Contact: Joe Giganti, 703-928-9695, Joe@VeritasMediaGroup.com

WASHINGTON, July 19 /Christian Newswire/ -- The National Pro-Life Action Center (NPLAC)—the uncompromising voice of pro-life America on Capitol Hill—issued the following statements in response to the U.S. Senate vote on H.R. 810, which would increase federal funding for embryonic stem cell research (ESCR).

Kimberly Zenarolla, NPLAC director of strategic development, stated:
“Our children, the treasure of our nation, are the hope of our future.  Over 400,000 of these children sit frozen in suspended animation in fertility clinics throughout the country.  Yesterday, our Senate decided that not only would it encourage the dismemberment of these frozen human lives for illicit experimentation, but that taxpayers should be forced to fund this senseless destruction. 

“Clearly, the U.S. Senate is not content to jettison its moral compass, but wishes to make our entire nation complicit in its effort to degrade the dignity of all human life.  To date, embryonic stem cell research has failed to yield one successful treatment for humanity. 

“Our Constitution guarantees the promise of ‘life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.’  Life holds the prime position in this litany because without the guaranteed right to life, you can enjoy no other rights.  We applaud President Bush’s planned veto of this abominable legislation, but it is merely a first step of many needed to restore respect for all human life.”

Paul Chaim Schenck, NPLAC director, stated:
“Yesterday’s vote to federally fund embryonic stem cell research was a seminal moment in the pro-life debate and our nation’s political future.  You simply cannot consider yourself pro-life if you voted to federally fund the wanton destruction of innocent human life, and that is exactly what 63 members of the U.S. Senate did in yesterday’s vote on H.R. 810.

“It is important that the pro-life movement take special note of those senators who claim to be pro-life, but supported this bill.  Particularly disturbing is Sen. Frist’s yea vote.  Sen. Frist, who has made clear his aspirations for higher office, is a physician who proclaims to believe the scientific fact that life begins at conception.  As the majority leader of the U.S. Senate, it was within Frist’s power to prevent this vote from ever occurring.  Yet, in the name of political expediency and utilitarian thought, he failed the American people as leader and physician.

“No U.S. Senator who voted for this bill is fit to be the next president of the United States.”