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A Resolution to Reaffirm the Fundamental Right to Life
In the spirit of America's founding document, the
Declaration of Independence signed 224 years ago in Philadelphia, we reaffirm the self-evident
truth that "all men ... are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life . . . "
Therefore, every human being, from conception to natural
death, has a fundamental individual right to life which
cannot be infringed.
The Declaration further states: "That to secure these rights,
governments are instituted among men . . . "
In the tradition of our Founding Fathers, and in an effort
to once again secure the right to life, we support a human life
amendment to the Constitution, and we endorse legislation to
make clear that the Fourteenth Amendment's protections apply
to unborn children. We oppose using public revenues for
abortion and will not fund organizations which advocate it.
We support the appointment of judges who respect traditional
family values and and sanctity of innocent human life.
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Because of the multitude of public policy issues related to human life that have arisen within the scientific and medical communities, particularly with respect to reproductive technologies and experimentation on human subjects, we hope you will also offer the following resolutions at your local, county/district and state conventions.
Please do not be discouraged if these resolutions are defeated. There is great educational value in simply reading them aloud to the Delegates, so that people can listen and learn. They will pass at many conventions, and that will result in greater attention being paid to these critical issues at the national level.
Ban Unethical Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research
Since 1995, Congress has explicitly prohibited the use of federal funds
for "research in which a human embryo or embryos are destroyed, discarded, or knowingly subjected to risk of injury or death." The National Institutes of Health has established new guidelines to
circumvent this ban by allowing federally funded researchers to conduct experiments on stem
cells obtained from embryonic babies in privately funded research facilities. Embryonic stem cells are obtained by killing the human embryo. This is clearly an immoral, unethical, illegal course of action based on a utilitarian view that the weak and defenseless may be sacrificed for some possible good end. Stem cells are also being derived from non-lethal sources. Stem cells taken from umbilical cord blood and placentas (after the birth of a living baby). Adult stem cells are now being used with great promise and success in experiments to assist in the cure or treatment of disease.
The science of embryology is abundantly clear - a human being, a person, is in existence at fertilization. Medical Ethics, from the Hippocratic Oath of the fourth century, B.C., to the
mid-20th Century Nuremberg Code, to the Council of Europe's 1997 Convention on Human Rights and
Biomedicine, all affirm this basic principle: First, do no harm. We therefore resolve that the United States Congress should pass a complete ban on human embryonic stem cell research.
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Ban the Use of Aborted Babies in Fetal Tissue Experiments
Passage of the National Institutes of Health Revitalization Act of 1993 lifted the federal ban on the performance of fetal tissue transplant experiments
using the victims of induced abortion. Since then, shocking evidence confirms that abortion clinics, medical schools, university research laboratories and pharmaceutical companies are trafficking in the organs and bodies of aborted babies, some of whom are aborted alive and then killed for their organs.
These activities cannot be condoned by a civilized, compassionate society.
Therefore, we urge Congress to pass legislation banning research on
fetal tissue obtained from induced abortions and providing stiff fines and
criminal penalties for violations of such a law.
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