ABORTION

The Informed Choice Act  (H.R.223) sponsored by pro-life Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fl.), allows the Secretary of Health and Human Services to make grants to certain nonprofit tax-exempt community-based pregnancy help medical clinics for the purchase of ultrasound equipment, in order to provide free ultrasound examinations to pregnant women. The bill requires each grant recipient to provide to each woman receiving services a visual image of the unborn child from the ultrasound examination, and a general anatomical and physiological description of the characteristics of the fetus. It also requires the grant recipient to provide information on abortion and alternatives to abortion such as childbirth and adoption, and information concerning public and private agencies that will assist in those alternatives. The bill limits each grant to a maximum amount of 50 percent of the purchase price cost of the ultrasound machine involved, or $20,000, whichever is less.
Click here to view the House version.
POSITION:  SUPPORT

The Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act (H.R.1063) sponsored by Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fl.), requires any abortionist to notify a parent before performing an abortion on a minor who is a resident of another state, unless the minor has already received authorization from a court in her home state, or unless the abortionist is already required to provide such parental notification by a current law in the state in which he practices. If the minor asserts that she is the victim of abuse, the abortionist must notify the appropriate state child abuse agency instead. The bill also would make it a federal offense to transport a minor across state lines for an abortion without fulfilling the requirements of a parental notification law in effect in the home state.  NRLC strongly supports the CIANA.  For more information on this issue, click here.
POSITION:  SUPPORT

The Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act (S.356) is authored by Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Ks.) and is strongly backed by National Right to Life. This bill would require every abortionist to provide, whenever a woman seeks an abortion past 20 weeks after fertilization, specified information about the capacity of her unborn child to experience pain during the abortion, after which the woman must either accept or refuse (by signing a form) the administration of pain-reducing drugs directly to the unborn child. The bill would apply to all abortions past 20 weeks, regardless of the method used. The bill also contains a number of proposed congressional "findings" regarding the scientific evidence that unborn children experience great pain during abortions at 20 weeks (and perhaps earlier), and cites a number of existing federal laws that seek to diminish the suffering even of animals, such as restrictions on how livestock are slaughtered and restrictions on the use of animals in medical research. For further information on the pain of unborn children and on this legislation, click here.
POSITION:  SUPPORT

Title X Family Planning Act (S.351) sponsored by Sen. David Vitter (R-La.), would prohibit funds under the federal Title X ("Title 10") family planning program from going to grantees (other than hospitals) that perform abortions (except to save the life of the mother).
POSITION:  SUPPORT  

Abortion Non-Discrimination Act (S.350) sponsored by Senator David Vitter (R-La.), would prohibit health care providers from being penalized for declining to participate in providing abortions.  The bill would cover individual health care professionals, hospitals, insurers, and other health care providers.
POSITION:  SUPPORT

HUMAN EMBRYOS

The Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act (S.5) sponsored by Senators Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), would mandate federal funding of the type of stem cell research that requires the killing of human embryos in order to harvest their stem cells. This is the companion bill to H.R. 3.  The embryos would be those "donated from in vitro fertilization clinics, [and that] were created for the purposes of fertility treatment," after authorization by the parents. The bill is intended to overturn the pro-life policy that President Bush announced on August 9, 2001, under which federal funds do not support research that requires the killing of human embryos. The language of S. 5 is the same as the bill numbered H.R. 810 during the 109th Congress, which President Bush vetoed on July 19, 2006.
POSITION:  OPPOSE

The Alternative Pluripotent Stem Cell Therapies Enhancement Act (H.R.322), introduced by Reps. Roscoe Bartlett (R-Md.) and Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.), and endorsed by NRLC, requires the federal National Institutes of Health to support research on finding ways to obtain pluripotent stem cells (stem cells that are capable of morphing into most types of body tissue) that are not derived from a human embryo.  The bill does not require research on any specific method.  It does not authorize funds to be used for any method that involves creating or harming human embryos.
POSITION:  OPPOSE

Sponsored by Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Congresswoman Mary Bono (R-Ca.) the Promoting cloning of human embryos ("clone and kill") (S.876) is labeled as a bill "to prohibit human cloning," but this is highly misleading. The bill promotes the cloning of human embryos in any numbers to be killed in research. The bill also would make it a crime to implant any such embryo in a uterus "or the functional equivalent of a uterus," and says that human clones may not be allowed to develop beyond two weeks -- thereby making the FBI and other federal law enforcement agencies responsible for ensuring the destruction of every cloned human embryo.  This "phony ban," promoted by the biotechnology industry, should not be confused with the real ban on all forms of human cloning, supported by President Bush and by NRLC -- the Brownback-Landrieu bill (S. 658). 
To read more about these diametrically opposed approaches to human cloning, read "Human Cloning Legislation in Congress:  Misconceptions and Realities."
POSITION:  OPPOSE

The Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act (H.R.3) authored by Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Co.) and Mike Castle (R-De.), would mandate federal funding of the type of stem cell research that requires the killing of human embryos in order to harvest their stem cells. The embryos would be those "donated from in vitro fertilization clinics, [and that] were created for the purposes of fertility treatment," after authorization by the parents. The bill is intended to overturn the pro-life policy that President Bush announced on August 9, 2001, under which federal funds do not support research that requires the killing of human embryos. This is the companion bill to S. 5.  The language of H.R. 3 is the same as the bill numbered H.R. 810 during the 109th Congress, which President Bush vetoed on July 19, 2006.
POSITION:  OPPOSE  

EUTHANASIA/ASSISTED SUICIDE

Medicare Prescription Drug Price Negotiation Act (H.R.4)  sponsored by Rep. John Dingell (D-Mi.), would effectively prevent older people from being allowed to spend their own money, if they choose, to save their own lives through access to unrationed prescription drugs under Medicare.  Under the guise of “government negotiation” the bill would result in the imposition of price controls that would limit access to and discourage the development of innovative life-saving medicines.  To read NRLC's January 2, 2007 letter to House members in opposition to H.R. 4, click here.  For further information on the danger of drug rationing in Medicare, click here. 
POSITION:  OPPOSE

Contact Information:
House of Representatives: 202-224-3121
Senator Saxby Chambliss: 202-224-3521
Senator Johnny Isakson: 202-224-3643