By Patrick Trueman, AFA Director of Governmental Affairs and Co-host of AFA Report

March 1994 – The new year has had a bad start. The pro-life movement has suffered a major defeat before a unanimous Supreme Court; Congress has several measures before it which endanger positive values; and the Administration, despite President Clinton’s rhetoric, continues its assault on the American family.

RICO
The U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled that the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) law may be used against pro-life demonstrators. The consequences that will likely flow from this decision are ominous. If RICO were in effect when Martin Luther King was alive he would have been considered a “racketeer.” It is difficult to think of those who witness for life at abortion clinics as racketeers on par with mafia chieftain John Gotti. But that is the likely effect of this decision. Attorney General Janet Reno, in Senate testimony, has earlier indicated a willingness to use the full force of federal law to “protect” the so called right of abortion. Now she has an additional weapon – of nuclear proportions. What is good for the goose is good for the gander, however. So RICO will also be used against liberal groups like Act-Up, the radical homosexual group that desecrated St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City. Thus, it is likely that an unusual coalition will urge Congress to protect demonstrators regardless of their cause.

Child pornography
The child porn case which the Clinton Administration is using to undermine the federal child pornography law, Knox v. U.S., is now before the U.S. Court of Appeals in Philadelphia. Att. Gen. Reno asked the Court to throw out the conviction of child pornographer Knox (convicted during the Bush Administration) so that the case could be retried under her weakened interpretation of the law. The Court did not go along with her request, however, and ordered both sides to file legal briefs. Members of the U.S. Congress concerned about the Administration’s soft-on-child-porn stance have received Court permission to file a brief also. Every Member of Congress should be encouraged to sign the brief, called friend of the court brief. A hearing will likely be held in March or April with a decision soon.

Health care
The Congressional issue of greatest concern to the family is the Clinton health plan – socialized medicine. Euthanasia is a likely by-product of the plan because the plan is greatly underfunded. Confidential White House documents reveal that it would boost the federal deficit by as much as $810 billion between 1996 and 2000. Thus there will be pressure for health care rationing. Many in need of care will not get it and involuntary euthanasia will be the result. The plan is also the vehicle that the Clintons and the pro-abortion movement hope to use to force abortion on every American. Every employer and every employee will pay for abortion as part of a basic benefit package. America has the best health care system in the world and there is no health care crisis, contrary to the President’s claims. There will be one, however, if government takes over all health care in America.

Hyde Amendment
A decisive pro-life congressional victory in the passage of the Hyde Amendment during the 1993 legislative session was, in part, undone by a Clinton Administration directive at Christmas time. The Hyde Amendment prohibits federal funding of abortion except in cases of life of the mother, rape and incest. The Administration’s order to state Medicaid directors insisted that their programs fund abortions in cases of rape and incest. The intent of the Hyde Amendment, however, was that states have the option to fund in cases of rape and incest. Many state laws prohibit publicly funded abortions except in cases when the life of the mother is threatened and thus Clinton’s order would require states to violate their own laws. Look for legislation to be introduced in Congress to overturn this arrogant directive.

Military homosexual ban
Although Congress passed and the President signed a strict law last year prohibiting homosexuals in the military – the so called “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy – the Clinton Administration is hard at work in an effort to undermine the law. New Defense Department regulations promulgated by the Administration, which are supposed to be used to enforce the law, actually provide several loopholes, unintended by Congress, which benefit homosexuals. The new regulations state, for example, that “sexual orientation” is a private matter. Homosexuals are permitted, under the regulations, to march in gay parades, frequent gay bars, read homosexual magazines and continue to serve in the military. Since these regulations turn the new law on its head, Congressional action – at least legislative hearings on the regulations – is likely.

Balanced budget amendment
The Senate is set to take up a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution, S.J. Resolution 41. A House vote is expected in the spring (H.J. Resolution 103). An unusual coalition of liberals and conservatives is backing the amendment which has a good chance of passage. A two-thirds vote in both Houses followed by ratification of three-fourths of the state legislatures is required for passage. Powerful forces are aligned against this critical measure, including the Clinton Administration. President Clinton wrote Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell a letter late last year to express his “firm opposition” and claimed that addition of the amendment to the Constitution would “promote political gridlock and would endanger our economic recovery.” That’s a stretch! The national debt, which could be eliminated with a balanced budget amendment, is a major reason for our nation’s cyclical economic problems. Every American family is harmed by the debt and deficit spending. The federal debt is currently $4.3 trillion or about $17,000 for every man, woman and child. It increases every day. Forty-five percent of the dollars that the average citizen sends to Washington, D.C. in taxes goes to finance the federal debt, according to Idaho Senator Larry Craig.

Get involved. One phone number can reach any member of Congress. Phone 202-224-3121. Ask for your Senator or Representative and let them know how you feel.