Here are the Real Facts
FactCheck.org decided to attack the Susan B. Anthony List for recent mailings and radio ads in New Mexico regarding Congresswoman  Heather Wilson’s legislative record. But they didn’t check their own facts.
FactCheck.org False Claim #1: “To start, the mailer claims Wilson ‘voted for cloning that would create human embryos specifically to be destroyed for scientific research.’ But that's simply not true. SBA List is misrepresenting a bill that would have actually outlawed human cloning.”
Here is the mailer referenced by Factcheck.org. Note that there is no reference to Heather Wilson’s cloning votes. The mailer actually says, “Wilson even voted four times to provide funding for life-destroying stem cell research. (H.R. 2560, H.R. 810, H.R. 3, S.5)” Factcheck is criticizing the Susan B. Anthony List for something it doesn’t even say!
That oversight aside, it is correct that Heather Wilson voted for
Congress and the Phony Cloning Ban
Somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) is the process by which a clone is created. The nuclear material (cell nucleus) is removed from a body cell (somatic cell – as opposed to a sex cell or gamete, i.e. egg or sperm), and implanted into an egg cell. The egg also has the nuclear material removed to make room for the somatic cell’s nuclear material. An electric current is applied to the new cell, or clone, and it thus acts like a fertilized egg, or zygote. The cell then multiplies into an embryo that is a genetically identical twin.
Congress considered legislation (H.R. 2560) that would prevent cloned embryos created through this process from being implanted in a womb. The legislation did not ban the cloning process.
Heather Wilson voted in favor of this legislation that allowed scientists to clone embryos and then kill them as part of an experiment.
legislation that would allow the creation of human embryos that would be destroyed for research purposes. The DeGette Human Cloning Prohibition Act of 2007, H.R.2560, claimed to ban human cloning, however, it did not. The bill minced words and defined cloning as “…the implantation of the product of human somatic cell nuclear transfer technology into a uterus or the functional equivalent of a uterus.” (See the box on this page for the technical explanation) FactCheck.org misrepresented the bill by not including this information in their article.
The bill would not have banned the scientific definition of the cloning process; it would have only banned the implantation of the result of cloning – a human embryo – into a uterus. Just because you define a concept with your own words does not make you right. In fact, it makes you disingenuous.
Under this legislation, it would be perfectly legal to create a cloned human embryo, and then destroy it to harvest its stem cells. Thus it is perfectly acceptable to claim that Wilson "voted for cloning that would create human embryos specifically to be destroyed for scientific research."
Heather Wilson voted for this legislation. Although the bill ultimately did not make it into law, this legislation would not have banned human cloning in the traditional, scientific definition of the term. It would have banned a redefined term that the authors called cloning in order to look good politically. If Heather Wilson claims to be pro-life, she should co-sponsor H.R.2564, a real ban on human cloning.
FactCheck.org False Claim #2: “Actually, she voted to make it illegal to clone humans; the bill did not address embryos.”
To say “the bill did not address embryos” is simply ignorant. Though the word embryo does not occur in the text of H.R.2560, the process of cloning involves embryos, like it or not. In fact, embryos are humans. Just ask a biologist.
FactCheck.org False Claim #3: “The mailer says Wilson ‘voted to fund abortion providers,’ and the radio ad repeated the charge, adding that ‘Planned Parenthood is a billion-dollar abortion business.’ That's misleading.”
It’s not misleading, it’s true. Planned Parenthood is the nation’s largest abortion provider. This is not news. Federal grants they receive are under the guise of programs like breast cancer screening, contraception, and pregnancy and HIV testing. Under the Hyde Amendment, the federal government cannot fund abortion with taxpayer dollars. Money is fungible, however, and taxpayer’s money that is used to fund part of Planned Parenthood’s billion dollar operation allows this organization to put more resources into other activities, such as providing abortions. Voting to pour millions of dollars into the coffers of an organization that provides abortions should not rest easy on the conscience of one who claims to be pro-life.
Claiming that Wilson voted to fund abortion providers is true. Planned Parenthood is an abortion provider. Wilson voted to give money to them. How is that misleading?
FactCheck.org False Claim #4: “False Statistic: The group claims in both the radio ad and the mailer that ‘there are 4,000 abortions every day in the United States.’ But that number is higher than the estimates from the most frequently cited sources.”
4,000 abortions per day is an approximate average based upon estimates of total abortions since Roe v. Wade. If you average estimates from both the Alan Guttmacher Institute and Centers for Disease Control you get 3,804 abortions per day since 1973. Since we don’t know how many abortions are un-reported, but we know there are some, we rounded up to 4,000 to account for them. We are not exactly sure why that should matter since 4,000, or 3,800 or even 3,200 abortions per day is still a tragedy.
In addition, the Guttmacher Institute is not an unbiased source of abortion statistics. The main reason it is generally cited is because it is one of the only sources on abortion data in the country. However, it is generally recognized as having pro-abortion and Planned Parenthood sympathies. Founder Alan F. Guttmacher was president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and a leader in the International Planned Parenthood Federation in the 1960s and early 1970s. | 
