DEACON FOR LIFE

Were there to be no support in the whole history of ethical and moral thought, were there no acknowledged confirmation from medical science, were the history of legal opinion to the contrary, we would still have to conclude on the basis of God's Holy Word that the unborn child is a person in the sight of God. He is protected by the sanctity of life graciously given to each individual by the Creator, Who alone places His image upon man and grants them any right to life which they have.

Monday, August 17, 2009

New NRLC Resources on Abortion in Health Care Bills

WASHINGTON, Aug. 17 /Christian Newswire/ -- The purpose of this advisory is to alert you to a number of new documents available on the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) website, dealing with the abortion-related implications of the health-care restructuring bills that are being pushed by the White House. The new resources include the following:

-- A new and detailed NRLC memorandum that documents the abortion-related problems with the two bills that President Obama and the White House are pushing: Senator Kennedy's bill (as yet unnumbered) and the House Democratic leadership bill, H.R. 3200. This analysis contains numerous citations to primary sources. It includes an examination of the Capps Amendment, a "phony compromise" that was written by hard-core pro-abortion lawmakers and adopted over pro-life objections in one House committee on July 30. Among other objectionable elements, the Capps Amendment explicitly authorizes coverage of all elective abortions in the proposed new government health insurance program (the "public option"). This memo, dated August 13, 2009, can be viewed or downloaded here (PDF format).

-- A one-page summary of abortion-related problems with the bills, here.

-- An August 5, 2009, Associated Press story, "Government insurance would allow coverage for abortion," by Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, here.

-- A detailed update on the current state of the debate in Congress, sent to NRLC affiliates and supporters nationwide on August 7 in the form of a page 1 article in the National Right to Life News. This article can be viewed in your web browserhere or downloaded in PDF format from here.

-- A special webpage set up by NRLC to highlight the pro-abortion activities of Congressman Tim Ryan (D- Oh.), who impersonates a pro-life lawmaker in the media in order to undercut the efforts of the real pro- life lawmakers of both parties,here.

-- A new letter sent to members of the U.S. House by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops on August 11, urging the lawmakers to vote against the "rule" -- the procedural bridge by which H.R. 3200 would be brought to the House floor in September -- unless the rule allows consideration of amendments to remove the pro-abortion components from the bill. To view or download the letter (PDF format), click here.