U.S. House Passes Two Pro-Life Bills

Action Needed in the U.S. Senate

from Marie Tasy, Executive Director
New Jersey Right to Life

This past Friday, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to pass H.R. 3504, the Born Alive Abortion Survivors Act by a vote of 248-177, with one voting present Roll call vote 506 and H.R. 3134, the Defund Planned Parenthood Act of 2015 by a vote of 241-187, with 1 voting present (Roll Call vote 505).

We received word that U.S. Senate is expected to vote as early as Tuesday, September 22nd on the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act (H.R. 36). This bill passed the House of Representatives previously on May 13.

We also understand that the U.S. Senate will vote on an amendment to defund Planned Parenthood some time in the near future as part of a Continuing Resolution needed to fund the federal government. This is the second time the U.S. Senate will be voting to Defund Planned Parenthood. On August 3, the U.S. Senate failed to garner the 60 votes needed to pass legislation to defund Planned Parenthood. Unfortunately, NJ's two U.S. Senators Menendez and Booker shamefully voted No.

However, we must let them know that we are not going to go away and we're not going to let them off the hook. Please take action needed below.

     

Urge New Jersey's U. S. Senators Bob Menendez and Cory Booker to vote yes on H.R. 36, the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act and to vote yes to Defund Planned Parenthood. Take this opportunity to express your displeasure with their previous vote on Defunding Planned Parenthood and tell them that you expect them to do the right thing this time. Their contact information is below. Tell them to watch the videos! Links to many of the videos can be found on our website, using this link. 

Senator Robert Menendez
Wash.D.C. office 202 224-4744
NJ offices: 973 645-3030, 856 757-5353
Email: www.menendez.senate.gov


Senator Cory Booker
Wash. D.C. office: 202 224-3224
NJ offices: 973 639 8700, 856 338-8922
Email: www.booker.senate.gov

For those who live in other areas, use this link to find the contact information for your Senators.  

Senator Pennacchio joins NJRTL in Denouncing Planned Parenthood’s Selling of Baby Body Part

Senator Calls for Investigation, Legislative Review

From Marie Tasy
New Jersey Right to Life

Following the release of a video reportedly depicting a Planned Parenthood executive discussing the sale of body parts from aborted fetuses, Senator Joe Pennacchio joined New Jersey Right to Life Executive Director Marie Tasy in denouncing the abhorrent act. Senator Pennacchio also announced efforts to make sure the practice does not occur in New Jersey.
“Selling body parts from an aborted fetus is a sickening shock to the conscious,” said Pennacchio (R-Morris). “If true, Planned Parenthood’s participation in performing abortions to systematically sell body parts from fetuses represents a level of depravity that’s hard to fathom.”

Senator Pennacchio said he is calling for the State Attorney General’s Office to launch an immediate investigation into whether any of the Planned Parenthood facilities in New Jersey took part in the practice. Senator Pennacchio said he is also reviewing current law in New Jersey regarding the donation of human body parts and tissue for medical research to see whether changes are needed to strengthen prohibitions against selling or profiting from harvested body parts from aborted fetuses.
“This video reveals some shocking admissions that have to be fully investigated and that includes looking into the practices of Planned Parenthood facilities in New Jersey,” said Pennacchio. “This simply can not be allowed to happen in New Jersey. If it’s determined that facilities here took part in illegal activity, those responsible must be held accountable. It’s also important that we make sure New Jersey laws adequately address this issue. There should be no circumstance where a facility can get any financial gain from soliciting abortions or harvesting body parts from aborted fetuses.”

“We wholeheartedly support and commend Senator Pennacchio’s efforts to stop this barbaric practice by Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest and most profit driven abortion provider,” said Tasy. “Additionally, we call on Congress to defund Planned Parenthood as Governor Christie did in New Jersey and urge New Jersey Democratic Leaders to abandon their yearly blind obsessive attempts to use taxpayer money to fund Planned Parenthood in the state budget.”

New Jersey Right to Life Committee, Inc. (NJRTL) is the state’s largest and most active pro-life, non-partisan organization dedicated to protecting and fostering the most basic value of our society – human life. As the premier pro-life organization in NJ, we continue to lead the effort on all public policy matters concerning the sanctity of human life at the state and federal level. We promote, uphold, and support reverence and respect for all innocent human life from conception to natural death, without regard to condition, or circumstances of conception, quality, age, race, religion, creed, or color, whether born or pre-born.

For more information on NJRTL, use this link.

NJ Lawmakers in Both Houses Set to Vote Thursday, June 25th on bills to use taxpayer money to fund Planned Parenthood

Take Action to Oppose Immediately!‏

From Marie Tasy, Executive Director
New Jersey Right to Life

Here we go again! The Democrat Leadership in Trenton is once again pushing to fund their favorite core constituency - the abortion industry!

Update

Bills A3672/S3103 and A4604/S3104 were released from the Assembly and Senate Budget Committees today. We have just learned that both the Assembly and Senate have scheduled these bills for a vote Thursday, June 25th. Please read the article below, then take the following action immediately:

1.Call and email your State Senator and two Assembly persons and tell them to Vote No on Bills A3672/S3103 and A4604/S3104, to fund family planning. Call 1-800-792-8630; 1-800-792-8630 FREE to find out the names of your three state legislators. You can also search their names by municipality on this page. You can send an email to them here

2. Call and email Governor Christie to thank him for eliminating these funds in the budget and for his past vetoes of these bills. Please urge him to veto A3672/S3103 and A4604/S3104. Governor's phone: 609 292-6000. Email the Governor here. Use "Health" as topic and "Family Health" as sub-topic. Please take this action immediately.

Christie reversal on why he cut Planned Parenthood funding cuts sparks protest

Legislators and other supporters of family planning services staged a rally in Trenton Monday to announce a Democratic plan to reinstate $7.5 million in funding for women's clinics into the state budget. (Susan K. Livio | NJ Advance Media)

By Susan K. Livio
NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

TRENTON — Gov. Chris Christie's boast that he is the only governor in New Jersey history to eliminate state funding for Planned Parenthood may play in conservative states, but it alienates most New Jerseyans who want women to have access to family planning services, protesters said Monday.
Chanting "My health! My life!" about three dozen women and a few men gathered in the Statehouse courtyard with state Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen) and Pamela Lampitt (D-Camden) to draw attention to the governor's remarks last week about cutting $7.5 million in 2010 for women's health centers.

At the time, the governor said the cuts were driven by a budget crisis, adding gynecological services and health screenings could be found at other state-supported facilities. Republicans who supported the money before refused to override the governor's veto based on the financial considerations.

Christie said in 2010 he eliminated the funds as part of a wide array of cuts to close a budget gap. But in speeches to conservative groups in February and again last week, the Republican governor, who is mulling a bid for president, boasted he had "vetoed Planned Parenthood funding five times out of the New Jersey budget."

But now that Christie has dropped "the facade" and explained his motive, Weinberg and Lampitt said they would push to reinstate the money in the budget, and call upon their Republican legislative colleagues to vote their conscience.

"Those of you who voted year after year to uphold the governor's veto because it was a budget issue, you know very well this is not a budget issue," Weinberg said. "This is New Jersey, a progressive state who cares about our families, who cares about our women, who cares about their health care. it is time to restore this money in the budget."

Roslyn Rogers Collins, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan New Jersey, said her center serving Essex, Hudson and Passaic counties, have had to do without $1.2 million a year since that funding cut. It forced them to close a clinic in Passaic County last year, she said.
"This is playing politics with people's lives," Collins said.

A Planned Parenthood Action Fund of New Jersey reported last month said 1.1 million women in 2013 were in need of contraception services because they did not have coverage or could not otherwise afford it.

Kathleen Fisher, president and CEO of the Family Planning Center of Ocean County said the Affordable Care Act expanded insurance coverage for many, "but it does not totally fix the problem."
She said 15 percent of women ages 18 and 54 lack health insurance still lacked consistent coverage because they bounce between Medicaid and employer-sponsored plans.

"If we do not adequately fund family planning services and expand Medicaid to cover family planning services we are hurting those among us who are the most vulnerable. It's time the governor recognize this and get on board," Fisher said.

"I hope the governor will take a good look at the constituents who stand here today. They come from the north and the south, female and male, from all walks of life," Lampitt said. "It's time to look at the real faces of the people of New Jersey and the fact that access to good health care keeps our economy going and keeps our women healthy."

Marie Tasy, executive director for New Jersey Right to Life, praised the governor and offered harsh words for the legislators who intend to revive the issue.

"This is nothing more than a shameful election year maneuver to use taxpayer money to fund the abortion industry, sadly one of the leadership's favorite core constituencies. Thankfully, Governor Christie has sided with the hard working taxpayers of New Jersey and rejected these measures," Tasy said.