WASHINGTON (BP)–Southern Baptist public policy specialist Richard Land and 21 other pro-life, pro-family leaders have urged Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist to force action on legislation that would thwart efforts to circumvent parental involvement in minors’ abortions.
Land, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, and the others sent a letter to Frist calling on him “not to allow Democratic obstructionism” on a bill intended to prevent the transportation of underage girls across state lines to obtain abortions in avoidance of parental involvement laws in the girls’ home states.
The Senate went into recess Aug. 3 with Democrats having used a procedural tactic three times to forestall the Child Custody Protection Act (CCPA) from progressing to congressional negotiators. The Senate voted 65-34 for the measure July 25, but Democrats objected to Frist’s normally routine request to forward the bill to a conference committee of Senate and House of Representatives members. The conferees would have the task of working out differences between two measures that are similar but not identical.
“It is doubtful that the obstructionists will prevail or even persist in this politically perilous stance in the full glare of national attention, but if they do, then the public will be able to see it plainly and hold the right parties accountable,” the letter from the pro-life, pro-family leaders to Frist said. “The alternative –- for the message to go out that the parental notification legislation was repeatedly postponed throughout the Congress, and then was allowed to die because it was not deemed a high priority by Senate Republican leaders –- would be demoralizing to the memberships of our respective organizations.”
The House passed its version — the Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act –- last year on a 270-157 vote.
President Bush has said he will sign the legislation, if it arrives on his desk.
Among those signing the letter were Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council; Wendy Wright, president of Concerned Women for America; Jay Sekulow, chief counsel of the American Center for Law and Justice, and David O’Steen, executive director of the National Right to Life Committee.
SEX-SELECTION IMPACT — The practice of sex-selection abortion is threatening safety and social stability in some countries, according to a new study.
The report, which was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, said China and India by themselves are missing an estimated 80 million females largely because of sex-selection abortions.
“The large cohorts of ‘surplus’ males now reaching adulthood are predominantly of low socioeconomic class, and concerns have been expressed that their lack of marriageability, and consequent marginalization in society, may lead to antisocial behavior and violence, threatening societal stability and security,” according to the study’s summary.
This imbalance in the sexes could lead to increased possibilities for terrorism and organized crime, according to the study, LifeNews.com reported.
The study recommended stricter enforcement of legislation against sex-selection abortions and advertising campaigns about the dangers of an imbalance between the sexes, according to LifeNews.
Traditionally, a preference for sons has been widespread in Asia and North Africa, the study said.
In August, Manmohan Singh, India’s prime minister, urged parents in his country to stop aborting babies because they are females. India’s government enacted a law against sex-selection abortion 12 years ago, but a multi-million dollar black market in the practice continues, according to news reports.
China implemented a one-child population control policy in 1973 that continues to be enforced in much of the country. The policy has resulted in reports of forced sterilization, abortion and infanticide. Since 1984, rural couples have been allowed to have a second child if the first is a girl. The Chinese normally favor sons, especially in rural areas, since they are able to support their parents and to continue the family name.
Even now, 94 percent of unmarried Chinese between 28 and 49 years of age are male, and 97 percent have not graduated from high school, said Therese Hesketh, one of the study’s authors, according to LifeNews.
The study’s authors are Hesketh, who is with the Institute of Child Health at University College in London, and Zhu Wei Xing, who is with Zhejiang Normal University in China.
TEMPORARY WOMBS –- London medical researchers predict temporary wombs may be transplanted into infertile women within two years.
The London team, which is working with scientists in New York and Budapest, reported it had produced a method that supplies blood to the womb, according to NetDoctor.co.uk, a website developed and written by European health professionals.
“By getting to a place where we seem to have a reliable method of giving the uterus a blood supply, that takes us a whole heap closer to being able to provide this for humans,” said researcher Richard Smith, NetDoctor reported. “We are relatively close. I think two years probably is realistic.”
If the technique achieves success, the wombs, which would be transplanted into women whose uteruses had been removed previously for health reasons, would need to be removed after birth, according to the report. It appears in vitro fertilization would be needed to achieve conception, and babies would be born by caesarean section.
In June, a Swedish researcher predicted womb transplants may be possible within five years.
WASH FOR LIFE -– A new way for pro-life young people to aid crisis pregnancy centers will begin Sept. 16.
The first nationwide Wash for Life will be held, with the money received at each car wash to go toward a local center that ministers to women in crisis pregnancies. As of Sept. 5, young people at 144 locations in 35 states had scheduled car washes. There are no car washes planned as yet in Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota and Utah.
Information on Wash for Life is available on the Internet at www.washforlife.org or by calling (703) 241-7171.
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