news it did not do so by the two-thirds necessary to pass on a fast-track procedure. Credit for that exercise in politically pettiness goes to House supporters of embryo-killing research, led by Rep. Mike Castle (R-De.) and Diana DeGette (D-Co). "House members who blocked the alternatives bill are interested in funding only the type of stem cell research that kills human embryos," said Legislative Director Douglas Johnson. "Any scientists who have ideas for non-embryo-killing alternatives need not apply." He added, "And they call us ideologues." This edition of NRL News not only brings you up to speed on congressional action, it also reminds readers that we are rapidly approaching the end of the primary season and the onrush of the November 7 elections. The enemies of life have made no secret that it wouldn't require a huge net gain for them to take control of either or both the House and the Senate. (See the story that begins on the back cover.) When it comes to the impact of pro-lifers in the electoral process I try never to claim more than is justified by history. But the history of the past 26 years is that your work on behalf of pro-life candidates has proved to be the crucial difference. This could be even more true this November, given how close many, many elections are surely going to be. Pro-abortionists like to look at the gains we have made since President Bush was elected as if they were written on an easel. If they carry the House and Senate in November, they fantasize that those steps forward can be erased. Our job is to be sure they never get the chance to try to make these pipedreams a reality. That begins by responding to the Action Alert on page x and by keeping close tabs on the races in your state. Sorting it all out will not be easy. Pro-abortionists are determined to produce a din of competing messages that imply they are just as pro-life as we are. These pseudo-professions of adherence to the pro-life cause must and will be exposed for the lies that they are. Keep reading NRL News. Be sure--very sure--to give gift subscriptions to your friends, family, and colleagues. And also read Today's News & Views, which is found at www.nrlc.org, along with all the other great material found on NRLC's web site. Pro-abortionists breathe the thin air of dissimulation and non sequiturs. Pro-lifers thrive on an oxygen-rich diet of truth, compassion, and concern for mother and unborn child. That is why we are winning and they are not. Dave Andrusko can be reached at dandrusko@nrlc.org. |