2/5/99
ABORTION/BREAST CANCER HEARINGS: Congressman
Tom Bliley (R-Va.) wants answers about the link that has been
scientifically shown to exist between abortion and breast cancer. Please
write to the following members of the House Appropriations Committee
asking that fairness be provided and hearings held in order to establish
the threat to women that is created by the possibility of breast cancer
due to induced abortion.
(Write to: Rep. C.W. Young [R-Fla.], 2407
Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515; Rep. John Porter
[R-Ill.], 2373 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515; Rep.
Marcy Kaptur [D-Ohio], 2366 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC
20515 ; Rep. Kay Granger [R-Texas], 435 Cannon House Office Building,
Washington, DC 20515)
(Additional information available at Dr. Joel
Brind's web site: http://www.abortioncancer.com)
(The members of the appropriations committee are
listed at http://www.house.gov/appropriations/members.htm)
HUMAN EMBRYO FUNDING BAN: Ask your members of
Congress to make absolutely certain that the funding ban on human embryo
research is sustained. Also ask them to condemn all destructive research
committed against human embryos from fertilization forward.
(Background material available from ALL
upon request)
ARIZONA: A joint legislative committee
unanimously approved a plan that would require better training for clinic
staffs and an affiliation agreement with a local hospital. An additional
provision would require that a physician remain on the premises as long as
any patients remain in the recovery room.
(Reading: “Tougher Rules Proposed for
Abortion Clinics,” Arizona Republic,
1/22/99)
FLORIDA: A legislative plan would require any
doctor’s offices where abortions are performed to be licensed as abortion
clinics and be subjected to regulations from the state healthcare
administration. Opponents say it’s an attempt to restrict “a woman’s right
to choose.”
(Reading: “Foes: Plan Places Limits on
Abortion,” South Florida Sun-Sentinel, 1/20/99)
NARAL: The National Abortion and Reproductive
Rights Action League gives the U.S. a grade of “D+” for efforts to
restrict abortion. NARAL’s Kate Michelman laments the election of
“anti-choice” governors and legislators in many states, “jeopardizing the
health of the 11.5 million women there who are at risk for unintended
pregnancy.”
(Reading: “Abortion Activists Give U.S. a
Low Grade,” Reuters, 1/14/99)
VIRGINIA: A bill filed by Delegate Robert
Marshall would force abortion clinics to comply with state hospital
regulations. Marshall says it’s designed to improve safety, because
clinics are currently not licensed and not monitored. A Planned Parenthood
spokesman says the bill would require clinics to do extensive remodeling,
which would “increase the cost of an abortion and eliminate it as an
option.”
(Reading: “Abortion-Clinic Bill Stirs Ire,”
The [Norfolk] Virginian-Pilot, 1/21/99)
ARIZONA: Dr. John Biskind, whose abortion
patient Lou Anne Herron bled to death, is not the only physician under
investigation in connection with this case. The Maricopa County Attorney’s
office also wants to know more about Dr. Moshe Hachamovitch, who owns the
clinic where Herron died. Reports concerning Hachamovitch’s other clinics
show a record of six deaths and 28 lawsuits.
(Reading: “History of Trouble at Clinics,”
Arizona Republic, 1/17/99)
WISCONSIN: Abortionist Neville Duncan faces a
30-day jail sentence following his no-contest plea to charges of
disorderly conduct and possession of cocaine. Said Judge Maxine Aldridge
White, “if he is to continue as a medical professional, he needs to remain
absolutely drug-free.”
(Reading: “Doctor Sentenced to 30 Days in
Jail,” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 1/15/99)
FLORIDA: The Center for Bioethical Reform’s
exhibit comparing abortion to the Nazi holocaust and Ku Klux Klan violence
has received its usual negative response, this time at the main campus of
the University of Florida in Gainesville. Says Greg Cunningham, the
center’s director, “abortion is a settled issue in the minds of most in
the university community, and we’re trying to unsettle their minds on that
issue.”
(Reading: “Abortion Display Sparks Campus
Protest,” Miami Herald, 1/12/99)
MINNESOTA: Pro-lifers, who already own
property across the street from an abortion center, are now buying the
building next door to the center. Pro-Life Action Ministries of St. Paul
wants to establish a memorial chapel as “a place of prayer for the
pro-life movement in the area.” Dr. June Fahrmann, the clinic owner,
responds that she is not worried because she has 24-hour security.
(Reading: “Abortion Foes’ Robbinsdale
Purchase in Line with Other Cities,” Minneapolis Star Tribune,
1/21/99)
PENNSYLVANIA: The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in
favor of a pro-life group whose posters were pulled out of
Philadelphia-area subways, buses and stations. The posters, which
emphasized the link between abortion and breast cancer, were deemed
“unduly alarming.” However, abortion centers were allowed to continue
advertising. Attorney Mathew Staver of Liberty Council says the campaign’s
sponsor, Christ’s Bride Ministries of McLean, Va., will resume its
efforts.
(Reading: “SEPTA Loses Antiabortion Group’s
Case,” Philadelphia Inquirer, 1/12/99)
SOUTH CAROLINA: Clarification: Steve LeFemine
of Columbia Christians for Life is encouraging state legislators to
re-file a “personhood” bill which cites the South Carolina constitution as
its authority. The measure would vest legal personhood at fertilization,
and effectively ban abortion. The essence of the bill is contained in one
sentence: “The right to due process, whereby no person may be deprived of
life, liberty, or property without due process of law, and the right to
equal protection of the laws, both of which rights are guaranteed by
Article I, Section 3 of the Constitution of this State, vests at
fertilization.”
IDAHO: Planned Parenthood and other groups are
lobbying state legislators to approve the “pill bill” as a matter of
fairness to women. A novel statistic is offered by Planned Parenthood’s
Nicole Prehoda—the typical woman will spend 25 years of her life trying to
avoid pregnancy.
(Reading: “Coverage Urged for Birth
Control,” Associated Press, 1/10/99)
TRICK OR TREAT: Researchers say if they can
isolate a chemical that tricks a woman’s unfertilized egg into behaving as
if it were fertilized, they could develop a very effective contraceptive.
Once an egg is fertilized, its outer coat changes, repelling sperm. If the
chemical can trigger that reaction in an unfertilized egg, pregnancy would
not occur.
(Reading: “New Birth Control May Block
Sperm/Egg Interaction,” Reuters, 1/21/99)
CLINTON: The administration marked the 26th
anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision by sending
Hillary Rodham Clinton to NARAL’s annual luncheon. A new proposal
offers $4.5 million in federal tax money to pay for bulletproof glass,
closed-circuit cameras, motion detectors and other security equipment at
privately-owned abortion centers.
(Reading: “Clinton Seeks Funds for Abortion
Clinic Security,” Washington Post, 1/22/99, p.
A21)
NEW YORK: A proposed state law would require
state and local police to offer additional protection to people subjected
to taunting and violence while attempting to enter abortion centers. State
penalties for blocking entrances would also be increased if legislators
approve this bill.
(Reading: “Measure Would Aid Abortion
Providers,” Albany Times Union, 1/12/99)
FALWELL: Rev. Jerry Falwell expresses strong
condemnation for human cloning experimentation. Falwell, noting that some
forms of cloning would involve the destruction of a single-celled human
embryo, says his opposition is rooted in his faith “as a Christian who
believes that life in fact does begin at conception.”
(Reading: “Falwell Opposes Cloning; Says It
Has Basis in Abortion,” Associated Press, 1/16/99)
WILMUT: The scientist who gave the world
Dolly, the cloned sheep, is now ready to move into human
experimentation—for therapeutic research aimed at finding cures for
Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases. As for ethical concerns, Dr. Ian
Wilmut observes that he’s aware of opposition, but believes that the
research must go forward “because these are frightening diseases.”
(Reading: “Dolly Pioneer Moves on to Human
Embryo Clones,” PA News, 1/19/99)
EXPERIMENTS WITHOUT CONSENT: With the issuing
of new regulations regarding incompetent human beings who may be the
subject of research trials despite their inability to give their consent,
the supporters of newly-revised regulations realize that “they have
repealed a principle that dates back to the Nuremberg trials of Nazi
doctors after World War II.”
(Reading: “U.S. Ban on Medical Experiments
Without Patient Consent Is Eased,” New York Times,
11/5/98)
DEBATE: Ethicists Fleming and Pike from
Southern Cross Bioethics Institute argue that “withdrawing or withholding
treatment because that treatment is not beneficial to the patient is not
euthanasia. In such cases the doctor has no intention to kill the patient.
The doctor’s intent is not to impose on a patient futile treatment, or
treatment that is burdensome disproportionate to benefit, or treatment
that will merely prolong the dying process when there is no prospect of
remission; this is morally and legally quite different from removing
treatment with the intention to cause the death of the patient.”
Professors from London argue, however, that, “our
definition of passive euthanasia has been used before, but Fleming and
Pike seem to misinterpret it by introducing the notion of beneficence.
Whether or not a treatment is beneficial is irrelevant to our definition.
Therefore we maintain that ‘withholding or withdrawing life-sustaining
treatment’ is passive euthanasia.”
Intent is in the human mind, not in textbooks.
Thus the wise opinion is advocacy of preserving the life of God’s child
until God chooses the exact time of death.
(Reading: “Psychiatrists’ Attitudes to
Euthanasia,” The Lancet, 1/16/99, pp. 242–243)
DNR: Dr. Terence Verman, a Canadian physician,
says he hasn’t written a single “Do Not Resuscitate” order in 36 years of
medical practice. “DNR orders do not take into account the immense power
of recovery that the human body possesses,” he writes. Dr. Verman
complains that young doctors are taught science, but not ethics, and that
“humility is not being impressed upon medical students. . . . Most doctors
would benefit from joining in prayers with a minister or priest rather
than writing a DNR order and walking away.”
(Reading: “Letters to the Editor: Possible
Reasons for the New ‘Craze’ of Writing DNR Orders,” The Medical Post,
1/12/99)
HEMLOCK SOCIETY: A new cadre of trained
volunteers, “Caring Friends,” ensures that Hemlock members “do not die
alone, do not make failed attempts, and have explored all
alternatives.”
(Reading: “Caring Friends Now Available to
Hemlock Members,” TimeLines, Fall 1998, p. 1)
KEVORKIAN I: Hemlock Society USA’s newsletter,
TimeLines, editorializes, “Hopefully, his [Kevorkian’s] crusade
will elevate the debate regarding physician aid in dying and encourage a
change in the law to provide this compassionate choice for the terminally
ill.”
(Reading: “Kevorkian Challenges Michigan
Law,” TimeLines, Fall 1998, p. 2)
KEVORKIAN II: The editor of the American
Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care writes that “what Kevorkian has
done with his latest act [re: 60 Minutes] was to cross the line
from physician assisted suicide to euthanasia.”
What does that mean? Is the editor in favor of
physician assisted suicide? Is that part of hospice care? Is hospice care
determined by poll results?
(Reading: “Jack Kevorkian: ‘Too Much!’”
American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care, 1–2/99, pp.
375–376)
OREGON: A 30-member Task Force on Pain and
Symptom Management has recommended that the state create an office to
improve pain management and serve as a resource for doctors who treat
patients with both terminal and chronic pain.
(Reading: “Oregon Task Force Calls for
Better Pain Care,” American Medical News, 1/18/99, pp.
9–10)
CALIFORNIA: An ethical question has arisen
over a man who donated a kidney to his daughter. The daughter’s body later
rejected the kidney, and now the man wishes to donate his second kidney.
Such a donation would render him solely dependent on dialysis. He argues
that since he is a prisoner, he should be allowed to do this for his
16-year-old daughter. One ethicist opined, “there are special rules for
doing medical research with prisoners because we recognize they are
subject to special pressures.”
Bottom line: is this a privacy issue?
(Reading: “Ethical Questions in
Father-Daughter Transplant,” American Medical News, 1/18/99, pp.
29, 31)
VASECTOMY SALE: Planned Parenthood of
Southwest and Central Florida is advertising, “Give him the gift that
stops giving. A holiday vasectomy gift certificate from Planned
Parenthood . . . only $200.” The ad shows a man holding an infant, feeding
the child from a bottle.
(Reading: Planned Parenthood ad, West
Coast Woman, 12/98, p. 23)
BIRTH CONTROL AND BURGERS: A wide-ranging
report on United Nations population control programs is replete with
undocumented assertions, including the following:
• Of the 260 million women aged 15 to 19 world
wide, some 11 percent (29 million) do not have access to effective
contraceptive protection.
• Every 20 minutes, the world gets another 3,500
human babies but loses at least one entire specie of animal or plant
life, an unprecedented scale of extinction.
• The average person in the United States consumes
260 lbs. of meat per year, most of it hamburgers. In Bangladesh, the
average is 6.5 lbs. [Beef production was slammed as a waste of
energy.] The report notes positive response to U.N. programs
in North Africa, but it acknowledges that Islamic countries objected to
sections “related to abortion, responsible sexual behavior, adolescents’
sexual education . . . and to the use of the terms ‘couples’ or ‘unions’
when referring to persons of the same sex.”
(Reading: “U.N.—Population,” IPS news
service, 1/15/99)
BETTER THAN NATURE? Researchers say a
combination of hormone treatment and artificial insemination increases the
odds of success for infertile couples. The down side—an increased chance
of ovarian cancer, and a “risk” of multiple pregnancy. However, two
researchers note that many couples jump at high-tech methods too quickly,
underestimating their chances of conceiving a child the natural
way.
(Reading: “Fertility Treatment,” Associated
Press, 1/21/99)
FOR THE GREATER GOOD? In a People
magazine feature examining the downside of high-tech fertility
treatments (such as multiple pregnancies), Boston University’s George J.
Annas observes that “the last thing any prospective parents want to do is
terminate some of their fetuses. But if their goal is to have healthy
babies, sometimes you have to do it.”
(Reading: “Going too Far?” People,
1/18/99)
MAKE UP THE RULES AS YOU GO: An Italian judge
has given the go-ahead for a widow to have a frozen embryo implanted in
her womb. The couple had three embryos frozen at a clinic in Palermo, but
the clinic refused to implant them following the father’s death. The case
highlights the current Italian debate over how to structure laws involving
high-tech fertility enhancements.
(Reading: “Italian Judge Allows Woman to
Implant Embryo After Husband’s Death,” Catholic World News,
1/15/99)
TOLERANCE: Writing on the hypocrisy of polling
data, Russell Shaw comments, “Thus it is essential to affirm and defend
the sanctity of life in all contexts and all conditions: ‘from conception
[fertilization] to natural death.’”
Why, then, is there an exception in the so-called
Partial Birth Abortion ban? Let’s be consistent, never be tolerant of
child killing, and get that exception out of the bill!
(Reading: “Americans and Abortion: What the
Polls Say,” Lay Witness, 12/98, pp. 27–29)
The unfortunate characteristic of our day is that
propaganda has taken the place of personal influence. Politics has become
so primary in modern life, that the masses are more moved by promises than
by fulfillments. . . . Our world is slow to learn that those who turn out
the lights of heaven, by that very act turn out the lights of earth.
Influences are born of moral stamina but promises, like spider webs, are
woven from the bellies of materialism.”
(Reading: The Way to Inner Peace,
Bishop Fulton J. Sheen, p. 71)
God of power and mercy, teach me to reflect your
Word, to be strong in your will so that I never bend to the whims of
worldly influence. Amen.
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