California and Federal Legislation

2009-2010 Legislative Session

Each year, there are bills that impact "life" issues both on the Federal and State levels. We provide a summary and status of some of those bills below.

This page was last updated March 1, 2010.

California Legislation

POSITION	NAME	KNOWN AS	SUMMARY	STATUS
Support	AB 52	Umbilical Cord Blood Collection Program	Requires the Department of Public Health to establish a program to collect and store the umbilical cord blood to be used for transplantation and research.	6/26/09: In Health Commuttee. Hearing canceled at request of author.

Support	AB 1048	Child Protection: Safe Surrender	Expands the newborn safe-surrender time from 72hrs to 30 days.	09/11/09: Moved to inactive file on motion of Senator Romero.

Oppose	SB 471	Education: Stem Cell Research	Directs all education policymakers, including the State Department of Education, Superintendent of Public Instruction, State Board of Education, and all other institutions of public education, including postsecondary schools, should collaborate to help the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine advance its education initiatives.	10/11/2009: Signed into law by Governor.

Federal Legislation- 111th Congress (January 3, 2009 - January 3, 2011)

For Informaton on the bill, please click on the bill number.
For latest status of the bill, please click on the included status.

POSITION	NAME	KNOWN AS	SUMMARY	STATUS
Support	S.96	Abortion Non-Discrimination Act	Prohibits health care providers from being penalized for declining to participate in providing abortions.	1/06/09: Read twice and referred to Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

Support	S.85 H.R.614	Title X Exclusion on Abortion Providers	Prohibits funds under Title X family planning program from going to grantees that perform abortions (except the save the life of the mother).	S.85: 1/06/09: Read twice and referred to Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. H.R.614: 1/21/09: Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

Support	H.R.708	Prohibition on Funding Overseas Abortion-promoting Organizations (Mexico City Policy)	Prohibits U.S. foreign aid funds from going to organizations that perform or promote abortion as a method of family planning overseas.	1/27/09: Referred to House Committee on Foreign Affairs.

Support	H.R.649	Ultrasound Informed Consent Act	Requires that, before performing an abortion, an abortionist must perform an ultrasound and must display the images so that the woman seeking the abortion has an opportunity to view them.	1/22/09: Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

Support	H.R.634	Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act	Requires an abortionist to notify a parent before performing an abortion on a minor who is a resident of another state. Makes it a federal offense to transport a minor across state lines for an abortion unless the parental notification requirement of the home state are met.	6/12/2009: Referred to the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties (House Committee on the Judiciary).

Oppose	H.R.570	Elimination of Pro-Life "Conscience" Regulation	Nullifies the pro-life "conscience" regulation that shielded healthcare providers for being penalized if they refuse to participate in providing abortions.	1/15/09: Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce. March 10, 2009: President Obama published formal notice that he intends to rescind the regulation, even without the passage of this bill.

Support	H.R.195	Informed Choice Act	Allows the Secretary of Health and Human Services to provide grants to certain nonprofit tax-exempt community-based pregnancy help medical clinics for the purchase of ultrasound equipment. The grant would cover 50% of the cost of the ultrasound machine (up to $20,000).	1/06/09: Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

Oppose	H.R.22	Urging Ratification of CEDAW	Urges the U.S. Senate to ratify the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), which is interpreted to condemn various pro-life laws.	1/06/09: Referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.

Oppose	S.487	Federal Funding for Embryo-destructive stem-cell research	Mandates federal funding of the type of stem cell research that requires the killing human embryos in order to harvest their stem cells.	2/26/09: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

Support	H.R.1050	Stupak-Wamp Human Cloning Prohibition Act	Prohibits the creation of human embryos by cloning.	3/16/09: Referred to the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security (House Committee ont he Judiciary).

Support	H.R.877	Patients First Act	Promotes federal funding of ethical forms of stem cell research.	2/04/09: Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

Support	H.R.636	Positive Alternatives Act	Authorizes state to use federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families funds to provide alternative-to-abortion services to women and their babies.	1/22/09: Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.

Oppose	H.J.Res 61	Equal Rights Amendment (w/no abortion-neutral clause)	If approved and ratified, the constitution would be amended to state that no rights can be denied because of sex. Without an abortion-neutral clause, this can be used to overturn abortion laws.	10/19/09: Referred to Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties.

For past sessions, please click on the legislative session below: