Tuesday, November 7, is Election Day, and early voting begins on Monday. Do you know how the candidates stand on issues affecting the "Culture of Life"? There is an easy way to find out -- check out the TAL Voters Guide. Click -HERE- for our online version. You will find comprehensive information about dozens of races including judicial races, U.S. Senate and House, Governor, Lt. Governor, and other statewide races, Texas State Senate, Texas State House, and Texas State Board of Education. These nonpartisan voters guides are suitable for distribution in churches. To order free copies for your church, please email info@texasallianceforlife.org or download our order form. TAL is distributing more than 70,000 throughout the state. The Voters Guide is funded by donations to the Texas Alliance for Life Trust Fund.
A disappointing end to a long fight for parents' right occurred on September 29 when only 57 Senators voted to remove a procedural
obstacle to final passage of S. 403, the Child Custody Protection Act. The cloture vote to cut off a filibuster required 60 votes.
The bill, S. 403, as it initially passed the Senate on July 25 by a vote of 65-34, would have prohibited transporting a minor across state lines to obtain an abortion, if this abridged the parents' right to be notified under the home-state law. However, the Senate Democratic leadership subsequently raised unusual procedural barriers that prevented the bill from going to a House-Senate conference committee. On September 26, the U.S. House took up the Senate-passed bill, added a provision to require an abortionist in any state to notify one parent before performing an abortion on a minor from another state (with certain exceptions), and sent the bill back to the Senate by a vote of 264-153 (under the title "Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act," or CIANA). It was this amended bill that the Senate voted on September 29. Both Texas senators -- John Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutchison -- voted pro-life by supporting S. 403, on July 25 and on September 29.During the 109th Congressional Session (2005-2006), Senator Cornyn scored 100% and Senator Hutchison scored 75% on the National Right to Life Committee's scorecard.For more information about this issue in Congress, click -HERE- for a comprehensive summary from the National Right to Life Committee.
The first test of Texas' Prenatal Protection Act in an appellate court is going on right now as the 9th Court of Appeals in Beaumont considers the appeal of theconviction of Gerardo Flores for murdering his twin unborn baby sons at 20-21 weeks of gestation. Flores was convicted in district court in 2005 on two counts of capital murder and received a life sentence after he brutally stomped on his pregnant girlfriend's abdomen, causing the babies to be born dead two days later. The baby boys were named, given a funeral, and buried with headstones by the mother's family.
Flores appealed his conviction saying the law was unconstitutional, and the Texas 9th Court of Appeals in Beaumont heard oral arguments on October 12. Texas Alliance for Life filed an amicus curiae (friend-of-the-court) brief in the court, defending the law's constitutionality and pointing out that 30 other states have similar criminal laws recognizing the personhood of unborn children, none of which has been struck down. (Click -HERE- for a copy.) During the oral arguments, Assistant District Attorney Art Bauereiss, who prosecuted Mr. Flores for the murders in Angelina County, referenced TAL's "excellent" brief several times. (For an extensive summary of the case written by Mr. Bauereiss, click -HERE-.)Several people have been convicted of homicide of unborn children under the Texas law, but this is the first time a case has been appealed. If the court overturned the law, unborn babies could lose protection throughout the state. "We recognized the grave importance of this case as precedent and instruction for other courts in Texas," said Joe Pojman, Ph.D., TAL's executive director. "Our amicus curiae brief shows that Texas' Prenatal Protection Act is on firm constitutional ground. Clearly the U.S. Constitution should allow Texas to recognize unborn children as persons and protect them from murderers."When asked what he thought this case is about, Mr. Bauereiss responded, "The prosecutor takes an oath, not to seek conviction, but to see that justice is done. What I have tried to do was to seek justice for two unborn children."In 2003, the Texas Legislature approved the Prenatal Protection Act, and pro-life Governor Rick Perry signed it into law. The Prenatal Protection Act expanded the definition of an individual person in Texas' criminal law to recognize unborn children as individual persons. Under the new law, an "individual" means "a human being who is alive, including an unborn child at every stage of gestation from fertilization until birth." The intent of the Prenatal Protection Act was to protect unborn babies from murder and assault from a third party, and it was TAL's top legislative goal during that session. Planned Parenthood and other pro-abortion organizations vociferously opposed the law. TAL's efforts to defend the law in court have been funded by donations to the Texas Alliance for Life Trust Fund.
The pro-life movement strongly supports stem cell research so long as no human embryos are destroyed. We strongly supportresearch on adult stem cells, which do not require harming a donor and which are highly effective at saving peoples lives in clinical applications for a variety of diseases. We oppose tax-funded embryonic stem cell research because embryonic stem cells can only be obtained by destroying human embryos. Embryonic stem cells have never been successfully used to save lives and are not approved by the FDA for use in humans to treat any diseases.
The Texas House State Affairs Committee held a hearing on September 26 on stem cell research to which Texas Alliance for Life board member Beverly Nuckols, M.D., was invited to testify. Dr. Nuckols described how her six-year-old granddaughter Veronica (shown at left) is alive today due to an adult stem cell transplant. Veronica was born with what was later diagnosed as Kostmann's disease, which caused her to have critically low white blood cells, anemia, and low platelets. She is now perfectly healthy.
"I'm 'Gramma' to six-year-old Veronica ('Roni'), who is alive and healthy today because of ethical [adult] stem cell research and therapy in Texas," testified Dr. Nuckols. "Besides telling you Roni's story, the most important information that I can offer is that there are two broad classifications of stem cells: those that come from the destruction of embryos and those that don't. In spite of more than 20 years of research, controversy, and fraud surrounding embryonic stem cells, human embryonic stem cell treatments are still speculative and years away, because of problems specific to embryonic stem cells research. In contrast, non-embryonic stem cell therapy -- adult and umbilical cord stem cells, which I'll call 'adult' -- is already being used to cure some diseases, to treat and alleviate symptoms of many more, and shows much more promise in the foreseeable future." For a copy of Dr. Nuckols' testimony, click -HERE-.Where does Governor Rick Perry stand on stem cell research? He is solidly pro-life. "There are voices among us who are calling for the state to fund embryonic stem cell research, a process that requires the destruction of a human life. . .," he said at the Texas Rally for Life on January 22, 2005. "I reject the utilitarian argument that says it's okay to end a life to save another. As long as I am governor of this great state, I will oppose taxpayer dollars being spent on research that ends human life."
The Supreme Court will consider the constitutionality of the federal ban on partial-birth abortions, which was signed into law in 2003 by President Bush and challenged by abortion providers. The Court will hear oral arguments on Wednesday, November 8, on two similar cases, Gonzales v. Carhart and Gonzales v. Planned Parenthood. A decision could be issued anytime before the end of June 2007.For a comprehensive summary of the issues before the Court from National Right to Life, click HERE.
