PRESIDENT BUSH VETOES ESCR EXPANSION BILL FOR SECOND TIME 
Congress’ attempt to expand federal funding for scientific research on human embryos beyond the limits established by President Bush in 2001 met defeat once again through a presidential veto. Senators Arlen Specter (R-PA) and Harkin (D-IA) reportedly plan to insert similar language into the Health and Human Services Appropriations Bill which could result in another veto. On May 3, President Bush sent Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and House Speaker Pelosi letters in which he said, “I will veto any legislation that weakens current Federal policies and laws on abortion, or that encourages the destruction of human life at any stage.” More than one-third of the members of the House have signed a letter to the President, pledging that they will vote to sustain such vetoes. (National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) statement issued on 6/20/07)

As long as the human embryo has some measure of legal protection in this country, and as long as the American people consider such protection a moral imperative, we have a chance to some day end legal abortion. The killing of human embryos for research is supported by public officials who are, in general, pro-abortion. They realize that the fate of the human embryo is at the core of the battle over the right to life and the 34-year effort to reestablish legal protection of that right under the U.S. Constitution.

Mr. Bush has directed Secretary of Health and Human Services Michael Leavitt to find ways to promote research into producing non-embryonic stem cells but with similar properties without killing human embryos in the process. The President has said embryo destruction is a moral line that he will not cross.

president@whitehouse.gov

PLANNED PARENTHOOD ABORTION CLINICS MUST MEET MISSOURI STANDARDS 
Last month, Missouri lawmakers passed Senate bill 370, which will require abortion clinics, including those run by Planned Parenthood, to meet structural standards including making sure there are two exits on each floor, widening hallways to eight feet wide and making all doors leading to operating rooms 44 inches wide.

The Columbia, MO Planned Parenthood says the changes would cost about $1 million and its money they don’t have. “At this time it looks like we will shut down our abortion services.”

Governor Matt Blunt is expected to sign the bill soon. Once signed, clinics must make the changes by August 28.

PRO-LIFE AMENDMENT PROPOSED IN COLORADO 
Colorado for Equal Rights, based in Peyton, CO, has filed paperwork with the state of Colorado proposing a state constitutional amendment that would define a person as “any human being from the moment of fertilization.”

Proponent Mark Meuser said the Amendment could be used as a stepping stone to challenge abortion in his state.

Before it can be placed on the 2008 ballot, the Colorado Legislative Council will conduct a review and comment session on the proposal at 10 a.m. on July 3 at the Capitol in Denver. If Colorado for Equal Rights accepts any changes that the Council proposes, the group will then have to collect roughly 75,000 signatures. (Rocky Mountain News.com, 6/20/07)