LOBBY FOR LIFE DAY 2004 

On Tuesday, March 30, 2004, participants from around New York State came to Albany for the New York State Right to Life Committee’s annual Lobby for Life Day.  Several hundred citizens, including 60+ students, attended the morning event featuring invited legislators and special speakers.  In the afternoon attendees went on to meet with legislators and their staff to work for our 11-point 2004 Legislative Agenda.

On Thursday, March 25, the United States Senate finally voted on and passed the Unborn Victims of Violence Act (UVVA) by a decisive margin of 61-38. On Thursday, April 1, it was signed into law by President Bush. NYSRTL Committee Executive Director Lori Kehoe, who attended the signing ceremony in the White House East Room, noted that it was a tremendous victory for Life but a bittersweet day for many attending the signing who have lost their loved ones through such violence.

 While the American public continues to closely follow the Laci and Conner Peterson case, most New Yorkers do not realize that if Laci and Conner had been murdered in New York State, charges could not have been brought on behalf of Conner. Unborn victims and their mothers in New York continue to suffer at the hands of their attackers without legal redress. In New York State, an offender may not be held criminally responsible for the harm caused to a child unless that child has first been born alive. Currently, 16 states provide full protection for unborn victims, and another 13 states provide protection during a portion of prenatal development. Go Back

The so-called pro-choice lobby continues to oppose UVVA even though these mothers each made a choice. Abortion and any act by the mother is specifically excluded from this bill. Unborn Victims laws have held up under scrutiny in numerous courts, are supported by a wide majority of the public, and are supported also by a majority of those calling themselves pro-choice. On April 5, 2004, the California Supreme Court voted 6-1 to uphold a murder conviction on behalf of both a mother and her unborn child, even though the attacker claimed he did not know the woman was pregnant. 

The new federal UVVA recognizes unborn children who are victims of 68 federal violent crimes, such as violent crimes committed on military property or related to drug trafficking. The majority of unborn victims of homicide or assault in our state will remain unprotected and formally unrecognized until UVVA also passes in New York. 

*Note: NYSRTL OPPOSES any “one-victim substitute” bill or amendment which would allow increased penalties for termination of a pregnancy but would leave the unborn victim – often the explicit target of the violence unrecognized and formally ignored by the law. Go Back

As of April 6, 2004, there is no true human cloning prohibition bill introduced in the New York State Assembly.  There are however dangerous counterfeit cloning bans, or “clone & kill” bills, in the Assembly waiting for passage.  One such bill is A.6249, introduced by Assembly Speaker SILVER.  NYSRTL OPPOSES A.6249 and A.6249A, an amended version of the bill.  It authorizes so-called “therapeutic cloning” and embryonic stem cell research.  It forbids any cloned embryo from being born; thus it is a “clone & kill” bill.  All cloning is reproductive:  it creates a new living member of the human family which is subsequently destroyed by extracting parts for research. Go Back

A.6249 (Silver) passed the NYS Assembly last year on March 19, 2003, and died in the Senate at the end of 2003 without action.  It was returned to the Assembly Health Committee on Jan. 7, 2004 for consideration again this  year.

On March 19, 2003, Assembly bill A.6249 (Silver) passed the Assembly by a vote of:

96 YES (87 Democrat, 9 Republican)

46 NO (10 Democrat, 36 Republican)

8 Absent (6 Democrat, 2 Republican)

Please contact your Member of Assembly right away to urge a vote AGAINST A.6249A this year. 

NYSRTLC also OPPOSES bills S.612 (Marchi) in the Senate, and A.3295 (Gottfried) and A.1819 (Stringer) in the Assembly.  These bills are all counterfeit cloning bans, or “clone & kill” bills.  Cloning is allowed under these bills, as long as the cloned human does not survive to be born.  These bills attempt to redefine cloning by saying that cloning which does not result in a born human being is not cloning at all.  All cloning is reproductive as it leads to the creation of new members of the human family, i.e., species homo sapiens.  These bills would allow the establishment of human embryo farms for experimentation by the biotechnology industry. Go Back

A.3295 (Gottfried) additionally declares the “primacy of the principal of unfettered research” and states that “scientific research and experimentation [are] to continue unfettered.”  This type of research would come at the expense of innocent members of the human family.

A.1819 (Stringer) not only authorizes human cloning, but “declares the legislative intent”of the New York State Legislature being in support of stem cell, embryonic, and fetal tissue research, and allows for state funding of such research” (emphasis added). Go Back

Senator Serph Maltese (R - Queens), lead sponsor for Unborn Victims bill # S.403 in the New York State Senate, served previously as a former Assistant District Attorney in Queens County.  Senator Maltese spoke from personal experience to the need for UVVA laws, and also to the legal soundness of UVVA.  He pointed out to the audience that Unborn Victims laws have held up under scrutiny in numerous courts.  In reference to lobbying, Senator Maltese also spoke about the importance of sponsorship on bills, and read the names of the 23 current co-sponsors on S.403 (Maltese).  He asked the audience to approach their state Senators and ask for sponsorship if they are not already on the bill.  Senator Maltese also praised President Bush as a brave and courageous man for his pro-life position.  In all his years as a legislator, Senator Maltese has not seen such support for life issues in the White House. Go Back

Assemblyman Dan Hooker (R -  Catskill, Sidney) encouraged the 60+ teens in attendance by talking about doing the right thing regardless of opposition.  Assemblyman Hooker said he respects what those in NYSRTL do, and that we are on the side of right.  He is a believer in the sanctity of life from conception to the grave.  He pointed out that it is tough sometimes to vote one’s conscience, and it can be hard at times to pull that “no” lever if in the minority on a vote, but encouraged the audience that despite being difficult in some respects, such conscientious stands are “good for the soul.” Go Back

  Rev. Jeffrey Broadnax founded Project Voice after personally experiencing the loss of his unborn daughter.  Rev. Broadnax, whose child remains formally ignored by New York law, advocated for swift passage of Unborn Victims legislation in New York.  Commenting also on the devastating abortion rate in the African American community, Rev. Broadnax, a black pastor, commended the large number of minority attendees at Lobby for Life Day 2004 for coming to speak up for “the voiceless.”  Rev. Broadnax is the Founder and Executive Director of Project VOICE (Voices of Innocent Children Empowered), a not-for-profit organization dedicated to providing public information and advocacy to parents and families who have lost unborn children to assault, negligence, malpractice, abuse or murder.

The Broadnaxes, Jeff and wife Karen, suffered the death of their daughter, Kristen, in 1994 due to gross medical malpractice and negligence.  Because their daughter was not considered a “person” with legal or civil rights, nor was she born alive, the Broadnaxes were not able to hold the responsible parties accountable for her death at 38 weeks gestation.  On April 1, 2004, the New York State Court of Appeals reversed itself after 19 years by ruling that now mothers who lose their unborn children to medical malpractice, but who are not born alive, can sue for medical malpractice.  However the mother may only sue on the basis of her own emotional damage so there is a continued need for full recognition of wanted unborn children by the passage of UVVA legislation in New York.

For more information on how to reach Rev. Jeffrey Broadnax, who is also Senior Pastor at Living Hope Family Fellowship in Clarkstown and Middletown,  New York, please call our office at 518-434-1293. Go Back

On Lobby for Life Day 2004, NYSRTLC Delegate to National and International Right to Life Jeanne Head, R.N., explained to the group how mistaken terminology and misinformation is being used to convince people they are banning human cloning by supporting counterfeit human cloning bans.  In fact “clone & kill” bills authorize human cloning and mandate the subsequent destruction of the cloned human embryos.

Ms. Head explained that all human cloning is reproductive, even though now some cloning is referred to as “therapeutic” and some as “reproductive.”  The difference between the two is not whether a new human embryo is created, but what we decide to do with that embryo.  A cloned human embryo is a human life, just as a cloned sheep (i.e., “Dolly”) was a sheep.  The question raised is how we would treat that embryo.  Ms. Head also pointed out that only a comprehensive ban on human cloning will prevent the birth of a human clone, because it would be impossible to prevent the implantation of a human clone originally created for experimental purposes.

Ms. Head stated she is also very concerned about the impending exploitation of women, esp. poor women, if human cloning is authorized for any purpose; a large number of women’s eggs would be required to produce human embryos for research.  Ms. Head is Vice President for International Affairs for the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) and serves as United Nations Representative for NRLC and the International Right to Life Federation.  In her work at the U.N., Ms. Head has yet to see a single radical feminist group speak up about the potential for women’s exploitation if cloning is approved.  To sum up her talk, Ms. Head stated that if human cloning is approved, we would be “crossing an ethical line from which humanity may not be able to return.

For more information on Ms. Head’s talk, including her packet “Human Cloning: the Facts” put out by the NGO Coalition for Ethical Biomedical Research, contact:  Jeanne Head, R.N., 350 5^th Ave., Suite 3902, New York, NY 10118 or j.e.head@worldnet.att.net Go Back