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Bill Saunders Joins Americans United for Life, Set to Expand Efforts to Protect Human Life Internationally

Posted on: Friday, 22 May 2009, 10:49 CDT

WASHINGTON, May 22 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- William L. "Bill" Saunders today joined Americans United for Life (AUL) as Senior Counsel. Mr. Saunders will be leading the development of an international edition of AUL's definitive legal guide Defending Life and contributing to AUL's work on bioethics, rights of conscience, and end of life issues.

Dr. Charmaine Yoest, AUL President & CEO said: "I am very pleased Bill is joining our team. As a Harvard-trained attorney with extensive publications and a prominent reputation in the pro-life movement, Bill's addition is a strategic move for AUL as we head into our next phase of development. He will be an important resource for us as we move toward the coming Supreme Court nomination."

Mr. Saunders said: "It is a great honor to be a part of AUL, an organization with a reputation for excellence and unparalleled expertise. Working to expand the protection of human life beyond our national borders and to provide more resources to pro-life allies around the globe is a significant venture. This new project is critical as we see the targeted threats to life growing internationally."

Mr. Saunders was featured in Harvard's first Guide to Conservative Public Interest Law in 2003, and again in the 2008 edition, and he served on Harvard's Advisory Committee for its 2008 celebration of public interest law.

He speaks and writes frequently on international law and life-related topics such as stem cell research and cloning. He has submitted testimony on several occasions to the President's Council on Bioethics and has briefed Congressional staff multiple times on stem cell research and cloning. He delivered the annual J. Michael Miller Lecture at the University of St. Thomas (on international law) in February 2007, the annual R. Wayne Kraft Memorial Lecture (on bioethics) at DeSales University in February 2004, and the annual James Moore Lecture (on Sudan) at Millikin University in 1999. He has also lectured, and/or has been published, in many countries, including Italy, Germany, Poland, Slovakia, Mexico, Qatar, Malaysia, Romania, Hong Kong, and the United Kingdom.

President Bush appointed Mr. Saunders to serve on the United States delegation to the UN Special Session on Children in 2001-2002. In 2004, he served on the NGO Working Committee in connection with the Doha Intergovernmental Conference for the Family. He served on the organizing committee for the conferences of the World Congress of Families in Mexico City (2004), in Poland (2007), in Amsterdam (2009), and is a member of that organization's Management Committee.

Mr. Saunders served previously as Senior Fellow, Human Rights Counsel, and Director of the Center for Human Life and Bioethics the Family Research Council. He has also practiced law with the firm Covington and Burling and taught law at the Catholic University of America. A member of the Supreme Court bar, he has authored numerous legal briefs in state and federal (and foreign) courts.

About Defending Life

AUL's annual publication, Defending Life 2009: Proven Strategies for a Pro-Life America, is the definitive legal guide to abortion, bioethics, healthcare freedom of conscience, and the end of life. Cutting through the murky cloud of media chatter and controversy, Defending Life provides comprehensive, timely, and thought-provoking information to anyone who wants to understand key pro-life issues and utilize proven strategies to address them.

About Americans United for Life

Americans United for Life (AUL) is a nonprofit, public-interest law and policy organization whose vision is a nation in which everyone is welcomed in life and protected in law. The first national pro-life organization in America, AUL has been committed to defending human life through vigorous judicial, legislative, and educational efforts at both the federal and state levels since 1971. The Wall Street Journal has profiled AUL, and PBS' Frontline program chronicled AUL's successful efforts in Mississippi.

SOURCE Americans United for Life

Source: PR Newswire

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