LIFE DIGEST: Congress blocks anti-coercive abortion amendment
- Mar 10, 2009
Congress has rejected efforts to retain a pro-life policy that bars federal funding for organizations that support coercive abortion programs overseas.
The Senate defeated an amendment March 5 that would have restored the Kemp-Kasten Amendment to the $410 billion omnibus spending bill under consideration. The House of Representatives also rejected an effort to amend the legislation before approving the appropriations measure.
Also in this edition: Montana Senate OKs personhood proposal and Florida abortion clinic owner charged
Senators voted 55-39 against an amendment by Sen. Roger Wicker, R.-Miss., that would have inserted Kemp-Kasten into the bill and removed $50 million designated for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). Three Democrats – Sens. Evan Bayh of Indiana, Robert Casey of Pennsylvania and Ben Nelson of Nebraska – voted with 36 Republicans in support of the amendment.
During its last seven years, the Bush administration refused to forward congressionally approved funds to UNFPA based on the agency’s support of China’s coercive, population-control policy. During that time period, the administration withheld nearly $235 million from the UNFPA as a result of President Bush’s finding that the agency aided in a program of forced abortion and sterilization. Bush’s determination was based on Kemp-Kasten, which was first approved in 1985.
Rep. Chris Smith, R.-N.J., attempted to amend the omnibus bill in the House, but the Democratic leadership prevented him from bringing his proposal to the floor, he said.
“So, how does Congress respond to the UNFPA’s complicity in China’s crimes against women?” Smith asked in a written release. “Do we demand reform and protection of Chinese women and children?
“Heck no,” he said. “We gut the anti-coercion law and write a $50 million check to the UNFPA.”
The vote on Wicker’s amendment came three days after 28 senators wrote Senate Appropriations Committee leaders urging traditional pro-life provisions in spending bills be retained. The pro-life “riders” primarily bar funds for abortions and destructive embryo research. That effort followed a Feb. 25 letter signed by 180 representatives that called for Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and other Democratic leaders to protect the “riders.”
The omnibus spending bill was still under consideration in the Senate March 10.
Montana Senate OKs personhood proposal
The Montana Senate has voted 26-24 for a measure to provide legal protection to each person from the moment of conception.
The legislation, which was approved Feb. 26, would define a person as a “human being at all stages of human development of life, including the state of fertilization or conception, regardless of age, health, level of functioning, or condition of dependency.”
The House of Representatives would need to approve the measure by a large enough majority to send it to voters for consideration as a constitutional amendment, according to published reports. It is reportedly unlikely there will be enough votes in the House to place it on the ballot.
It marks the first time a state Senate has approved a personhood measure, according to Personhood USA.
On Feb. 17, North Dakota’s House of Representatives passed a personhood proposal in a 51-41 vote.
Florida abortion clinic owner charged
A Florida abortion clinic owner alleged to have participated in the death of a newborn who survived a botched abortion was charged March 3 with two felonies in the incident, but neither involved the death of the baby girl.
Belkis Gonzalez, 43, was arrested and charged with practicing as an unlicensed medical worker resulting in injury and tampering with evidence, according to The Miami Herald.
The incident which resulted in the closing of the Hialeah, Fla., clinic and the revocation of a doctor’s medical license, involved an attempted abortion on 18-year-old Sycloria Williams in July 2006. She was more than 21 weeks pregnant when she began a preliminary procedure to dilate her cervix. Williams reportedly gave birth while she waited for the doctor to arrive and complete the abortion.
Gonzalez allegedly cut the umbilical cord, put the newborn into a bag and dumped the bag in a trash can, according to a report by the Florida Health Department, The Herald reported. No staff members called 911 or a specialist to care for the child. The physician, Pierre Jean-Jacque Renelique, falsified Williams’ medical records after he arrived an hour later, according to the report.
Acting on a tip, police found the baby girl’s decomposing body in a cardboard box in a clinic closet eight days after her death, the report said.
The Thomas More Society, which has filed a civil suit on behalf of Williams, decried the lack of a murder charge.
“[W]e must express our grave disappointment, indeed our outrage, that no homicide charges have been brought on account of the wrongful death of this little girl,” said Tom Brejcha, president of the Thomas More Society.
“Not only the coroner’s report, but also eyewitness testimony, prove that this infant was born alive then brutally killed. That constitutes homicide under the law of Florida and treating it as anything less than that ignores fundamental legal principles and offends simple human decency.”
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