This is a congressional update from the National Right to Life Committee, issued Monday, April 14, 2003.

WASHINGTON (April 14, 2003) -- The Child Custody Protection Act (CCPA) was reintroduced in Congress on April 10 by Senator John Ensign (R-Nv.) and 22 cosponsors as S. 851, and by Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fl.) and 68 cosponsors as H.R. 1755.

In a statement on the Senate floor, Senator Ensign said, "A minor who is forbidden to drink alcohol, to stay out past a certain hour, or to drive a car in some states is certainly not prepared to make a life-altering, hazardous decision, such as an abortion, without the consultation or consent of at least one parent."

In collaboration with NRLC, the CCPA was originally introduced in Congress in 1998 by Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen and by then-Senator Spencer Abraham (R-Mi.). The House initially passed the bill in 1998, but it was blocked in the Senate when the Democratic leadership prevented its consideration. The House passed the bill again in each of the subsequent two congresses (in 1999 and in 2002), but in neither case did the Senate act on it.

In this Congress, however, NRLC expects the bill to come to a vote in the Senate.

In the past, NRLC published two factsheets on this legislation, "Key Facts on the Child Custody Protection Act" and "Why We Need the Child Custody Protection Act," which are posted on the NRLC website here: www.nrlc.org/federal/ccpa/index.html. The points made in support of the legislation, as expressed in those materials, are still valid. However, we wish to update the materials to include more current examples, and you can help with this.

State and local NRLC affiliates, or others who support this legislation, who reside in states with parental notification laws in effect, can help by looking in local Yellow Pages under "Abortion" for examples of advertising by abortion clinics in neighboring states in which notification is NOT required -- especially, for ads that use this as a selling point by explicitly saying "no parental notification required" or similar language. Where such ads are found, please send an original page or high-quality copy of the ad page and the front of the directory to NRLC Federal Legislation Department, 512-10th Street, Northwest, Washington, D.C. 20004. Such ads can also be scanned into PDF format and e-mailed to us at Legfederal@aol.com.

Any other documentation of interstate activity to circumvent state parental notification laws -- for example, newspaper articles or statements by state officials -- would also be very helpful, especially if it is no more than two years old. Such material can be mailed to NRLC at the address above, or faxed to 202-347-3668.

Also of interest are any documented reports of minor girls who have been injured or killed by legal abortions performed without parental involvement, especially if these incidents have occurred within the past five years.

If you have questions or suggestions on this subject, please contact Patricia Coll at 202-626-8820 or Legfederal@aol.com.

National Right to Life Committee
Federal Legislation Department
512-10th Street, Northwest
Washington, D.C. 20004
phone 202-626-8820, fax 202-347-3668
Legfederal@aol.com
www.nrlc.org

The National Right to Life Committee is the nation's major pro-life organization, representing affiliates in all 50 states.

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