Website gathering petitions against Freedom of Choice Act

Americans United for Life is sponsoring an online petition in opposition to the Freedom of Choice Act, which right-to-life activists fear will become law under the Obama administration.

As of Dec. 17, the petition at fightfoca.com had gathered more than 337,850 signatures.

The fightfoca.com website has downloadable copies of the United States Senate and House versions of FOCA, and a video of President-elect Barack Obama telling a Planned Parenthood gathering, “The first thing I’d do as president is sign the Freedom of Choice Act. That’s the first thing I’d do.”

Denise Burke, vice president of legal affairs for Americans United for Life (AUL), wrote in an analysis of FOCA: “Notably, pro-abortion groups do not deny FOCA’s draconian impact. For example, Planned Parenthood has explained, ‘FOCA will supercede anti-choice laws that restrict the right to choose, including laws that prohibit the public funding of abortions for poor women or counseling and referrals for abortions. Additionally, FOCA will prohibit onerous restrictions on a woman’s right to choose, such as mandated delays and targeted and medically unnecessary regulations.'”

Among the laws FOCA would nullify would be the Hyde Amendment preventing taxpayer-funded abortions, the 2003 Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, notification laws, and legal protections for healthcare providers who don’t provide abortion services, according to AUL’s analysis of the proposed versions of the bill.

Three U.S. House members from Texas, all Democrats?Rep Al Green of the ninth congressional district; Rep. Gene Green, 29th congressional district; and

Rep Sheila Jackson-Lee, 18th congressional district?are co-sponsors of FOCA.

Neither of the Texas senators support the bill, but two prominent Democrats, former presidential candidates Hillary Rodham Clinton and John Kerry, along with independent Joe Lieberman, co-sponsored the bill while in the Senate.

AUL is urging state legislatures to adopt a model resolution it has written opposing FOCA when they convene their 2009 sessions. The model resolution is accessible at fightfoca.com.