Legislative Update
Prolife People Power

The hard work of prolife people in Michigan and state lawmakers has resulted in tremendous prolife successes in the state. The following highlights recent prolife accomplishments. For all the details, visit the Right to Life of Michigan web site at, www.rtl.org, or call the RLM Legislative Office at (517) 487-3376.

Prioritizing Family Planning Funds -House Bill 4655
On May 23, 2002, Governor John Engler signed H.B. 4655 into law. This bill passed in the House by a vote of 67-36 and in the Senate by a vote of 23-14.

This law, Public Act 360 of 2002, which will take effect around April 30, 2003, directs that state funding for family planning programs will go first to organizations that don't perform or advocate for abortion or consider abortion part of family planning. For too long, Michigan tax dollars have been used to subsidize the staff and operation costs of organizations like Planned Parenthood, that see abortion as family planning.

Born Alive Infant Protection Act - House Bill 5994-5998 and S.B. 1270-1274
This legislation will ensure that children who are born alive after failed late term abortions will be afforded all the rights of legal personhood including life-sustaining treatment. Once children are born, they deserve the same rights as any other individual. In 2000, the Michigan Department of Community Health reported 18 children showed evidences of life after an abortion. All children born alive deserve care and treatment.
The bills were unanimously reported from the House Family and Children Services Committee and on May 22 the full House overwhelmingly passed this 5-bill package. The votes ranged from 91-5 to 93-3. Now, the package of bills has been sent to the Senate.

Prohibiting Pre-payment for Abortion - House Bill 5971/Senate Bill 1253
This legislation attempts to provide consumer protection to women by stopping abortionists from collecting payment for an abortion during the 24-hour waiting period. By law, women are to be given information about abortion, its risks, fetal development, and information on other options 24-hours before an abortion is preformed. Some abortion clinics, however, are requiring that women financially commit to an abortion before having the opportunity to think about and read the information provided. Abortion prepayments financially pressure women to go through with the abortion. Women should not be forced to make a down-payment for an abortion before the completion of the 24-hour waiting period.

This bill was reported out of the Michigan House Health Policy Committee by a vote of 9-4 on May 14 and was overwhelmingly passed in the full House on May 29 by a vote of 72 to 28. This bill has been sent to the Senate.

Fetal Tissue Ban - House Bill 5578
In Michigan, it is currently illegal to use live embryos or fetuses for medical research, but it is still legal for researchers to use tissue from aborted children in medical experiments. House Bill 5578 seeks to ban Michigan researchers from using fetal tissue from aborted children for experimentation. This bill is currently waiting for a hearing in the House Committee on Health Policy.

At the federal level, the issue of human cloning remains a top priority for prolife people. Prolifers must work together to stop the assault on innocent human life.

Ban on Human Cloning - S. 1899
Federal legislation to ban cloning was passed in the House of Representatives on July 31, 2001, by a strong bipartisan vote of 265-152. This legislation, which was co-sponsored by Michigan's Bart Stupak (D-Menominee) and is sponsored in the Senate by Sam Brownback (R-Ka.) and Mary Landrieu (D-La.), is the only true ban on human cloning. This bill, S. 1899, was not brought up for a vote by the time the RLM News went to print despite promises from Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle that the issue of human cloning would be brought to the Senate floor for a debate and vote.

Other bills, which are counterfeit cloning bans that would allow researchers to create as many clones as they wish as long as these embryonic human beings are destroyed and not placed in a woman's womb, will also be addresses by the Senate.

Please urge U.S. Senators to support S. 1899 to ban human cloning. This legislation will ban all human cloning while other legislative efforts will keep human cloning legal and allow biotechnology companies to produce and then destroy human clones for profit.

Messages to convey:
1.) Urge U.S. Senators to vote for legislation sponsored by Senator Sam Brownback (R-Ks.) to ban the cloning of human embryos (S. 1899).
2.) Urge the senators to oppose the counter proposals, that would permit the cloning of human embryos and the establishment of human embryo farms for profit.

Contact Information:
Sen. Carl Levin
Phone: (202) 224-6221
Fax: (202) 224-1388
e-mail: senator@levin.senate.gov

Sen. Debbie Stabenow
Phone: (202) 224-4822
Fax: (202) 228-0325
e-mail: senator@stabenow.senate.gov

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