Dear Colleagues,

Within the next couple of days the Senate will vote on an important amendment to SCHIP.

Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) has introduced an amendment to the SCHIP authorization bill that would codify in the law provisions currently included in regulations that allow states to interpret the word "child" to include the period from conception to birth. This move would allow states to retain choice and flexibility in how best to provide essential health services to pregnant women and children. Access to prenatal care will allow more children to be born in good health, without a need for more extensive and expensive medical intervention.

Please call or e-mail your senators asking them to support the Hatch Unborn Child Amendment to the SCHIP Authorization Bill.  Call the Capitol Switchboard at (202)224-3121 or find your Senators contact information at www.congress.org ( http://www.congress.org/ ).

Attached you will find background information on The Unborn Child Amendment and a Letter on SCHIP from Bishop William Murphy, Chairman of the USCCB Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, to the Senate.