Human Life Legislation and Vetoes
By Marion Edwyn Harrison, Esq. (05/17/07)
President George W. Bush has vetoed only one bill during his six-plus years in office. It, therefore, is significant when the President in writing announces his intent to veto. The letter which follows has received scant media attention.
The legislative situation is the following: In the United States Senate there are pending 17 bills relating to abortion and/or stem-cell usage. In the House of Representatives there are 18 bills. None as of this writing is the subject of a committee hearing, which is essential to consideration on the Floor of either House. The fact that none actively is before a committee is not necessarily significant; the 110th Congress does not adjourn until late next year.
Briefly stated, the bills fall into four categories. First are bills related to stem-cell research which are pro-life and not likely to be vetoed. Second are stem-cell bills which the President would likely veto as they contain provisions for using new stem-cell lines and/or human embryos. Third are pro-choice abortion bills, including those dealing with Federal funds for abortion in the United States and overseas, so-called “Rape Assistance” programs and contraception. The largest number of bills pending are pro-life abortion bills dealing with matters such as parental notification, post-abortion depression and prohibiting the distribution of the drug RU 486.
It is a reflection of the extent to which federalism as envisioned by the Founding Fathers and practiced with limited exception well into the 20th Century has been vitiated that the Federal Government is in any kind of business involving human life except regulation of interstate commerce through the Food and Drug Administration and criminal law relating to interstate crimes and/or crimes committed upon Federal property or in the District of Columbia or territories. Nevertheless, one realistically must evaluate the state of the law as it is or well might become. Hence, the Bush letter may prove significant, perhaps memorable.
Marion Edwyn Harrison, Esq. is President of, and Counsel to, the Free Congress Foundation.
http://www.freecongress.org/commentaries/2007/070516.aspx
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