DELAWARE ASSEMBLY DEFEATS RESEARCH ON HUMAN EMBRYOS 
In an 11th-hour vote on Saturday night, June 30, Delaware’s General Assembly overwhelmingly defeated Senate Bill 5, which would have authorized the use of human embryos in medical experiments.

The bill was defeated 4 to 1, in spite of intense lobbying by aides to Congressman Mike Castle (R-DE), who has introduced a similar bill in the U.S. Congress. “The 4 to 1 defeat of SB 5 proves that, despite the polls, when Americans realize that embryonic stem cell research requires killing human embryos, they are overwhelmingly against it,” said Ellen Barrosse, a founder of the interfaith grassroots group, A Rose and a Prayer.

To defeat SB 5, A Rose and a Prayer has led regular prayer vigils since January, mobilized tens of thousands of Delawareans to call their legislators, and delivered more than 4,000 roses to Legislative Hall, each labeled with the name of a single constituent who opposed the bill. One of the hallmarks of A Rose and a Prayer is the strong working relationships developed between Catholic and Evangelical Christians in order to defeat the bill.

This is the second time A Rose and a Prayer has defeated legislation that would have legalized human embryonic stem cell research in Delaware. In 2006, a Rose and a Prayer orchestrated an 8-day, 2,400-person prayer vigil, the delivery of 2,500 roses from constituents, and as many as 25,000 constituent phone calls to legislators, resulting in the removal of all mention of human embryos from SB 80. (Christian Newswire, 7/2/07)

With that sort of wonderful grassroots organizing, will the people of Delaware soon replace Mike Castle with a pro-life Member of Congress? Congratulations to all involved with A Rose and a Prayer!

ABSTINENCE EDUCATION FUNDING IN PERIL 
Last week, the Senate authorized an extension for Title V abstinence education funding for another three months, giving citizens a brief time in which to contact their Members of Congress to ask them to support true abstinence-until-marriage programs by re-authorizing Title V.

Title V, a provision of the 1996 Welfare Reform Act, has enabled abstinence educators across the United States, many of them affiliated with pregnancy care centers, to educate young people in how to have a healthy, happy and productive life, free of the negative and sometimes deadly consequences of pre-marital sexual activity.

Title V was dropped from the legislation last fall, and unless the money is re-authorized, many abstinence education programs will be forced to shut down. CAPITOL SWITCHBOARD – 202/224-3121.

DEMOCRATS STUCK IN PRO-ABORTION QUAGMIRE 
Hillary Clinton and the Democrats find themselves stuck in a box of their own creation. They are now, have been, and intend to remain pro-abortion. But, because polling results show that Americans are growing more and more pro-life, and because they are tired of losing elections to pro-life Republicans, they are seeking ways to soften their image. Hillary spouts the phrase that abortion should be “safe, legal, and rare,” emphasizing the Planned Parenthood-style of pregnancy “prevention.”

Congresswoman Louise Slaughter (D-NY) has introduced the “Prevention First Act” to give substance to Hillary’s slogan. The bill would vastly increase taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood and other “family planning” clinics to expand the distribution of birth control pills and the “morning after pill,” both of which can potentially cause early abortions, but certainly leave the user wide open for a variety of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), some of which are incurable or, like human papillomavirus, cancer causing. Slaughter’s bill is the same old routine. It leads only to more abortions and more STDs, and more money for Planned Parenthood. A vote for the “Prevention First Act” is a pro-abortion vote.