Thursday, November 20, 2008

What is the Freedom of Choice Act a/k/a FOCA?

“The first thing I’d do as president is sign the Freedom of Choice Act.”

—Senator Barack Obama (now "President-elect Obama")
speaking to the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, July 17, 2007, answering what he would do to ensure women’s rights.

The Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) will nullify over 550 pro-life laws and regulations on
abortion and will require the legalization of abortion on demand for any reason through all
nine months of pregnancy in all 50 states. Abortion will become even more dangerous for
women if protective measures are removed.

Among the laws FOCA would nullify are:

>Requirements that licensed physicians perform abortions.
>Health and safety regulations for abortion clinics.
>Informed consent laws.
>Parental consent and notification laws.
>Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003.
>Hyde Amendment (restricting taxpayer funding of abortions).
>Restrictions on abortions performed at military hospitals.
>Waiting periods.
>“Delayed enforcement” laws (banning abortion when Roe v. Wade is overturned and/or the
authority to restrict abortion is returned to the states).
>Bans on abortion after viability. FOCA’s apparent attempt to limit post-viability abortions is
illusory. Under FOCA, post-viability abortions are expressly permitted to protect the woman’s
“health.” Within the context of abortion, “health” has been interpreted so broadly that FOCA
would not actually proscribe any abortion before or after viability.
>Limits on public funding for elective abortions (thus, making American taxpayers fund a
procedure that many find morally objectionable).
>Limits on the use of public facilities (such has public hospitals and medical schools at state
universities) for abortions.
>State and federal legal protections for individual healthcare providers who decline to
participate in abortions.
>Legal protections for Catholic and other religiously-affiliated hospitals who, while providing
care to millions of poor and uninsured Americans, refuse to allow abortions within their
facilities. (List from Americans United for Life)

This radical law will remove all protective measures and will increase the abortion rate in
the United States. We must start contacting our legislators now. To read more in depth
about FOCA go to http://www.humanlife.org/.

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