August 27, 2004

REPUBLICANS ADOPT A STRONG PRO-LIFE PLATFORM AND RENEW THEIR COMMITMENT TO PROTECTION OF LIFE

The Platform Committee of the Republican Party adopted a strong pro-life platform that reflects the position of both President Bush and the American people.  Once again, the language of the Republican Platform remains strong in the defense of the right to life of all people, born and unborn. 

"We are very pleased with the pro-life position of the Republican party and with their nominee, President Bush," said Carol Tobias, National Right to Life political director.  "The Republican Platform reflects President Bush's position that every child should be welcomed in life and protected by law, including his support of the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, and a ban on all human cloning, all positions which are supported by a majority of Americans." *

Pro-abortion Senator John Kerry has voted against the ban on partial-birth abortion six times, despite the fact that polls have shown that over 70 percent of the American public favors a ban on partial-birth abortion.  Kerry also voted against the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, Laci and Conner's Law, which was signed into law by President Bush and would help to protect women and their unborn children from violent crimes.  Kerry also supports the kind of embryonic stem-cell research that requires the killing of human embryos and cloning to create human embryos to be used for stem cell research that would kill them.

"John Kerry's extreme positions in favor of partial-birth abortion, cloning and the kind of stem-cell research that requires killing the human embryo, do not represent the beliefs of the American public," Tobias remarked.

An August 2004 poll conducted by Wilson Research Strategies found that 53 percent of Americans opposed "using tax dollars to pay for the kind of stem cell research that requires the killing of human embryos." 

When asked about cloning, 69 percent of respondents said that all human cloning should be banned, while only 24 percent felt that "cloning to create human embryos for stem cell research which would kill them should be allowed and only cloning for reproduction should be banned."

*In an April 2004 Zogby poll, 56 percent of respondents said that they thought abortion should be illegal, illegal except in cases of life, rape and incest, or illegal except in cases of life of the mother.  This poll was conducted among a sample of 1,209 Americans and has a margin of error of +/- 2.8%. 

**Wilson Research Strategies conducted the poll among a sample of 1,000 Americans and has a margin of error of +/- 3.1%.

NRLC is the nation's largest pro-life organization, with 50 state affiliates and approximately 3,000 local affiliates nationwide. NRLC works through legislation and education to protect those threatened by abortion, infanticide, euthanasia, and assisted suicide.  The Vermont Right to Life Committee is the state affiliate of the national organization with 5,000 contributing member households.

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