NCHLA Action Center

Here you will find information regarding action alerts. Also, you can search and find information pertaining to contacting your congressperson.

We hope that this section will help you plan your pro-life activism, and inform you as to what is currently happening in the legislative community.

Current Action Alerts

Support “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act” (updated on 8/20/2010)

For many years Congress has supported the policy that federal tax dollars should not be used for elective abortions. Many provisions must be renewed in law each year as part of the various annual appropriations bills to maintain this policy. The time is overdue to establish this policy in permanent law in a consistent way. To this end, on July 29, Reps. Chris Smith (R-NJ) and Dan Lipinski (D-IL) introduced the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act (H.R. 5939). As of the date of this alert, the bill already has 167 total sponsors, enjoying strong bipartisan support.

Sponsor Measure to Correct Profound Flaws in Health Care Reform Law (updated on 8/19/2010)

The health care reform bill, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) (H.R. 3590), was signed into law on March 23, 2010 (Public Law 111-148). While long supporting health care reform, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has criticized the final law as profoundly flawed in its treatment of abortion, conscience rights, and fairness to immigrants. On April 22, 2010, Rep. Joseph Pitts (R-PA) introduced legislation (H.R. 5111) to remedy PPACA’s serious problems on abortion. In this Action Alert special emphasis is placed on the 240 Representatives who in 2009 voted “yes” on the Stupak-Pitts Amendment to prevent federal funding of abortion and of health plans covering abortion. Over 100 of these Representatives have already cosponsored H.R. 5111. The remaining Representatives from the list of 240 should be urged to sign on as cosponsors.

Uphold Longstanding Law Against Military Abortions (updated on 7/14/2010)

Current law states that military health care facilities may not be used to perform elective abortions (10 U.S. Code Sec. 1093(b)). This policy was first established administratively in 1988. President Clinton reversed the policy in 1993 but Congress restored it in 1995, and it has remained intact ever since. Now an attempt is being made to repeal this longstanding policy. An amendment by Sen. Roland Burris (D-IL) to strike this provision from law was approved during committee consideration of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2011 (S. 3280). Please urge your Senators to not approve the defense authorization bill until the Burris Amendment is reversed and current law on military abortions is upheld.

Oppose Funding of Destructive Embryonic Stem Cell Research! Support Cures We Can All Live With (updated on 3/30/2010)

On March 9, President Obama issued an Executive Order overturning the limits President Bush had placed on government funding of destructive embryonic stem cell research. On July 7, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) published final guidelines implementing the Obama directive. Reps. Diana DeGette (D-CO) and Michael Castle (R-DE) intend to move forward with broader legislation to "promote all forms of ethical stem cell research," which in their view includes cloning and the creation of embryos solely to destroy them. Members of Congress should be urged to oppose funding destructive embryonic stem cell research and to support effective and ethical adult stem cell research.

Oppose Freedom of Choice Act (updated on 1/14/2009)

FOCA is a radical bill. It creates a "fundamental right" to abortion that would go well beyond the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision in imposing an extreme abortion regimen on our country. For the first time, abortion would become an entitlement the government must condone and promote. FOCA would eliminate a broad range of laws and would have an unprecedented destructive impact on society's ability to limit or regulate abortion. Members of Congress should be urged to oppose FOCA. Those who cosponsored FOCA in the last Congress should be asked not to cosponsor the bill in the current Congress.