Washington Wrap-Up

It was a busy week in the Capitol with a host of family and life issues at stake. Senator Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) attempted to add thought crimes legislation to the Department of Defense Authorization, but the bill was pulled after Democrats failed to force a troop withdrawal from Iraq. The bill will be back though. A Senate committee passed a bill advocated by Senator Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) and sponsored by Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) to enforce regulations penalizing media indecency. Late last night, during debate on the College Cost Reduction Act, Senator Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) was able to add an amendment that protects unborn children by preventing any government from carrying out a death sentence on a woman while she carries a child in the womb. The House passed one of its largest annual spending bills, the Labor, Health and Human Services and Education bill, with all of the pro-life riders intact. Also, an increase in funding to $141 million for the Community Based Abstinence Education programs was included. As I said yesterday, the Smith/Davis amendment was added to this bill and would increase cord blood stem cell funding to $15 million. Unfortunately, funding for the Title X "family planning" program, much of which goes to Planned Parenthood, was increased. Representative Mike Pence (R-Ind.) offered an amendment to prevent any Title X funding from going to Planned Parenthood, but it fell short by a margin of 231-189, enough to give us hope for next time. On the positive side, bill language essentially containing Representative Joe Pitts's (R-Penn.) Post-Abortion Depression Act was adopted as part of Rep. Bobby Rush's (D-Ill.) Post-Partum Depression Act. The purpose of Mr. Pitts' bill is to further study the mental health harms from terminated pregnancies, including miscarriage and abortion