This is a congressional alert from the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), issued February 5, 2003.

WASHINGTON (Feb. 5, 2003) – President Bush called on Congress to ban all human cloning during his January 28 State of the Union address. The legislation supported by President Bush and by National Right to Life is the Brownback-Landrieu bill in the Senate (S. 245) and the Weldon-Stupak bill in the House (initial number H.R. 234). These bills would prohibit the cloning of human embryos – thereby preventing what President Bush has previously called human "embryo farms" from beginning operations in the United States.

This legislation is strongly opposed by elements of the biotechnology industry, some patients' advocacy groups, and some scientists. Many of these opponents have endorsed competing legislation (S. 303) sponsored in the Senate by Senators Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Dianne Feinstein (D-Ca.), and others, that is misleadingly labeled as a "ban on cloning" but that actually would allow the cloning of human embryos to be killed in research. NRLC is strongly opposed to this "clone and kill" legislation.

The House of Representatives passed the true cloning ban in 2001, and is expected to do so again. But so far, neither the true cloning ban (Brownback-Landrieu) nor the phony ban have garnered the level of support needed to pass the Senate.

To help pass the Brownback-Landrieu bill and defeat the phony ban, it is essential that all senators (pro-life or pro-abortion) hear from large numbes of citizens who are opposed to human cloning and human embryo farms.

HOW TO COMMUNICATE WITH YOUR VIRGINIA SENATORS

• PHONE CALLS: Senator Allen can be reached at 202-224-4024; Senator Warner can be reached at 202-224-2023. Other senators can be reached through the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121. Once connected, explain that you are a constituent, politely convey your position, and ask for a written response explaining the senator's position.
  
  
• E-MAIL can be sent to Virginia Senators using these hot links for Senator George Allen and Senator John Warner. E-mail addresses for other senators are available from the Senate website at www.senate.gov. Be sure to include your regular mailing address in the text of your e-mails, so that the senators know that the message comes from constituents.
  
  
• FAXES can be sent to Virginia Senator Allen at 202-224-5432, and Senator Warner at 202-224-2023.

Your message to senators should be along these lines:

• Urge them to support the only real ban on human cloning, the Brownback-Landrieu bill (S. 245).
• Tell them you are strongly opposed to the clone-and-kill legislation being proposed by Senators Hatch, Feinstein, Specter, and others, that would permit human embryos to be cloned and require that they be killed by two weeks of age.
• Tell them that so-called "therapeutic cloning" creates human embryos, and that you are opposed to creating human embryos for the purpose of killing them. Tell them that a vote for the Hatch-Feinstein proposal is a vote to permit what President Bush has called human embryo farms, and that you are strongly opposed to this.
• Tell them that you are also opposed to giving the FBI and other federal law enforcement agencies the unethical task of making sure that human embryos are killed.

IMPORTANT REQUEST

Please do not assume that NRLC already has the information! Often, senators first reveal their leanings in interviews with their home-state news media, or in letters to their own constituents. By promptly forwarding such information to NRLC, you can provide invaluable assistance to NRLC's lobbying efforts.

VSHL is the Virginia affiliate of the National Right to Life Committee.