 |
 |
I took today off with the intention of playing a round of Golf with Nancy. Boy did I make a mistake. The bad news is that it is 4pm and I still have not played any golf and there is a possible challenge from Washington.. The good news is that there are a couple of nice reasons for not making it to the course. Nancy is doing much better and already had plans ,which I was not aware of, to go out with the girls from the old tennis group and do some clothes shopping at the mall. She left about 9:30 this morning and is still not back. I can see the credit card charges already piling up but right now that’s fine with me. The other news came from Washington this morning. We had another team of advocates on the Hill with a TV crew from CNN following them around. Terry Whitling with a stroke of genius and a little luck arranged for that to happen. It’s part of the follow-up story on her pallidotomy. I'm sure we will here more about that. The second bit of insight came from Mike Claeys (PAN) who is also working the Hill. This one is a tad troublesome. It appears that there may be reason for concern with regard to the pro-life movement and the use of fetal tissue. While there was nothing specific to report, it appears that we MAY have to be prepared to defend our position on fetal tissue research if we want to insure success in the House. Since I had taken the initiative in June to discuss this with Congress Chris Smith ‘s office , Mike was wondering where I felt things stood. Well, one thing led to another and I have been on the phone or on the keyboard ever since. It appears that we may have to wrestle this issue to the ground before we can count on the Republican majority in the House to put it on the floor for consideration. I spoke to Congressman Armey’s office (they schedule what goes to the house for consideration) and the advice was to make sure that the National Right To Life Movement is not preparing to challenge the Udall bill. I now have the right contact in Washington with that group and am awaiting a phone call to get their position on fetal tissue research. I have also discovered that every major church denomination has a Washington office/lobby and I was able to reach the Roman Catholic Conference, and The Presbyterian Washington office. I am awaiting reply's. I am also reconfirming with the Episcopal church through our Houston bioethics task force. My hope is that the churches will not present any major objections and that we can arm our supporters with that knowledge. I would ask that those of you who have the time, contact your churches and get the number of their Washington offices and get a statement regarding their position on the use of fetal tissue. Please report that position here on the list or send it to my E-Mail address at [log in to unmask] or fax me their reply at 713-358- 5314. It's not clear that we will need this material yet but at this stage it is certainly worth having. [log in to unmask]