in this issue:
hot button issues: FRIST / VACCINES / WALK
abortion: MINNESOTA
brain injury: GOOD NEWS
catholic crusade: ANALYSIS
congress: FRIST II / FRIST III
euthanasia: BRITAIN / VEGETATIVE STATE
help wanted: AMERICAN LIFE LEAGUE / TEXAS
hormone therapy: RISKS
in vitro fertilization: TWINS
personhood: SCIENCE
politics: INTEGRITY
schiavo: LESSONS
stem cell: ADULT CELLS / UMBILICAL CORD
supreme court: ROBERTS
wisdom: KELLMEYER
zinger: DURBIN
reflection for prayer: WISDOM
hot button issues
FRIST: By endorsing an expansion of human embryonic stem cell research, Sen. Bill Frist offers “a perfect example of the hypocrisy that has slowly infected many in the political arena, even among Republican Party officeholders claiming to be pro-life,” according to ALL’s Judie Brown.
(Reading: “Sen. Bill Frist shows he is not pro-life; sacrifices truth in latest political move,” American Life League news release, 7/29/05)
VACCINES: A spokesman for the Vatican’s Pontifical Academy for the Family has clarified a document sent to Children of God for Life (an American Life League associate group) and inaccurate statements about that document in some news reports. According to Msgr. Jacques Suaudeau, the document “denounces the use of ‘tainted’ vaccines, it asks for alternative vaccines; it invites (the document speak about a ‘duty,’ which is a pretty strong word) parents (and others) to put pressure on government and companies to offer alternative vaccines. The document speaks clearly about ‘conscientious objection.'”
(Reading: “Vatican official clarifies his position regarding vaccine statements to CNS,” Children of God for Life news release, 8/3/05)
WALK: Three teams of volunteer college students have completed pro-life walks in three regions of the United States. Video journals from each of the treks are available online.
(Reading: “American Life League’s young pro-life pilgrims wrap up rewarding summer of sharing the truth,” American Life League news release, 8/4/05)
abortion
MINNESOTA: A new state law requires fetal anesthesia before killing the baby by abortion; the law was a top legislative priority of the National Right to Life Committee affiliate, Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life.
(Reading: “New law requires anesthesia for aborted late-term fetuses,” Associated Press, 8/1/05)
brain injury
GOOD NEWS: Doctors report on the safety and efficacy of hyperbaric oxygenation therapy (HBOT) in the treatment of various forms of brain injury.
(Reading: “Late treatment of severe brain injury with hyperbaric oxygenation,” Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons, 6/05)
catholic crusade
ANALYSIS: Charles M. Wilson writes an engaging article about the role of bishops.
(Reading: “Do we need the right kind of bishops more than we need the right kind of pope?” Christifidelis, 7/11/05)
congress
FRIST II: Sen. Bill Frist has switched his opposition to killing human embryos to supporting the practice. Claiming it is a “matter of science,” he has betrayed the babies. Of interest is that the National Right to Life Committee found it possible to express dismay but to find something nice to say about Frist as well.
(Reading: “First breaks with Bush on stem-cell bill,” Associated Press, 7/29/05; “NRLC statement on Senator Bill Frist’s July 29, 2005 speech on embryonic stem cell research,” National Right to Life Committee news release, 7/29/05)
FRIST III: Commenting on the Frist change in position, Professor Dianne Irving writes, “For Frist to claim in the same breath that he ‘believes’ that human beings begin at conception, yet add immediately that in all conscience he supports killing them for their stem cells, seems to indicate such a ‘pre-embryo substitute’ mentality. Certainly it would explain his contradictory, almost schizophrenic, remarks. That is, for him the early human embryo before 14 days must have a ‘reduced moral status’ in comparison to real people like patients with terrible diseases. These embryos are just human beings, not human persons. Thus they have a ‘reduced moral status.’ Voila! A ‘pre-embryo substitute’! Frist, as with other ‘conservatives’ like him and liberals alike, have hidden behind these ‘pre-embryo substitutes’ long enough.”
(Reading: “‘Conservative’ Senator Frist, the U.S. Senate’s own big ‘pre-embryo substitute,'” Life Issues, 7/29/05)
euthanasia
BRITAIN: An appeals court has ruled that it is legal to starve a terminally ill patient to death. The decision came as Leslie Burke, a terminally ill British citizen, is battling to get the courts to agree that he not be starved to death once he becomes incapacitated. Wesley J, Smith, noted attorney and disability rights activist, comments in his blog, “the Burke decision does demonstrate that the law in the West, under the tutelage of bioethicists, is slowly accepting ‘personhood theory,’ which, in essence, is a two-tiered system for judging human worth. Those with cognitive and communicative capacity enjoy what are commonly called human rights. Those lacking sufficient cognitive capacities or perhaps, those who cannot communicate, are denigrated as non persons (although the law has not yet used that term). As I have described many times in print, many bioethicists believe that human non persons not only have no right to live, but can be used as natural resources, e.g., in medical experiments or organ harvesting.”
(Reading: “Terminally ill can be starved to death, UK court rules,” Cybercast News Service, 8/2/05; “Leslie Burke’s partial victory,” Secondhand Smoke, 7/30/05)
VEGETATIVE STATE: Physician Lawrence Huntoon argues that defining a patient as being in a PVS condition is not wise and points out, for example, that “No one can say exactly how much awareness a patient must display in order to qualify for continued food and water. Is a smile in response to a mother’s kind words sufficient?”
(Reading: “The perilous vegetative state,” Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons, 6/05, pp. 35-36)
help wanted
AMERICAN LIFE LEAGUE: Seeking an assistant media director. Send resume via .
TEXAS: Houston Coalition for Life seeks executive director. Contact via .
hormone therapy
RISKS: The United Nations has added hormone pills to its cancer list because such pills are “possibly carcinogenic.”
COMMENT: Will it add the birth control pill as well?
(Reading: “U.N. adds hormone pills to cancer list,” Associated Press, 7/29/05)
in vitro fertilization
TWINS: A review of various studies exposes the fact that twins conceived through IVF are at an elevated risk of premature birth. In addition, twins are 50% more likely to be admitted to intensive care and 33% more likely to be delivered by C-section.
(Reading: “Perinatal outcomes of in vitro fertilization twins,” American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 7/05)
personhood
SCIENCE: Fritz Baumgartner, M.D. shared the message of when a human being begins in a letter to a friend. It is worth reading.
(Reading: “Life begins at the beginning,” Pro-life America, 4/12/05)
politics
INTEGRITY: Kathy Coll of Pro-life Coalition notes, “Christian policies are not present in our government because Christian voters, and their leaders, fail to insist upon such policies with their votes. It is perfectly legitimate and indeed praiseworthy to reserve one’s vote only for candidates who understand that slaughtering babies is always morally and legally wrong. Only in this way is it possible to reestablish integrity in government.”
(Reading: “How to vote,” EWTN Forum, 6/30/04)
schiavo
LESSONS: Professor Madeleine Cosman analyzes the problem with using the law to dismiss human beings deemed unworthy of life.
(Reading: “Frogs, crabs and the culture of death: Lessons from the Schiavo case,” Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons, 6/05)
stem cell
ADULT CELLS: Scientists at Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh have discovered that adult, or post-natal, stem cells have the same ability as embryonic stem cells to multiply. This was previously an unknown characteristic of such cells.
(Reading: “Breakthrough study at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh,” Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh news release, 8/05)
UMBILICAL CORD: Rome’s Gemelli Polyclinic is treating patients with acute leukemia, thalassemia, lymphomas and congenital-immune deficiencies and the results are of great interest. A certain number of such patients are being cured.
(Reading: “Umbilical cord cells are curing patients,” Zenit News Agency, 7/27/05)
supreme court
ROBERTS: Judge John Roberts completed a questionnaire for members of the U.S. Senate, leading some reporters to the conclusion that he will respect “settled law.”
(Reading: “Roberts says he’ll respect settled law,” Associated Press, 8/2/05)
wisdom
KELLMEYER: Steve Kellmeyer observes, “It would be as absurd to say Michelangelo is only an artist while he uses his brush as it is to say a child is only a person if he has a fully-developed brain.”
(Reading: “Knowing the anencephalic God,” Bridegroom Press, 8/31/04)
zinger
DURBIN: Allegedly Catholic Sen. Dick Durbin says he used to be pro-life until he arrived in Washington and found out that some pro-lifers oppose family planning. He also found it hard to support the Catholic position that no abortion means not even in the case of rape and incest.
(Reading: “Durbin evolution on decency,” Washington Times, 7/30/05)
reflection for prayer
HUMILITY: It leads us to recognize our inferiority, our littleness and indigence [destitution] before God.
(Reading: In conversation with God, Vol. 4, p. 311)