Child Custody Protection Act

Read the Latest Update: Eight Senate Democrats Flip, Kill Child Custody Protection Act

URGENT CONGRESSIONAL ALERT

This alert was issued by the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) on Friday, September 22, 2006, at 6 PM EDT. Please forward this alert to all appropriate lists. For further updates, visit the Legislative Action Center at the NRLC website, or send e-mail to Legfederal@aol.com.

Congress to revisit parental notification legislation during final week before adjournment

WASHINGTON (Sept. 22, 2006) -- Pro-life forces are prepared to make a final push for enactment of legislation to curb the evasion of state parental notification and consent laws, which has been stalled by Senate Democrats since late July.

The renewed activity will come during the week of September 25 -- the final week before Congress adjourns, on September 29 or September 30, for pre-election campaigning.

The Senate and House have passed two different versions of parental notification legislation: the Senate's Child Custody Protection Act (S. 403) and the House's Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act (CIANA, pronounced "SEE-anna") (H.R. 748). In late July, the Senate Democratic leadership raised an extraordinary procedural obstacle to prevent a House-Senate conference committee from meeting to produce a final combination version of these bills. To read a detailed account of the obstructionism by Senate Democrats, click here.

On Tuesday, September 26, the House will take up S. 403, with the likely result of replacing its Senate-approved text with new language (a "substitute amendment") that reflects the best provisions of both the Senate and House bills.

The provisions of this final version of the legislation are summarized below.

After passage by the House, the amended S. 403 will immediately return to the Senate. This sets up a situation where Senate Republican leaders can, if they choose, force another vote on the bill. Pro-abortion Senate Democrats are sure to object to any fast-track procedures, so it will require 60 votes in order to overcome their objections and send the bill to President Bush for his signature.

When the Senate passed S. 403 on July 25, it was by a vote of 65-34. It was supported by 51 Republicans (out of 55 total), and by 14 Democrats (out of 45 total). Therefore, the pro-life side can win if at least 60 of the 65 continue to vote to advance the legislation. The key group will be the 14 Democrats who voted for S. 403 on July 25. Their names are listed below. If one of your senators is on this list, he is among the small group that will determine whether this crucial legislation becomes law, or dies. If the pro-life side fails to obtain 60 votes, the legislation will die. If we succeed, the bill will go the President Bush, who is eager to sign it into law.

The votes of some of these senators are highly uncertain.

NRLC urges all affiliates and all other organizations with an interest in this vital legislation to give top priority to the following two action items, starting immediately and continuing through the end of the month:

1. Contact Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tn.) and urge him to force the Senate to vote on the House-approved version of S. 403 before Congress leaves Washington on September 29. Tennessee constituents can call Senator Frist's regular Senate office at (202) 224-3344, but for callers from other states, it may also be appropriate to communicate with Senator Frist's political committee, VOLPAC, at (615) 386-0045 (or fax 615-386-3041), which has a national focus.

2. Generate as many contacts as possible to your own two senators -- any Republican, and to any of the 14 Democrats listed below -- to urge them to vote for cloture on S. 403, "the parental notification bill."

Because only a few short days remain before adjournment, all groups should rely primarily on phone calls to the Washington and in-state offices of Senators. All Senate offices can be reached through the Capitol Switchboard: 202-224-3121.

Also call the nearest in-state offices of your two U.S. senators with the same message. The numbers of in-state offices for each senator are listed on the NRLC website under the profile for each senator, here.

In addition, e-mail messages can be sent via the NRLC website's Legislative Action Center. To utilize the current Action Alert on the parental notification legislation, click here. But do not rely exclusively on e-mail -- during the frantic closing days of the session, many of these may not be read or counted until it is too late.

FURTHER DETAILS ON THE BILL

The bill to be acted on next week (S. 403, as amended) contains three main provisions:

-- the "anti-transportation" provision, which is contained in both the Senate's Child Custody Protection Act (CCPA) and the House's Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act (CIANA). This provision would make it a federal offense to transport a minor across state lines to obtain an abortion, if this abridges her parent's right to be notified or give consent under the home state law.

-- the Boxer-Ensign Amendment, adopted 98-0 by the Senate, which makes it a separate federal offense for a parent who impregnates a daughter through incest to transport that daughter across state lines for an abortion, and bars such a parent from benefiting from the right to sue persons who violate the other provisions of the bill.

-- the crucial "abortionist notification" requirement, contained in the House's CIANA, that requires every abortionist to notify at least one parent before performing an abortion on a minor who is a resident of a different state (with certain narrow exceptions for special circumstances).

THE FOLLOWING 14 DEMOCRATS VOTED TO PASS S. 403 ON JULY 25:

Pryor (Ar.)
Salazar (Co.)
Carper (De.)
Bill Nelson (Fl.)
Inouye (Hi.)
Bayh (In.)
Landrieu (La.)
Ben Nelson (Ne.)
Reid (Nv.) (Democratic leader)
Conrad (ND)
Dorgan (ND)
Johnson (SD)
Byrd (WV)
Kohl (Wi.)

Here are some additional talking points on this issue:

* Many young girls leave their home states in order to avoid parental involvement in their abortion decisions, often under pressure from older boyfriends or at the urging of abortion providers, and the consequences are often tragic.

* This important legislation would do much to protect vulnerable young girls and the rights of their parents. Parental notification laws are supported by overwhelming majorities of the public -- exceeding 80% in some polls.

* The Senate Democratic leadership is obstructing final approval of the parental notification legislation. It appears that congressional Democratic leaders want to protect the "right" of out-of-state abortionists to perform abortions on minors of any age, without parental notification.

For additional information on the parental notification issue, including poll results, visit the NRLC website page on parental notification here, or send e-mail to the NRLC Federal Legislation Department at Legfederal@aol.com.

Legislation