Life Advocacy Briefing

Remembering Rep. Hyde

LIFE ADVOCACY BRIEFING HAS PUBLISHED A SPECIAL EDITION saluting the late Rep. Henry J. Hyde and beginning a series of excerpts from his speeches to the US House. Copies of this special edition are available by contacting Life Advocacy at 1-888/344-LIFE or via electronic mail at [email protected]. The special edition is also posted on our Internet website at www.LifeAdvocacy.com.

The venerated champion for Life passed away Thursday morning after fighting three months to recover from heart surgery. He served 32 years in the US House before retiring at the beginning of the current Congress. His funeral service is scheduled for Friday, Dec. 7, at 10 a.m. in St. John Newman Roman Catholic Church, St. Charles, Illinois; visitation is at the church from 3 to 8 p.m. the previous evening.

Tributes from Capitol Hill were swift and effusive. Said House pro-life caucus co-chairman Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), “In the greatest human rights issue of our time – the right to life – Henry Hyde will always be known as a champion and great defender of children and their moms. Because of the Hyde Amendment, countless young children and adults walk on this earth today and have an opportunity to prosper because they were spared destruction when they were most at risk. With malice towards none,” said Rep. Smith in a news release, “Henry Hyde often took to the House floor to politely ask us to show compassion and respect – even love – for the innocent and inconvenient baby about to be annihilated.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), released the following brief statement: “Today we lost a true statesman. As a committed warrior in the fight to protect the unborn, Henry Hyde gave a voice to those who were unable to speak for themselves. His legacy exceeds his years as a legislator and expands far beyond the borders of the district he served and the nation he adored.”

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH), said, reports Susan Jones for CNSNews.com, “not only was [Mr.] Hyde a constitutional scholar, legislator and orator, he ‘stood as a beacon for the bedrock principles of liberty, justice and, above all, respect for life.’”

And pro-life leaders weighed in. The revered Dr. Jack Willke, president of Life Issues Institute, declared, “Probably no other person in public service, here and abroad, has had the influence and certainly no one commanded the respect that he did. We’ll all keep trying,” noted Dr. Willke, “but none of us will ever be able to replace him.”

Republican National Coalition for Life director Colleen Parro, quoted by Steve Jalsevac in LifeSiteNews.com, called the late Congressman “‘one of the most dedicated, eloquent and effective pro-life advocates in American government.’”

In a news release from National Right to Life, NRL president Wanda Franz called Mr. Hyde “a champion in the fight to protect unborn children. Congressman Hyde,” she said, “was a passionate and dedicated ally of the pro-life movement. In both word and deed, Henry Hyde worked for the day that unborn children are again protected by law. … [His] dedication and passion for protecting women and children,” said Dr. Franz, “saved countless lives throughout his distinguished Congressional career. He was truly,” she said, “one of the great statesmen of our time.”

NRL noted in its news release the impact of the appropriations amendment which bears his name. “Henry Hyde,” says the release, “will be remembered by history as the father of the modern pro-life movement for his introduction and sponsorship of the amendment that bears his name, prohibiting federal funding of abortion. [Rep.] Hyde first offered the amendment as a freshman Member of Congress in 1976, and it remains in place to this day. By conservative estimate,” notes the release, “well over one million Americans are alive today because of the Hyde Amendment – more likely, two million. In their reflections of Henry Hyde online today,” notes the release, “the editors of National Review said the Hyde Amendment ‘is without question the most important piece of pro-life legislation ever to pass Congress.’”

Less than a month ago, Pres. George W. Bush honored Rep. Hyde with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In conferring on him the highest civilian award, the President called him “a gallant champion of the weak and forgotten and a fearless defender of life in all its seasons.”

Calls for Abstinence

CALLS ARE NEEDED to the Appropriation Committee members in the House and Senate urging support for maintaining in the Health & Human Services appropriation the provisions for the Community Based Abstinence Education program. Members, who can be reached via the Capitol switchboard at 1-202/224-3121, will recognize the acronym CBAE (pron. SEE-bay). Panel Members are listed at the close of this Life Advocacy Briefing.

The massive spending bill was vetoed last month by Pres. Bush, owing to the proposal’s overall excessive spending. The President, however, is believed to support the CBAE provisions, which carry a $141 million price tag, representing a $28 million increase over the previous fiscal year. The CBAE program is responsible for the growth of the abstinence education movement, providing grants to organizations, including pregnancy counseling centers, to teach adolescents the healthy path of sexual abstinence until marriage.

To qualify for a grant, organizations must follow a prescribed definition of abstinence education which explicitly limits the program to sound, marriage-protective principles. That definition was jeopardized at various stages of Congressional negotiation in the package developed last summer; the pro-life/pro-marriage/pro-future lawmakers prevailed in the final negotiation, and calls are needed now to be certain the definition is not subject to further jeopardy.

Abortion Death Toll Declining?

THE CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL (C.D.C.) RECENTLY RELEASED abortion statistics for the year 2004, showing induced abortions falling to their lowest level since 1974, though some states did not report their death tolls.

Published in the CDC’s Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report, the government’s statistics show “839,226 legal induced abortions were reported to the CDC [in 2004] from 49 reporting areas,” representing, claims the agency, “a 1.1% decrease from the 848,163 abortions reported for 2003.” The ratio of abortions to live births was also down, reports the CDC, at “238 legal induced abortions per 1,000 live births in 2004.”

The agency notes “more than half (61%) of the reported legal induced abortions were performed during the first eight weeks of gestation.” That means, though, that some 39% were committed later than the first two months, some 12%, according to the CDC’s figures, after the first 12 weeks.

Court OKs Prosecuting Feticide as Murder

A TEXAS APPEALS COURT HAS UPHELD the prosecution of a baby killer for two murders in the deaths of an expectant mother and her four-to-six-week prenatal baby.

Rejecting a “due process violation” appeal, the court “ruled unanimously,” reports the Associated Press, “that state laws declaring a fetus an individual with protections do not conflict with the US Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade ruling that protects a woman’s right to an abortion. ‘The Supreme Court has emphasized,’” the court opinion said, quoted by AP, “‘that states may protect human life not only once the fetus has reached viability but “from the outset of pregnancy.” The legislature is free to protect the lives of those whom it considers to be human beings.’”

Writing for the court, presiding Judge Sharon Keller declared, reports AP, “‘the “compelling state interest” test, along with the accompanying “viability” threshold, has no application to a statute that prohibits a third party from causing the death of the woman’s unborn child against her will.’”

Beijing Mimics Madison Avenue

RED CHINA IS PUTTING A NEW FACE on its brutal one-child program again. This iteration looks as though the Beijing Communists are instituting an incentive/reward system to enforce its anti-birth policy.

“A government circular,” reports LifeSiteNews.com, “says families who have followed the policy will receive ‘preferential treatment’ including housing, health, education and poverty-alleviation benefits. China View News,” writes LifeSite’s Hilary White, “reports that the circular promised families with only one or two children will receive government help with house renovation, training programs, land rearrangement [whatever that means!], introduction of new technology and relocation subsidies.”

Of course, if one reads that “promise” on its flip side, it is yet another tool of persecution. Those families who bear more than one child (the reference to “two” depends on the locale) will suffer discrimination in “housing, health, education and poverty-alleviation benefits.”

Same old punishment-oriented genocidal tyranny wearing a deceptive, westernized, capitalistic incentive mask of beneficence.

Right Focus

THE GERMAN HEALTH MINISTRY HAS ANNOUNCED it will double its investment in adult stem cell research in the wake of reports of a breakthrough in reprogramming adult skin cells into stem cells which have the claimed advantages of embryonic stem cells with fewer of the disadvantages.

“‘From now on we are going to double the annual funding total for adult cell recoding techniques,’” Research Minister Annette Schavan told Focus magazine, quoted by Hilary White in LifeSiteNews.com.  Ms. Schavan underscored Germany’s determination to “‘be a motor in adult stem cell research so that we can expand on the results already obtained.’”

The rational response to the recent celebrated breakthrough contrasts with the response of US liberals like Senators Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Arlen Specter (R-PA) and Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO), who have, reports Family Research Council’s Tony Perkins, expressed continued determination to tax Americans for the slaughter of embryonic humans in the futile pursuit of medical cures. Voices like Sen. Harkin’s will find decreasing acceptance in the face of well-publicized ethical alternatives such as that being trumpeted by news media during our Thanksgiving break.

Bending Backwards

THOUGH MEMBERS OF THE BRITISH PARLIAMENT ARE USUALLY FREE to vote their consciences on matters of morality and Life, Labor Party MPs have been told, reports Hilary White for LifeSiteNews.com, they will be required to vote the party line for the pending Human Fertilization & Embryology bill, regardless of conscientious objection.

The proposal adds insult to the injury of an already radical British human reproduction policy, “propos[ing],” reports LifeSite, “to remove the requirement of fertility clinics to consider the ‘need for a father’ before providing artificial procreation treatments. It also states,” reports LifeSite, “that lesbian ‘partners’ may both be named on birth certificates as legal parents. Under the new [proposed] law, homosexual partners would be able to demand treatments to produce a child as a ‘right,’” reports LifeSite, explaining, “Two men will be able to apply for the legal status of parents of a child carried by a surrogate.”

Ominously, the bill also would ratify “a host of anti-Life decisions made over the years by the Human Fertilization & Embryology Authority (HFEA), widely seen,” notes LifeSite, “as the most permissive government agency in the world. In the last 10 years,” reports LifeSite, “the HFEA has granted permissions on a case-by-case basis for the creation of human embryos for research, human/animal hybrid clones and genetically matched ‘savior sibling’ children to be used for their tissues.”

Conference Offered

ILLINOIS PRO-LIFE ADVOCATES WILL GATHER for a day-long conference on Feb. 2 in Chicago suburban OakBrook for their annual SpeakOut Illinois conference, jointly sponsored by a wide variety of pro-life organizations, including Life Advocacy.

The program will include a tribute to the late Rep. Henry J. Hyde and workshops featuring Scott Klusendorf on “Pro-Life 101;” Patricia Bainbridge on “Planned Parenthood: Sex, Lies & Bad Advice;” Dr. Angela Lanfranchie on “The Real Risk of Breast Cancer;” and Jill Stanek on “Blogging for Life.”

A concurrent “TeenSpeak” conference will feature Mr. Klusendorf and former abortionist Dr. Anthony Levatino.

We invite our Midwest readers to register for the conference through Life Advocacy by sending a check for $50 (early-bird), payable to SpeakOut Illinois, to Life Advocacy, 2004 E. Sherwood Road, Arlington Heights, IL 60004. TeenSpeak registration is $25, also payable to SpeakOut Illinois but marked “for teen conference.”

Appropriations Committee Members

House Democrats: Chairman Obey (WI) and Representatives Cramer (AL); Pastor (AZ); Berry (AR); Farr, Honda, Lee, Roybal-Allard & Schiff (CA); DeLauro (CT); Boyd & Wasserman-Schultz (FL); Bishop (GA); Jackson (IL); Visclosky (IN); Chandler (KY); Ruppersberger (MD); Olver (MA); Kilpatrick (MI); McCollum (MN); Rothman (NJ); Udall (NM); Hinchey, Israel, Lowey & Serrano (NY); Price (NC); Kaptur & Ryan (OH); Fattah & Murtha (PA); Kennedy (RI); Edwards & Rodriguez (TX); Moran (VA); Dicks (WA); Mollohan (WV).

House Republicans: Ranking Member Lewis (CA) and Representatives Aderholt (AL); Calvert (CA); Crenshaw, Weldon & Young (FL); Kingston (GA); Simpson (ID); Kirk & LaHood (IL); Latham (IA); Tiahrt (KS); Rogers (KY); Alexander (LA); Knollenberg (MI); Wicker (MS); Emerson (MO); Rehberg (MT); Frelinghuysen (NJ); Walsh (NY); Hobson & Regula (OH); Peterson (PA); Wamp (TN); Carter, Culberson & Granger (TX); Goode & Wolf (VA).

Senate Democrats: Chairman Byrd (WV) and Senators Feinstein (CA), Inouye (HI), Durbin (IL), Harkin (IA), Landrieu (LA), Mikulski (MD), Nelson (NE), Lautenberg (NJ), Dorgan (ND), Reed (RI), Johnson (SD), Leahy (VT), Murray (WA), Kohl (WI).

Senate Republicans: Ranking Member Cochran (MS) and Senators Shelby (AL), Stevens (AK), Allard (CO), Craig (ID), Brownback (KS), McConnell (KY), Bond (MO), Gregg (NH), Domenici (NM), Specter (PA), Alexander (TN), Hutchison (TX), Bennett (UT).