11/15/02
in this issue:
american life league: HOT BUTTON ISSUES american life league
HOT BUTTON ISSUES: Senator Trent Lott has promised a vote on the
alleged partial-birth abortion bill shortly after the new Congress
convenes in January. ALL calls on senators to remove the "life of the
mother" exception, which neuters the bill's effectiveness.
(Reading: "Partial-birth
abortion is back, but will Congress really ban it?" American Life
League news release, 11/8/02)
abortion
ARIZONA: In October the Arizona Supreme Court ruled that poor women
have a right to publicly funded abortions when the procedure is deemed
"medically necessary." Previously Arizona law had permitted the funding of
abortion in cases of rape, incest or danger to the life of the mother. The
ruling was a victory for abortion mills and abortionists according to news
reports.
(Reading: "Ariz. Supreme
Court allows abortion funds for poor," Associated Press, 10/23/02; Simat
et al. v. Arizona Health Care, #CV-01-0324-PR, Arizona Supreme Court)
LAW: One of the heroic attorneys in the struggle to obtain
personhood for all innocents, Harold J. Cassidy, is profiled in a Bergen
County Record article.
(Reading: "'Baby
M' case launched his career and stirred his passion," Bergen County
Record, 11/7/02)
PANIC-STOPPING OF THE PILL: New Zealand researchers claim that
negative press reports about risks associated with the pill caused women
to stop using the pill and subsequently become pregnant and abort their
baby. Records of 400 women "attending for pregnancy termination
assessment" revealed that "panic-stopping or oral contraceptives was
implicated in 9.5%."
(Reading: "Termination of pregnancy following panic-stopping of oral
contraceptives," Contraception, 66 (2002) pp. 163-167)
activism
CALIFORNIA: Due to the amazing work of John O'Neil of Monrovians against Planned
Parenthood, STOPP
International, Focus on the Family, Life Dynamics, et al., the
California attorney general's office has asserted that physicians are
required to report to authorities if an underage female patient is
suspected of being impregnated by an adult male.
(Reading: "California
doctors must report sex abuse," WorldNet Daily, 11/7/02; "Life Dynamics report shows PP
conceals sex abuse crimes," Ryan Report, 7/02)
WISCONSIN: Pro-life activist and hero Will Goodman, with the
help of the Thomas More Law Center, won a court judgement against an
abortion clinic which was required to pay him damages. Goodman said an
abortion facility staff member had attacked him.
(Reading: "Abortion
facility pays damages to pro-life advocate," Thomas More Law Center
news release, 11/6/02; for background, see Pro-Choice Violence, a web
site that records and documents violent acts against pro-life people)
birth control pill
BREAST CANCER: Ellen C. G. Grant, MB, ChB, comments on a recent
study designed to allay fears that the pill was associated with breast
cancer: "The case-control study by Marchbanks et al. of oral-contraceptive
use and breast cancer among women 35-64 years of age is not reassuring
because of a fundamental mistake. The authors failed to study women who
had never taken any hormones, either oral contraceptives or
hormone-replacement therapy, as their base line....The incidence of
hormone-dependent cancers has increased in countries where hormones are
taken."
(Reading: "Oral
contraceptives and the risk of breast cancer," New England Journal of
Medicine, 10/31/02, pp. 1448-1449)
brain death
RADIOLOGIC DIAGNOSIS: Researchers found that of 58 adults referred
to the nuclear medicine department of a hospital for clinical diagnosis of
brain death, 62% (36) were found to have complete cessation of cerebral
blood flow and were subsequently declared clinically brain dead. In the
remaining group of patients, one patient was discharged from the hospital
in a persistent vegetative state, and 22 showed evidence of cerebral blood
flow.
COMMENT: Ever wonder how many patients are inaccurately diagnosed
with "brain death" every day? No wonder current practices in this regard
are under scrutiny.
(Reading: "Radiologic
diagnosis of brain death," Journal of the American Medical
Association, 11/6/02)
bush watch
HUMAN EMBRYO: The Bush administration recently chartered a federal
advisory committee and told that committee to include human embryos in the
definition of human subjects. The advisory carries no weight in law; it is
not a mandate, but nonetheless, the Bush administration should be
commended for the effort.
(Reading: "New status for embryos in research," Washington Post,
10/30/02, p. A1)
(Action: You can send your comments by e-mail to President Bush, or call the
White House at 202-456-1111)
cloning humans
NIGEL CAMERON: A commentary on the Bush administration's efforts at
the UN to seek an end to all human cloning appears online.
(Reading: "President
Bush keeps faith on cloning," Break Point, 11/4/02)
euthanasia
CORONERS: A disturbing news report from the Philadelphia suburbs
indicates that "county coroners say they can't check every death of a
nursing home patient to be sure it was from natural causes. The result
means suspicious cases may never be unearthed."
(Reading: "Burying
the truth," The Intelligencer, 11/1/02)
futility
PENNSYLVANIA: The ethics committee at the Hospital of the
University of Pennsylvania has approved "unusual new guidelines that
include limits on high-tech treatment for patients with severe brain
damage. Under the guidelines, intensive care would not routinely be given
to patients in a persistent vegetative or minimally conscious state. Only
patients who had explicitly requested such care would get it."
(Reading: "Penn
hospital to limit its care in futile cases," Philadelphia Inquirer,
11/4/02)
human embryonic stem cell research
NEW JERSEY: Senate Bill 1909 prompted a hearing to explore ethical
and public policy issues regarding the use of human embryos for research
purposes. Testimony was given by BIO (Biotechnology Industry Organization)
and the New Jersey Catholic Conference, among others.
(Reading: "Committee
weighs merits of expanded stem cell research," Associated Press,
11/4/02; "Testimony
from Michael J. Werner, Esq.," Biotechnology Industry Organization,
11/4/02; "NJCC
to Senate: Stem cell research is a serious moral issue," The Monitor,
11/6/02)
humor
ANONYMOUS: "For every action there is an equal and opposite
government program."
(Reading: "Quick Quotes," The Star, 9/02, p 15; for copies write Fr.
Rawley Myers, 22 W. Kiowa, Colorado Springs, CO 80903)
organ donations
STARTLING REVELATIONS: A Playboy news release excerpts a few of the
dramatic statements in an article published in the magazine's October
issue, such as: "A popular belief in the transplantation community is that
brain death is as certain as cardiac death. In fact, brain death is an
expedient 'medical fiction' invented to enable physicians to declare
patients dead in a timely fashion and in a controlled environment."
(Reading: "Startling
revelations about organ donations," Playboy Enterprises news release,
8/26/02)
pharmacists for life
CORRECTION: (See Communique 11/8/02,
"sterilization") Please note that Pharmacists for Life International's
e-mail address is pfli@pfli.org.
planned parenthood
AWARD: Planned Parenthood Federation of America's infamous Teenwire
web site has won a Freddie Award. The site won in the "adolescent health"
category.
COMMENT: It should have been in the sleaze category.
(Reading: "Teenwire.com
receives prestigious Freddie award," Planned Parenthood news release,
11/8/02)
PARENTAL PERMISSION: A contest for poster art commemorating "Roe
at 30" is being sponsored by Planned Parenthood. If a student is under age
18, he or she is required to have a parent or legal guardian's permission
to enter the contest.
COMMENT: But if a student wants an abortion, no permission is
necessary.
(Reading: "Roe
at 30 artwork and poster contest," Planned Parenthood action alert)
SEXTIONARY: STOPP International's Jim Sedlak visited the newest
addition to the Teenwire web site and comments, "Planned Parenthood
continues to add offensive material to is teen web site. The latest
addition is a 'sextionary' that Planned Parenthood describes as 'an
innovative, new sex education tool.' When combined with teenwire's games,
puzzles and movies in the 'Now Playing' section of the web site,
Sextionary is being used to promote Planned Parenthood's free sex
philosophy to our children."
(Action: To learn more about how to stop Planned Parenthood, visit STOPP)
politics
RNC/LIFE PAC: This political action committee insists that
politicians seeking an endorsement must not discriminate against babies
conceived through rape or incest, or who have a handicap or a genetic
defect. Each candidate agrees to endorse a human life amendment to the
Constitution and the extension of Fourteenth Amendment protection to
preborn children. Of the 20 congressional candidates endorsed by RNC/Life
PAC, 16 were winners and 10 are brand-new members.
COMMENT: Who says politicians of principle cannot win elections?
(Reading: "Pro-life
candidates endorsed by RNC/Life PAC elected to Congress on 11/5/02,"
Republican National Coalition for Life PAC)
unfpa
OBAID: UNFPA Executive Director Thoraya Obaid "courts controversy"
at a recent meeting by stating that the United States "does not support
the idea that women can make choices in their lives."
(Reading: "UNFPA director
Obaid courts controversy at women's meeting," Catholic Family and
Human Rights report, 11/8/02)
vaccines
MERCK: Children of God for Life calls for a boycott of Merck
Products when and only when such a boycott will not prevent a patient from
receiving the medication he or she needs. Children of God for Life states,
"Since vaccines make up less than 5% of their revenues, our analysts have
suggested an effective means of forcing a change in fetal tissue vaccines
would be to boycott the products that most heavily impact the company's
financials."
(Reading: "Special alert,"
Children of God for Life, 11/6/02)
zinger
DUMPSTER STICKER: A new California "safe haven" law allowing
mothers to leave "unwanted" babies at hospitals with no strings attached
prompted the city of Santa Cruz to devise the idea of placing a sticker on
dumpsters in the city saying: "Don't throw your baby away." One resident
opined "If we have to tell people not to throw babies in dumpsters ...
we're reached the lowest point we can get to as a society."
(Reading: "Abandoned
baby law dilemma," San Francisco Examiner, 8/20/02; "News
of the Weird," Chicago Reader, 9/27/02)
reflection for prayer
THOMAS A KEMPIS: A man is here today and tomorrow he is vanished.
And when he is taken out of sight he is quickly also out of mind. Oh, the
dullness and hardness of man's heart, which only thinks of what is
present, and looks not forward to things to come. You ought in every
action and thought so to order yourself as if you were immediately to die.
If you had a good conscience you would not much fear death. It is better
for you to fly sin than to be afraid of death. It you are not prepared
today how shall you be tomorrow? Tomorrow is an uncertain day; and how do
you know that you shall be alive tomorrow?
(Reading: "Imitation of Christ," Book 1, Chapter 23, Section 1)
©2002 American Life League, Inc.
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