THE HOUSE

PARTIAL BIRTH ABORTION VICTORY

After the long fight to ban partial birth abortion, it seems that victory is finally within reach for the pro life side. The House on June 4th passed the Partial Birth Abortion Ban (HR 760), and it is so close to the Senate version that minor differences can probably be resolved quickly and the final version sent to the President. Unlike his predecessor Clinton, who twice thwarted the will of Congress and of the people by refusing to sign such a ban, President Bush is eager to stop this barbaric procedure.

The vote in the House was overwhelming--282-139, with even many "pro-choice" Democrats going along because they know there is great public support for this ban. A Gallup poll found that 70% of the public favors a ban on partial birth abortion. Only die-hard abortion fanatics can defend murdering full term healthy infants by such an excruciatingly painful method.

Although the Religious Freedom Coalition promotes many conservative issues other than the pro life issue, we have worked diligently for years on the Partial Birth Abortion Ban. Congressman Steve Chabot (R-OH), who sponsored this bill, feels confident it can withstand the court challenges which are sure to come. Planned Parenthood, which receives much of its funding from government grants, has vowed to fight the ban in court. So, although we rejoice to see this Bill passed, we know that we must be ready for other battles that may lie ahead.

UVVA

The Religious Freedom Coalition is now working on the passage of the Unborn Victims of Violence Act (UVVA). President George W. Bush has indicated he would sign this much needed legislation into law as well. When passed, the Unborn Victims of Violence Act (also known as the Laci and Conner Peterson Act) would punish those who cause harm to a child still in the womb. Thus if a pregnant woman is murdered, the perpetrator of the murder would be charged not with one count, but with two counts of murder.

UNDER GOD and THE PLEDGE

Congressman Todd Akin (R-MO) needs our support. Congressman Akin now has almost 200 co-sponsors for his Pledge Protection Act of 2003. Every member of the Republican leadership, including Majority Leader Tom DeLay, has signed on as a co-sponsor. This is a very simple, one-line judicial jurisdiction act prohibiting any federal court, other than the Supreme Court, from ruling on the constitutionality of the Pledge. Judicial jurisdiction acts are actually fairly common and have been passed numerous times just in the past few years.

The only obstacle in the way of getting the bill to the floor is the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, James Sensenbrenner (R-WI). The chairman needs some encouragement to hold hearings on Congressman Akin's Pledge bill. If you have an interest in the Pledge Protection Act moving forward, please contact him by e-mail by clicking here: Contact Congressman Sensenbrenner.

THE SENATE

There has been no noteworthy action in the Senate this past week. I was at a luncheon with Senator Inhofe (R-OK) this past Wednesday. The leg of a table was coming loose near the podium where he was standing and he reached down and fixed it. When he got back to the microphone he said, "That makes me the most productive Senator of the week." That sort of sums up the action in the Senate for the week. The Democrats continue to filibuster to block the confirmation of four good judicial nominees, all women or minorities. As I have noted before in these updates the Democrats do not want conservative minorities to serve in visible public offices of any kind. They fear that blacks, Hispanics and women would start to identify with them as role models and leave the Democrat Party.

INTERNATIONAL RELIGIOUS FREEDOM

The terrorist organization, HAMAS, refuses to put down their guns and stop their suicide bombers despite the "Road Map to Peace" presented by President George W. Bush and agreed to by Prime Minister Sharon and Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas. Worse, Yassar Arafat is really not out of the picture. This week he told the Palestinian people that his Prime Minister "got nothing" from the Israelis at the Bush held summit in Jordan. Tens of thousands of protesters marched in West Bank and the Gaza Strip holding pictures of Arafat and vowing to "drive the Jews into the sea."

At the same time a top Muslim cleric in Saudi Arabia gave religious permission to use weapons of mass destruction on American cities. He said killing 10,000,000 Americans would be "permissible" under Islam.

Although the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom has labeled Saudi Arabia as the world's worst offender of religious rights the Administration of George W. Bush will not officially list it as a violator of religious freedom. In reality, Saudi is a gross violator of human rights. There are 2,000,000 Christian foreign workers in Saudi. Some have been imprisoned without charge and repeatedly beaten just for holding Christian prayer meetings in their private homes. In its annual report for 2003 the Commission stated:

"According to the State Department, freedom of religion does not exist in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia is a uniquely repressive case where the government forcefully and almost completely limits the public practice or expression of religion to one interpretation: a narrow and puritanical version of Islam based on the Wahhabi doctrine. Consequently, those Saudis and foreign contract workers who do not adhere to the Saudi government's interpretation of Islam are subject to severe religious freedom violations."

With allies like this, who needs enemies?

RFC DOCUMENTARIES

Several people have called our office to order Holy Land Settlements, our new documentary on the Jewish settlements in Samaria and Judea which was mentioned in the last update. We do not yet have the video on hand to ship. Editing is complete and they are at the manufacturer awaiting the color sleeves. We can accept orders only with the understanding that the video will not be shipped until the last week of June. Click here for more information.

Holy Land Teenagers will not be available until sometime in July. That documentary is still being edited. We shot hours of footage and have to get the content down to under 45 minutes. Editing is difficult because there is so much good material. My seventeen-year-old daughter, Katie, interviewed the teenagers. I honestly believe this will be the best documentary we have ever filmed because it gets to the heart of the problem--what the future leaders believe today.

Check our Internet site at www.rfcnet.org for last minute updates! God richly bless you, that is my prayer.

William J. Murray, Chairman

Religious Freedom Coalition, Washington, DC

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