"Facts of Life" Email:  November 22, 2002

Facts of Life

November 22, 2002

First--apologies for the lag in time before you received our November 15 Facts of Life, due to server-upgrading difficulties, which forced us to change our broadcast e-mail system. 

The European Parliament voted yesterday by a large majority in favor of a total ban on human cloning.  The amendment to a report on life sciences and biotechnology reads:  [The European Parliament] solemnly reaffirms that the life and dignity of all human beings, whatever their stage of development and state of health, must be respected and is opposed to any form of research or use of life sciences and biotechnology that runs counter to this fundamental principle; repeats its insistence that there should be a universal and specific ban at the level of the United Nations on the cloning of human beings at all stages of formation and development and urges the Commission and the Member States to work towards this end.  For more information see http://www.c-fam.org/FAX/Volume_5/faxv5n48.html. 
            The Bush administration has lobbied vigorously for a comprehensive ban at the United Nations, and opposes a proposal by France and Germany to allow the creation of human beings for experimentation and destruction.  The United Kingdom is the only western country, which has authorized this destructive form of cloning, with the active support of Prime Minister Tony Blair.  California is the only state in the United States, which has done so through passage of SB 253 this year.

Pro-life representatives in the U.S. House joined with democrats opposed to the bankruptcy overhaul to kill the bill that would have singled out pro-lifers saddled with court judgments for unfair treatment.  The rule for taking up the conference report on the bill was soundly defeated on November 14, on a vote of 172-243.  In the wee hours of the next morning the Bankruptcy Reform Act, HR333, stripped of the offensive language (which had been authored by Senator Chuck Schumer of New York), passed the House overwhelmingly to go to the Senate where Sen. Daschle refused to take it up.  Prospects for a clean bill in the new Congress should be very good.  It was testimony from many solid pro-life members like this of Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO), which killed the long-debated proposal:  
            I recall so many years ago on a cold street standing with a sign, and I recall this woman that was going in to consider getting an abortion or not, and I felt completely inadequate, but I told her that we would help her with services if she decided to keep her child.  Today that child is probably now trying to practice to get a driver's license.  I can never support a rule or a bill on this floor which would have effectively imposed a financial death sentence on somebody who is merely standing on a sidewalk trying to help save a life.

California Election Wrap-up:  Jeff Denham, a pro-life Republican, who endured a campaign of lies concerning his pro-life position by his opponent and prominent unions, such as the California Nurses Association, has finally been declared the winner in Senate District 12, by 1825 votes.  And Dean Gardner, who ran for the Assembly in District 30 is only 187 votes from victory, where absentee and provisional ballots are under close scrutiny.  Gardner would oppose abortion funding, and support reasonable regulation of abortion. 
            Unfortunately, Tom McClintock, the conservative, pro-life Republican who ran for Controller, and got the most votes of any Republican running for statewide office this year (other than judges), lost by less than a mere 1/3 of 1 percent of the vote.  So if you don't think your vote countsthink again.  (By the way a pro-life Colorado candidate won his congressional seat by a mere 122 votes.)  Also be sure to note that a conservative third party candidate in the controllers race, who never had a chance to win, got more than 4 times the number of votes Senator McClintock needed to win.  Senator McClintock will continue to serve in the California Senate, where he is not termed out until 2008.  
            The final tallya pick-up of one pro-life vote in the California congressional delegation, one in the state Senate, and two in the California Assembly. 

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