Tell Congress that any “must pass” legislation needs to include the conscience protections in the Health Care Conscience Rights Act (H.R. 940).

The bedrock American principle of freedom of conscience is jeopardized by the anti-life mandates imposed by the Obama Administration’s implementation of the Affordable Care Act.  Many private health insurance plans are already being impacted by the coercive HHS mandate and the “safe-harbor” for certain religious and non-profits is set to expire August 1.

The Health Care Conscience Rights Act is an appropriate and necessary tool to restore legal protections for conscience that have been eviscerated by the anti-life mandates imposed by the Obama Administration’s implementation of the Affordable Care Act.

Critically, the Health Care Conscience Rights Act also provides a much-needed, private right of action to existing federal laws protecting the freedom of conscience of healthcare providers. Cases like that of Cathy DeCarlo (a New York nurse forced to participate in a late-term abortion), the uncertainty created by the Obama Administration’s partial rescission of President George W. Bush’s conscience regulations, and an emerging pattern of discrimination by the Department of Health and Human Services all underscore the need to write into the law an adequate enforcement mechanism for laws protecting conscience.

Congress must act now to enact the Health Care Conscience Rights Act and restore the principle that this country was built upon: the right to be free from government coercion.

Click here and tell your Congressman that you support the freedom of conscience.

We need your help to get this bill to the Governor for his signature.

We must work to keep this important pro-life bill alive!

All you have to do is simply call Senator Gaetz’s office at (850) 487-5001 and/or click here to send an email to let his staff know that you want SB 876, Offenses Against Unborn Children brought to the Senate floor for a vote.

Right now Senator Gaetz is bringing other bills to the floor for a vote when he hears that it is a priority for Floridians. Please let him know that this bill must be a priority as well.

If you have already called or emailed Senator Gaetz before, please contact him again. Your calls and emails do make a difference!

Florida’s legislative session is coming to an end, and we must continue to fight for this pro-life bill.

Let Them Live!

On Monday, AUL Action launched the Let Them Live campaign in response to recent testimony by a Planned Parenthood lobbyist opposing Florida legislation requiring that infants born alive following an attempted abortion be given appropriate medical care and attention.  This campaign challenges Cecile Richards, Planned Parenthood’s President to disavow the lobbyist’s statements and to lobby in favor not only of Florida’s legislation, but also of born-alive infant protection legislation across the country. Read more Click HERE to get involved.

On Tuesday, Dr. Charmaine Yoest, President and CEO, testified in Florida in support of the Senate Bill 1636 requiring that born-alive infants following a botched abortion receive appropriate medical care and attention.

Protecting Women from Big Abortion:

This week, on behalf of a majority of the members of the Oklahoma House and Senate, Americans United for Life filed an amicus curiae brief in the United States Supreme Court, asking the Court to review an Oklahoma Supreme Court decision invalidating the state’s “Abortion-Inducing Drugs Safety Act” which was based on AUL model legislation.  Read more

In the States:

The Alabama legislature passed the “Women’s Health and Safety Act,” influenced by AUL model legislation. Governor Robert Bentley signed it into law on Tuesday, April 9.  The Act will strengthen standards for patient care at abortion clinics.  Read more

Arkansas enacted legislation based in substantial part on AUL’s “Child Protection Act.”  The new law requires the collection of forensic samples when an abortion is performed on a minor under the age of 14 and prohibits a third-party from taking a minor across state lines to circumvent Arkansas parental involvement requirements for abortion.

Attorney Spotlight:

Jeanneane Maxon, J.D. is Vice President of External Affairs and Corporate Counsel for Americans United for Life.  As the daughter of a 14-year executive director of a crisis pregnancy center in Amarillo, Texas, Jeanneane has been involved in the pro-life movement since age seven.  An avid spokesperson on pro-life issues, Jeanneane frequently appears in media, including a recent Christian Broadcast Network feature story on pro-life pregnancy center advocacy airing on “The 700 Club.” She has been actively involved in pro-life legislative battles, and has been called to testify before numerous state legislative bodies. Jeanneane is in high demand as a keynote speaker for pro-life public awareness events, having presented before dozens of such events with audiences typically ranging from 300 to 1500 attendees. Read more

In the News:

NPR:  Charmaine Yoest, Ph.D., President and CEO

Fox News:  Charmaine Yoest, Ph.D., President and CEO

Bloomberg:  Charmaine Yoest, Ph.D., President and CEO, and AUL Board Chair Dr. Donna Harrison, M.D.

The Hill:  Charmaine Yoest, Ph.D., President and CEO

Washington Times:  Charmaine Yoest, Ph.D., President and CEO

The Christian Science Monitor:  Charmaine Yoest, Ph.D., President and CEO

New York Times:  Dan McConchie, Vice President of Government Affairs

2012 was a strong year of building momentum and accumulating victories.  Hot off the presses, read our Annual Report here.

Last Week’s Events:

AUL Submits 2,800 comments to HHS arguing against its unconstitutional mandate’s proposed rules.

Final tally: 2,800 comments!

Dr. Charmaine Yoest, President and CEO, spoke at Wheaton College chapel in Illinois.

Clarke Forsythe, Senior Counsel spoke at the Respect Life Family Counsel in New York.

Upcoming Events:

April 12: Anna Franzonello, Staff Counsel, will be
testifying at the Virginia Board of Health in favor of Virginia abortion clinic regulations. Read more

April 18: Anna Franzonello, Staff Counsel, will be debating at the University of Buffalo.

April 19: Jeanneane Maxon, Vice President of External Affairs and Corporate Counsel will be speaking at the Austin Life Care Pregnancy Center banquet in Austin, Texas. Read more

*Film of testimony has been edited.

 
WASHINGTON, D.C. (04-08-13) – Americans United for Life Action President and CEO Dr. Charmaine Yoest announced a national, web-based campaign to rally pro-life Americans from across the country to hold Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards “accountable for her organization’s tacit support of infanticide in recent testimony in Florida. We must work together to ‘Let Them Live’ and fight for the legal rights of children, born and struggling for life, following an attempted abortion.”

A Planned Parenthood of Florida Lobbyist, testifying recently against the Florida state Born Alive Infants Protection Act, in essence called for infanticide in the United States, telling lawmakers that should a baby survive an abortion, allowing that baby to continue living was debatable. On behalf of Planned Parenthood, Alisa LaPolt Snow said her organization believes the fate of a child surviving a botched abortion could be death, depending on the feelings of the people in the room at the time.

“AULA is calling for Cecile Richards to disavow that barbaric position and join us in calling for legal protections for human beings, struggling for life, in a Planned Parenthood clinic,” said Dr. Yoest. “In addition, we are asking for Planned Parenthood to withdraw their opposition to legislation that protects children born alive during abortion and join us in advancing the bill in Florida and elsewhere across the country.”

To send Cecile Richards a message asking her to “Let Them Live,” click here

The controversy over children born alive during an abortion was renewed recently when shocking footagefrom the Florida hearing reveals this exchange:

“… Uuugh, it is just really hard for me to even ask you this question because I’m almost in disbelief,” said Rep. Jim Boyd in a clip from the hearing.

“If a baby is born on a table as a result of a botched abortion, what would Planned Parenthood want to have happen to that child that is struggling for life?”

“Well, we believe that any decision that’s made should be left up to the woman, her family, and the physician,” replied Snow.

In a follow-up question, Rep. Daniel Davis repeated the concern to Snow. “What happens in a situation where a baby is alive, breathing on a table, moving? What do your physicians do at that point?” he asked.

“Umm, I do not have that information,” Snow responded. “I am not a physician, I am not an abortion provider. So I do not have that information.”

Even after another legislator, Rep. Jose Oliva, asked Snow again about the fate of abortion survivors, she maintained that those children shouldn’t necessarily have a right to life.

“… You stated that a baby born alive on a table as a result of a botched abortion that that decision should be left to the doctor and the family. Is that what you’re saying?” asked Oliva.

“That decision should be between the patient and the health care provider,” said Snow.

“I think that at that point the patient would be the child struggling on the table, wouldn’t you agree?” noted Oliva.

“That’s a very good question. I really don’t know how to answer that,” said Snow.

“Americans United for Life Action does know how to answer that: Let Them Live,” said Dr. Yoest.

For more information on AUL model legislation, including the Born Alive Infants Protection Act, click here.

CONTINUE

Let HHS know it must rescind this unprecedented attack on the freedom of conscience.

While polls show more Americans oppose the “HHS Mandate” than support it, the abortion-lobby is aggressively working to ensure that Obamacare continues to conscript the consciences of pro-life Americans and enrich the coffers of Big Abortion.

Make sure HHS hears your voice by following these simple steps by the April 8, 2013 deadline. Please join us and submit your own comment to HHS by clicking here.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (03-06-13) – Americans United for Life Action President and CEO Dr. Charmaine Yoest commended the U.S. Senate for a NO vote on cloture on the nomination of Caitlin Halligan to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, in what was a scored vote on life. “Today, the defeat of Caitlin Halligan is a significant pro-life win. Her record of hostile aggression against peaceful protestors raised concern that she would use her elevated position on the bench as a ideological platform for potential abortion activism,” said Dr. Yoest. “AULA scores this vote as a win and commends the U.S. Senators who protected the Court of Appeals from a potentially biased judge.”

The cloture vote took place earlier today.

Halligan’s abortion activism came to light when she used her position as Solicitor General for the state of New York to bring the weight of her office against peaceful pro-life protestors. In 2002, in the Supreme Court case of NOW v. Scheidler, Halligan attempted to squash the First Amendment rights of private citizens who opposed abortion, and tried to intimidate and bankrupt them by expanding the reach of the federal Hobbs Act and the federal civil RICO (racketeering) law. Halligan urged the Supreme Court to adopt NOW’s unprecedented legal theory that public protest that diminished the business of abortion clinics constituted federal “extortion.”

For 10 years, from 1985 to 1995, AUL was co-counsel for Joseph Scheidler in NOW v. Scheidler and thereafter filed amicus briefs to the U.S. Supreme Court against the expansion of Hobbs Act extortion and RICO, defending the Constitutional Rights of Americans to peacefully assemble and peacefully protest.

Halligan’s role in the case was extraordinary because she attempted to persuade the Supreme Court that the history of New York law was essential to a proper interpretation of the Hobbs Act/RICO and that her position as Solicitor General of New York gave her special insight and influence in interpreting New York’s extortion law.

The Supreme Court threw out the case twice and eventually rejected Halligan’s position 8-1.  Even Justice Ginsburg, the most liberal member of the Court, authored a concurring opinion rejecting Halligan’s attempt to stretch the Hobbs Act to apply to abortion protestors.  Ginsburg wrote, “The Court is rightly reluctant, as I see it, to extend RICO’s domain further by endorsing the expansive definition of ‘extortion.’”

To read the letter AULA sent to the U.S. Senate in opposition to Halligan’s nomination, click here.

CONTINUE