The House remains in recess but continues virtual committee work. The Senate is in session and is expected to work on several items of interest below. Also, you can find a summary of President Biden’s pro-abortion budget
request.
1. Biden Releases Pro-Abortion Budget
2. Democrats unveil Women's Health Protection Act
3. The So-Called “Equality Act” - possible vote in the coming weeks
4. S. 1 The So-Called “For the People Act" - update
5. Paycheck Fairness - vote update
6. International Society for Stem Cell Research - updated guidelines
1. Biden Releases Pro-Abortion Budget
President Biden released a budget request for FY2022 which removed or weakened numerous longstanding pro-life appropriations provisions. The proposal by the Biden White House stripped out Hyde Amendment provisions which has had over 40 years of previously unprecedented
bipartisan support. The Hyde Amendment prohibits federal funding within the LHHS Appropriations bill from being used to fund elective abortions.
Since it first became law in 1976, the Hyde Amendment has saved an estimated 2.4 million lives. The law has been renewed every year since 1976 on a bipartisan basis.
In addition, the budget request increases funding for the Title X family planning program to $340 million. The Biden Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has published a proposed rule on the Title X family planning program that allows grantees to be co-located with abortion clinics and requires referral for abortion. Under past anti-life administrations, Title X was a major funding source for Planned
Parenthood.
Internationally, the budget calls for funding increases for population control programs. This money would flow to foreign organizations and domestically based organizations that also promote and may even perform abortion internationally. Additionally, the budget removes the abortion
restrictions attached to funding of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). The UNFPA supports China’s population control program, which utilizes forced abortion and sterilization.
The NRLC Press Release on the budget request is available HERE:
2.Women's Health Protection Act
Yesterday, U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), and U.S. Representatives Judy Chu (D-CA), Lois Frankel (D-FL), Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), and Veronica Escobar (D-TX) introduced the Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA).
Notably, the WHPA has 48 total co-sponsors (all except Sens. Manchin (D-Wv.) and Casey (D-Pa.) in the Senate and 176 total
co-sponsors in the House of Representatives.
The WHPA would invalidate nearly all existing state limitations on abortion, and prohibit states from adopting new limitations in the future, including various types of laws specifically upheld as constitutionally permissible by the U.S. Supreme
Court.
Among the laws that the bill would nullify are requirements to provide women seeking abortion with specific information on their unborn child and on alternatives to abortion, laws providing reflection periods (waiting periods), laws allowing medical professionals to opt out of providing
abortions, laws limiting the performance of abortions to licensed physicians, bans on elective abortion after 20 weeks, meaningful limits on abortion after viability, and bans on the use of abortion as a method of sex selection. These laws generally have broad public support in the
states in which they are enacted, including support from substantial majorities of women.
The bill would also invalidate most previously enacted federal limits on abortion, including federal conscience protection laws and most, if not all, limits on government funding of abortion. 3. The So-Called Equality Act - possible
vote in the coming weeks
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-N.Y.) has again indicated that he may call up the Equality Act during the June work period. We expect this bill to receive priority and a vote can occur at a time of Schumer’s choosing. Schumer has used a special shortcut procedure ("Rule
14") to prevent referral of H.R. 5 to committee, which means that it is available for floor action at any time.
In addition to other issues, H.R. 5 poses a significant pro-life threat. It amends the 1964 Civil Rights Act, adding language that could be used to make abortions more available, expand taxpayer funding of abortion, and weaken conscience protections for health care providers opposed to participating in
abortions.
The so-called Equality Act would amend the Civil Rights Act by defining “sex” to include “pregnancy, childbirth, or a related medical condition.” It is well established that abortion will be regarded as a “related medical condition.” Laws that protect unborn children or limit abortion
funding could constitute discrimination on the basis of sex.
Historically, when Congress has addressed discrimination based on sex, rules of construction have been added to prevent requiring funding of abortion or nullifying conscience laws. Since no rule of construction is included in the Equality Act, National Right to Life opposes the
bill.
The House passed H.R. 5 by a vote of 224-206, on February 25, 2021 (House Roll Call No. 39). The bill was supported by 221 Democrats and 3 Republicans. It was opposed by 206 Republicans. 2 Republicans did not
vote.
4. S.1/H.R. 1, the So-Called "For the People Act of 2021" -update
This past Sunday, June 6, Sen. Manchin (D-Wv.) published an op-ed in the Charleston Gazette-Mail expressing opposition to S.1, the so-called “For the People Act.” Additionally, no Republican currently supports this legislation. With the current rules on the filibuster, 60 votes would be needed to
invoke cloture and advance this legislation. We will continue to monitor this
legislation for a potential vote, as well as less comprehensive pieces that may emerge.
S.1, the so-called "For the People Act of 2021," is intended to make it as difficult as possible for corporations (including nonprofit, issue-oriented corporations such as NRLC) to spend money to communicate with the public about the actions of federal officeholders, by applying an array of
restrictions on ads, as well as requirements that violate the privacy rights of donors.
The National Right to Life Committee opposed passage of H.R. 1, which passed the House, 220-210, on March 3, 2021 (House Roll Call No. 62). The bill was supported by 220 Democrats. It was opposed by 209 Republicans and 1
Democrat. 5. Paycheck Fairness Act - vote
update
On June 6, 2021, the Senate voted on the Paycheck Fairness Act (H.R. 7). While the legislation is meant to address potential discrimination regarding the gender pay gap, the legislation contains language that could be construed to require employers to cover elective abortion
in their
healthcare benefits. National Right to Life opposed this legislation.
H.R. 7 states that it constitutes discrimination to provide disparate wages based on sex, and the legislation creates more opportunities to seek remedies for those challenging compensation. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has defined equal pay under the Fair
Labor Standards Act and the Equal Pay Act of 1963 to include all forms of compensation, including healthcare benefits.
H.R. 7 makes definitional changes to “sex” to include “pregnancy, childbirth, or a related medical condition.” It is well established that abortion will be regarded as a “related medical condition.”
Under H.R. 7, if an employer provides health coverage for male-specific items, a person could make a claim that an employer’s failure to provide health coverage for abortion is discriminatory.
The National Right to Life Committee opposed passage of H.R. 7, which failed to advance in the Senate, 49-50, on June 8, 2021 (Senate Roll Call No. 227). The bill was supported by 49 Democrats. It was opposed by 50 Republicans. One (1) Democrat, Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) did not vote.
6. International Society for Stem Cell Research - updated guidelines
On May 26, 2021 the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR), an international non-profit and professional organization of stem cell scientists, issued new guidelines governing research with ethical implications. The guidelines lift restrictions on certain types of unethical
research that manipulate, alter, or destroy human embryos.
The U.S. moratorium on funding human-animal chimera research has remained in place, but reports indicate that the NIH was awaiting the May release of the International Society for Stem Cell Research’s new stem cell research guidelines to help inform its decision-making on
this matter.
The new ISSCR guidelines do several things, but namely they: 1. Remove the “14-Day Rule” for research on human embryos. This “14-day-rule” has been the current policy in the United States and generally a scientific standard throughout the world. While this “14-day rule” was deeply
unethical, the new ISSCR guidelines have removed all restraint; and 2. Permit human-animal chimera research. The new guidelines allow for unethical forms of chimera research, including research that may substantially destroy or alter human life, or that blurs human-animal species distinctions.
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Founded in 1968, the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), the federation of 50 state right-to-life affiliates and more than 3,000 local chapters, is the nation's oldest and largest grassroots
pro-life organization. Recognized as the flagship of the pro-life movement, NRLC works through legislation and education to protect innocent human life from abortion, infanticide, assisted suicide and euthanasia.
Involved in every election since Ronald Reagan’s election to the presidency, National Right to Life Political Action Committee was formed in 1979 as the political arm of National Right to Life. The National Right to Life Victory Fund, an independent expenditure political action committee founded in 2012, is dedicated to electing
pro-life leaders to the White House and Congress.
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