URGENT PRO-LIFE ACTION ALERT

I received the following email message from Joseph Cella of Fidelis just a little while ago:

Dear Friends:

Fidelis needs your help right now in helping pass a very important piece of legislation.

Last night, Senate Majority Leader Frist filed cloture on S. 403, the Parental Notification Bill, as passed by the Senate and amended by the House.

This legislation prohibits transporting a minor across state lines to get an abortion in circumvention of state parental notification laws, and requires abortionists to notify a parent before performing an abortion on an out-of-state minor.

S. 403 was passed by the Senate by a vote of 65-34 (with 51 Republicans and 14 Democrats voting in favor) on July 25. Upon passage, Sen. Frist made a routine request to go to conference committee, which was blocked by Senate Democrats. The following week, he made two attempts to move towards conference, both of which were blocked. Filing last night's cloture petition is latest effort to move this important legislation across the finish line.

The vote will occur on the amended bill approved earlier this week by the House, 264-153. The House passed bill contains all of the provisions approved by the Senate in July, including the Boxer-Ensign Amendment, which makes it a separate offense for a parent who impregnates a minor daughter to take that daughter to another state for an abortion, and bars the incestuous parent from employing the right to sue under the anti-transportation provision.

When the final vote will occur on S.403 has not yet been determined. After two other pressing votes on terrorism and the border fence, there will be the cloture vote on the Parental Notification Bill. All that said: the vote will occur soon, in all likelihood tomorrow, but it is not possible to give an exact time. But to make a real impact, the time to contact Senators is now.

Since this is a cloture vote, 60 votes are needed to win, before the final vote on passage occurs. There are 14 Democratic Senators who voted for S. 403, Pryor, Salazar, Ben Nelson, Bill Nelson, Carper, Inouye, Bayh, Landrieu, Reid, Conrad, Dorgan, Johnson, Byrd and Kohl, will be under pressure to switch their votes.

Below are the names, states and telephone numbers for those 14 Senators. Please take the time today and call those Senators and urge them to vote “YES” on the S.403 cloture vote and “YES” on final passage.


Pryor (AR) 202-224-2353 or in state at 501-324-6336 Salazar (CO) 202-224-5852 or in state at 303-455-8850 Carper (DE) 202-224-2441 or in state at 302-856-7690 Bill Nelson (FL) 202-224-5274 or in state at 954-693-4851 Inouye (HI) 202-224-3934 or in state at 808-541-2542 Bayh (IN) 202-224-5623 or in state at 574-236-8302 Landrieu (LA) 202-224-5824 or in state at 225-389-0395 Ben Nelson (NE) 202-224-6551 or in state at 402-441-4600 Reid (NV) 202-224-3542 or in state at 775-686-5750 Conrad (ND) 202-224-2043 or in state at 701-258-4648 Dorgan (ND) 202-224-2551 or in state at 701-250-4618 Johnson (SD) 202-224-5842 or in state at 605-332-8896 Byrd (WV) 202-224-3954 or in state at 304-342-5855 Kohl (WI)) 202-224-5653 or in state at 414-297-4451


Sincerely yours,

Joseph Cella
President