Zeitz Campaign Launches Video on Chris Smith's Plans to Outlaw Birth Control

(Hamilton, NJ) Chris Smith has co-authored twenty-two bills to outlaw the common, everyday birth control pill and IUD. Smith's unconscionable legislation is the topic of a new web video produced by the Zeitz for Congress campaign.

Smith's legislation would redefine life as beginning at the moment of fertilization. This is an extreme view not shared by mainstream doctors and scientists. Most pro-life supporters define life as beginning at the moment of conception, when a fertilized egg is successfully implanted in the uterine wall.

The legislation bans all birth control pills and IUDs because they may function by preventing implantation of a fertilized egg.  Chris Smith believes such "abortions" are murder and should be punished as such. He has called on prosecutors to investigate the women who use contraception and the doctors who care for them. Since a fertilized egg is defined as a person under Smith's legislation, women will be prosecuted as murderers.

While speaking on the floor of the House of Representatives, Smith has declared birth control and the IUD as being tantamount to abortion and murder: "Many of the chemicals, many of the devices that are now employed that are permitted under the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program do indeed result in many abortions, newly created human lives that are not permitted to implant in their mother's womb."[GPO H5952]

There is no room for debate on the impact of the legislation. The bills would ban birth control and activists on both sides of this debate agree. Even The Star Ledger has noted Smith's desire to ban the common, everyday birth control pill. An extensive list of citations is available below.

"Chris Smith has the wrong priorities. Instead of focusing on repairing our broken economy, investing in renewable energy, and helping New Jersey families cope with our high cost of living, Chris Smith is busy trying to criminalize basic, everyday birth control."

View the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouvW14Tt0mI 

The Facts:

• Chris Smith "has made it clear in his public statements, that most forms of birth control should be outlawed… the pill and the IUD should be banned." [The Star Ledger March 21, 1999]

• Chris Smith has co-sponsored 22 different bills that would make the birth control pill and IUD illegal. [H.J.RES.380 1981; H.R.3225 1981; H.J.RES.114 1983; H.J.RES.91 1985; H.J.RES.94 1985; H.J.RES.104 1987; H.J.RES.529 1988; H.J.RES.103 1989; H.R.623 1989; H.J.158 1993; H.J.RES.26 1995; H.J.RES.72 1995; H.J.RES.90 1995; H.R.1625 1995; H. J. RES. 40 1997; H.R.641 1997; H.J.RES.31 1999; H.R.639 1999; H.J.RES.20 2001; H.R.3069 2003; H.R.552 2005; H.R.618 2007]

Pro-Choice Resources:

• Rachel Benson Gold, "The Implications of Defining When a Woman is Pregnant" The Guttmacher Report on Public Policy, May 2005
• Lisa Kaeser "What Methods Should Be Included in a Contraceptive Converage Insurance Mandate?" The Guttmacher Report on Public Policy, October 1998

Pro-Life Resources:

• Larimore WL, Stanford JB. Postfertilization effects of oral contraceptives and their relation to informed consent. Larimore WL. Postfertilization effects of oral contraceptives and their relationship to informed consent (Commentary). Arch Fam Med 2000;9:133.
• Alcorn R. Does the birth control pill cause abortions? 3rd edition. Eternal Perspectives Ministries. Gresham, OR. 1998.
• Kahlenborn C. How the pill and other contraceptives work. Can a Christian take the Pill? Life Advocate 1997;12(7).
• Facts about family planning. Health brochure series. American Academy of Natural Family Planning. St. Louis. 1999.
• Birth control pills: contraceptive or abortifacient? American Life League. Stafford, VA. 1999.

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