Friday May 24,1996 Gene Givens, Bill Dewey and myself had an appointment with
Congressman Carlos Moorhead. We met in his Glendale, CA office and he gave us
over an hour of his time. Congressman Moorhead is retiring after serving in
Congress for 24 years.
He was quite amicable and told us that his father- in-law had died with
Parkinson's Disease. He also said that he was quite sympathetic to our cause
and would like to do what he could to obtain more funding for research for
Parkinson's Disease.
However, he had one big problem with the Udall bill and that was the
abortion issue. He said that he had never voted for any bill that supported
abortion and was not going to now at the end of his career. Carlos is a very
sincere man, a Christian who feels that abortion is the one line he will not
cross.
We assured him that we shared his views on the unacceptability of
abortion and did not see any conflict. He said that he did not have a problem
with tissue being used for research from naturally occurring abortions. But he
did not want to support any bill which he felt would somehow encourage
abortions.
When we offered him the sheet listing those who had already signed on as
co-sponsors from the House, he remarked that we had all the people signed up who
supported abortion. I asked him to look at the list again for I was sure that
there were those signed up who were just as opposed to abortion as he is. He
did agree that there were several on the list who would be anti-abortion.
I told him that fetal cell research was just one of the areas to be
funded by the Udall bill and that given the proper research monies we had hopes
of finding a cure or effective therapy that would not use fetal cell tissue.
He brought up the issue of someone getting pregnant for the sole purpose
of providing tissue for transplantation. When we told him all the safeguards
that were built in to prevent that from happening. It was sort of like *Don t
confuse me with the facts.* For Carlos the abortion issue is the red flag that
will prevent him from voting for the bill. HE did say that if he could be
assured that the Udall bill would in no way encourage abortion he would vote for
the bill.
I showed him an edited down version of the documentary *New Hope for
Parkinson's Disease* which seemed to make quite an impression on him especially
in light of seeing me sitting there in front of him symptom free from the
Parkinson's Disease which he could clearly see had ravaged my life before the
Pallidotomy.
I offered to him that the Udall bill would provide more opportunities to
explore and perfect procedures such as the Pallidotomy.
I told him that I would get some materials together that would hopefully
alleviate his concerns about the abortion issue.
I have made copies of recent postings which speak to this issue. Any
further information any of you could provide which might help convince
Congressman Moorhead would be appreciated.
Don
Dr. Don Berns
4943 Del Monte Rd.
La Canada, CA 91011
818-790-8812
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