Press Conference on Abortion Mandates

NRLC Federal Legislation Director Douglas Johnson participated in a press conference organized by pro-life Rep. Joe Pitts (R-PA) in front of the United States House of Representatives to discuss abortion mandates in health care “reform.”  Among the participants were House Pro-Life Caucus Co-Chair Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ), Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN), Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE), Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-CO), Concerned Women for America’s Wendy Wright and Family Research Council’s Tony Perkins.

Pictures courtesy of NRLC Communications Assistant Jessica Rodgers.

Rep. Joe Pitts (R-PA) speaks at a press conference on abortion mandates on July 28, 2009 in front of the U.S. House of Representatives. Press Conference on abortion mandates in health care, July 28, 2009.

Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-CO) speaks on abortion mandates in health care, July 28, 2009.

Congressman Mike Pence addresses reporters at a press conference on abortion mandates in health care, July 28, 2009.

Stem Cell Coverage – Day 2

USA Today ran a Q&A piece citing researchers and policy experts:

Q: What dangers do opponents see in Obama’s action?

A: The National Right to Life Committee says the order “opens door to human embryo farms,” charging that researchers will start mass-harvesting embryos to create cell lines. Rep. Joe Pitts, R-Pa., echoed these concerns and, in a statement, called the moves “divisive” amid larger concerns about the economy.

The San Francisco Chronicle picked up on the NRLC release:

“It is a sad day when the federal government will fund research that exploits living members of the human species as raw material for research,” said Douglas Johnson, a spokesman for the National Right to Life Committee. The organization said Obama’s order places the country on a slippery slope toward the rise of “embryo farms” to create human embryos for the sole purpose of research.

The Politico’s Carrie Budoff Brown cites NRLC in her story about Obama’s order:

But the anti-abortion community — a group which Obama courted during his campaign — made clear its anger.

“It is a sad day when the federal government will fund research that exploits living members of the human species as raw material for research,” said Douglas Johnson, a spokesman for the National Right to Life Committee, who added that the move puts the country on a “very steep, very slippery slope” toward cloning.

Alex Wayne at CQToday:

But Democrats are approaching any changes to Dickey-Wicker cautiously, as it is potentially an even more explosive flash point than embryonic stem cell research. The National Right to Life Committee on Monday warned against any changes to the amendment, raising the specter of a future in which human embryos are purposely created for research.

“Any member of Congress who votes for legislation to repeal this law is voting to allow federal funding of human embryo farms, created through the use of human cloning,” said Douglas Johnson, a spokesman for the group.

NRLC Legislative Director Douglas Johnson appeared on National Public Radio’s Morning Edition with Julie Rovner yesterday morning.  You can listen to the story here and click on the “Listen Now” button in the top center of the page.

From One News Now:

Douglas Johnson, spokesman for the National Right to Life Committee, was asked about the president’s statement that he would oppose reproductive cloning.
 
“This is the kind of code that’s intended to mislead the public,” the pro-life leader states. “…[W]hat he’s saying is that he doesn’t want human clones to be brought to birth; but he’s quite conspicuously not saying that he doesn’t want to create them in the first place.”
 
Johnson believes the president’s action violates current law. “…[T]he president is basically giving a wink to the National Institutes of Health to try to find a way to do that, and they’re also giving a signal to Congress that they should try to repeal the law which prohibits it.”
 
And that, Johnson believes, is due to pressure from the bio-tech industry. He fears the end result will be creation of human embryo farms, which will likely lead to millions of dollars in profit.

Other news outlets that picked up the NRLC statement in their coverage of Obama’s executive orders include:

Buffalo News – Buffalo, New York

Columbus Dispatch – Columbus, Ohio

Stem Cell Coverage

Recent NRLC sightings:

NRLC Legislative Director Douglas Johnson in The Hill:

“He’s telling [the National Institutes of Health (NIH)] to write rules, and there’s nothing in his statement that is limited to leftover embryos,” said Douglas Johnson, legislative director for the National Right to Life Committee. “It appears he’s opening the door to NIH funding researchers who would deliberately create embryos for the purpose of research.

“It’s starting to look like he’s basically giving NIH the green light to do whatever they can get away with,” Johnson told The Hill.

Also in the New York Times:

“The administration now steps onto a very steep, very slippery slope,” Douglas Johnson, legislative director for the National Right to Life Committee, said in anticipation of Mr. Obama’s action. “Many researchers will never be satisfied only with the so-called leftover embryos.”

2.38 p UPDATE: Johnson in Bloomberg News Service:

The National Right to Life Committee issued a statement criticizing Obama, saying his order will lead to the destruction of human life and may lead to federal funding of research that creates embryos for study, which is still prohibited under existing law.

‘Slippery Slope’

The action “places our society on a very steep, very slippery slope,” the group’s spokesman, Douglas Johnson said.

3.43p UPDATE:

CBSNews picks up NRLC’s statement:

The National Right to Life Committee titled their response statement, “Obama Order Opens Door to Widespread Killing of Embryonic Humans in Government-Funded Research.” “It is a sad day when the federal government will fund research that exploits living members of the human species as raw material for research,” spokesman Douglas Johnson said.

“Obama’s order also places our society on a very steep, very slippery slope. Many researchers will not be satisfied to use only so-called surplus embryos.”

7:05pm UPDATE:

FoxNews.com picks up the distinction between “cloning for reproduction” and “cloning for research”:

Also, some argue that Obama’s statements opposing human cloning are misleading. Derrick Jones, spokesman for the National Right to Life Committee, said the administration has left the door open to create, and then destroy, embryos through cloning for the sole purpose of harvesting stem cells.

7.20p update: The Providence Journal (Rhode Island) picks up the NRLC statement:

Douglas Johnson of the National Right to Life Committee asserted in a news release that, besides the moral question, Mr. Obama’s action raises a serious practical worry. He said the lifting of the embryonic stem cell research ban “places our society on a very steep, very slippery slope.”

Johnson said, “many researchers will not be satisfied to use only so-called surplus embryos” from clinics that make them to help childless women have babies. Many researchers, he said, want taxpayer support for research not only on embryonic stem cells but on the embryos themselves. Nothing in Mr. Obama’s remarks yesterday would limit the National Institutes of Health to “the use of so-called surplus embryos” from fertility clinics, he said.

Obama’s “brazen scam” on abortion exposed in NRLC official’s article

Barack Obama’s sweeping agenda for pro-abortion policy changes examined by NRLC’s Douglas Johnson in National Review Online

WASHINGTON — The Obama campaign and its allies have adopted an extensive “messaging strategy” that seeks to persuade religiously committed Americans that Obama has a middle-of-the-road position on abortion policy and will promote “abortion reduction.”

 Douglas Johnson, longtime legislative director for the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) and author of an article published today on National Review Online, titled “Unholy Messaging,” calls the Obama effort “a brazen scam.”

 ”The scam depends on the Obama campaign, with cooperation from the mainstream news media, deflecting attention away from Obama’s actual record, and from his extensive commitments to pro-abortion interest groups,” Johnson said.  “Barack Obama is firmly committed to an agenda of sweeping pro-abortion policy changes that, if implemented, will surely greatly increase the number of abortions performed.”

 Johnson noted that a few short months ago, during his primary contest, Obama and his advocates were boasting about his record of leadership in opposition to legislation to ban partial-birth abortions, to protect infants born alive during abortions, and to require parental notification for minors seeking abortions, among other pro-life bills.  “Those boasts were well-founded, and the current effort to re-package Obama as a moderate is a brazen scam,” Johnson said.

 The Obama “messaging” campaign includes a recently launched “Faith, Family & Values Tour” that will visit Colorado, Indiana, North Carolina, Georgia, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Missouri, Florida, New Mexico, Virginia, and Wisconsin.  In addition, various independent groups are disseminating advertising and literature that advances the same strategy.

 Among the specific Obama positions documented in Johnson’s article (which contains extensive hyperlinks to documentation):

 – Obama is a cosponsor of the so-called “Freedom of Choice Act” (FOCA, S. 1173), which Johnson calls ”the most sweeping piece of pro-abortion legislation ever proposed in Congress.”  The FOCA is a bill that would make partial-birth abortion legal again, strike down restrictions on taxpayer funding of abortion, and nullify virtually every state and federal law or policy that would in any way “interfere with” access to abortion, including parental notification laws.  In a letter sent to every member of Congress by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) on September 19, Cardinal Justin Rigali wrote, “No one who sponsors or supports legislation like FOCA can credibly claim to be part of a good-faith discussion on how to reduce abortions.”  In a speech to the Planned Parenthood Action Fund on July 17, 2007, Obama said, “The first thing I’d do as president is sign the Freedom of Choice Act.  That’s the first thing that I’d do.”
 
– Obama advocates the nullification of state laws requiring parental notification or consent for a minor daughter’s abortion, which would be one of the effects of the FOCA.  Moreover, since entering the U.S. Senate, Obama has had two opportunities to vote directly on the question of parental notification for interstate abortions on minors, and he voted ”no” on both occasions.   

 – Obama advocates repeal of the Hyde Amendment, the law that since 1976 has blocked almost all federal funding of abortion, even though both pro-life and pro-abortion analysts agree that this law has prevented many abortions.  By even the most conservative estimate, there are more than one million Americans alive today because of the Hyde Amendment.   “Because the Hyde Amendment must be renewed annually, a new president hostile to the Hyde Amendment could quickly place it in jeopardy,” Johnson observed.  The FOCA would also nullify all state laws restricting state funding of elective abortion.

– In a written response to a pro-abortion advocacy group, the Obama campaign said that Obama is opposed to continuing current federal funding for “crisis pregnancy centers,” which provide needed assistance to many thousands of pregnant women.

– NRLC has thoroughly documented that in the Illinois state Senate, Obama led the opposition to legislation to protect babies who are born alive during abortions, and persisted in his opposition even after Congress had enacted a virtually identical federal bill without a single dissenting vote.  Obama has in numerous ways actively misrepresented the content of this legislation, and his actions on it, but even when such misrepresentations were proved by NRLC and others, the major media simply let Obama abandon them and fall back to a different set of equally misleading claims.

 In his article, Johnson criticizes recent coverage in the ”mainstream news media,” which, he writes, “have, with few exceptions, been very compliant with Obama’s recent efforts to downplay his hard-line pro-abortion history and policy commitments, for the purpose of winning the general election.”  Typically, journalists simply describe Obama’s position as “supports abortion rights,” without giving details regarding his advocacy of federal funding of abortion, invalidation of parental notification laws, and the rest. 

 NRLC Legislative Director Douglas Johnson and other NRLC staff persons are available for interviews on the subject of the Obama agenda on abortion, including radio debates with advocates for Barack Obama.  To arrange an interview, please call the Federal Legislative Office at (202) 626-8820 or the Department of Media Relations at (202) 626-8825.

 Mr. Johnson’s article has been cross-posted on the NRLC website under the title “Efforts to Sell Obama to Pro-Life Americans Collide With His Support for Sweeping Pro-abortion Policy Changes.”

 The National Right to Life Committee is the nation’s largest pro-life group with affiliates in all 50 states and over 3,000 local chapters nationwide.  National Right to Life works through legislation and education to protect those threatened by abortion, infanticide, euthanasia and assisted suicide.

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