in this issue:
hot button issues: ALL’S NATIONAL PRO-LIFE T-SHIRT DAY / ROCK FOR LIFE / TERRI SCHIAVO
catholic bishops: ARINZE
condoms: TRUTH SHORTAGE?
dark side: REPEATING THE LIE
ethical stem cell research: UMBILICAL CORD BLOOD
fetal tissue: VACCINE
morning-after abortion pill: RAPE VICTIMS
organ transplants: THE POPE SPEAKS
personhood: FROZEN EMBRYOS / HUMAN CLONING
planned parenthood: WASHINGTON, D.C.
reminder: RIGHT TO LIFE ACT OF 2005
reflection for prayer: PSALM 51:14-15
hot button issues
ALL’S NATIONAL PRO-LIFE T-SHIRT DAY: American Life League’s third annual National Pro-life T-shirt Day is April 26. All pro-life Americans, especially students, are encouraged to wear pro-life apparel that day to show support for the preborn. The official shirt of ALL’s National Pro-life T-shirt Day is available online. The cost is $5 plus shipping and handling.
ROCK FOR LIFE: A video review of January’s youth activism conference hosted by American Life League’s Rock for Life is available online.
TERRI SCHIAVO: American Life League’s Leslie Tignor provides commentary on the latest chapter in the story of Terri Schiavo, the disabled Florida woman whose estranged husband is fighting for the right to remove the feeding tube that keeps her alive.
(Reading: “Terri Schiavo’s imminent murder by dehydration and starvation,” Washington Dispatch, 2/1/05)
catholic bishops
ARINZE: Cardinal Francis Arinze of the Congregation for Divine Worship said it was proper to deny Holy Communion to members of a homosexual advocacy group: “Rainbow Sash wearers are showing their opposition to church teaching on a major issue of natural law and so disqualify themselves from being given Holy Communion.”
(Reading: “Vatican official says sash wearers disqualified from Communion,” Catholic News Service, 2/4/05)
condoms
TRUTH SHORTAGE? A new study says one percent of all deaths in the United States are caused by sexual behavior. Dr. Shahul Ebrahim, senior scientist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta and lead author of the study, said condom use would help curtail the number of these deaths.
COMMENT: Dianne N. Irving, Ph.D., notes: If HIV is a virus, and if viruses (and even some bacteria and other microorganisms causing a myriad of STDs) are so small that they can slip through the walls of a condom, and if condoms are often old, dried up and cracked (or misused), then wouldn’t the use of condoms increase the death rate?
(Reading: “One in 100 U.S. deaths is related to sexual behaviour,” British Medical Journal, 2/5/05; e-mail from Dianne N. Irving, Ph.D.)
dark side
REPEATING THE LIE: NARAL is again calling abstinence-only programs “unproven” and “risky” (see Communique, 9/17/04).
COMMENT: The question also begs repeating: What’s so risky about advising teens to reject behavior that can lead to disease or out-of-wedlock pregnancy?
(Reading: “President Bush cancels scores of health programs, but diverts taxpayer funds to more unproven, risky abstinence-only programs,” NARAL news release, 2/8/05)
ethical stem cell research
UMBILICAL CORD BLOOD: Another success story is being reported regarding umbilical cord stem cells. A child’s eyesight and speech were restored following treatment.
(Reading: “Child with cerebral palsy who could not see or speak does both following umbilical cord stem cell therapy,” Steenblock Research Institute news release, 2/8/05)
fetal tissue
VACCINE: Children of God for Life, an American Life League associate group, is gaining attention with its consumer warning over Vaxin’s plans to develop a new flu vaccine using tissues from aborted babies (see Communique, 2/4/05). Debi Vinnedge of Children of God for Life is asking pro-lifers to contact the company and voice their objections to the new vaccine, and to send her organization a copy of any correspondence with Vaxin.
(Contact: Francis R. Cano, Ph.D., CEO, ., 500 Beacon Parkway West, Birmingham, AL 35209-3108; phone: 205-943-8740; fax: 205-943-8565; copies to , 943 Deville Drive E., Largo, FL 33771-1122; phone: 727-584-3332; fax: 727-530-7564)
(Reading: “Consumer warning: New flu vaccine from Vaxin to use aborted fetal cell lines,” Children of God for Life news release, 2/3/05)
morning-after abortion pill
RAPE VICTIMS: Pro-abortion groups, including the anti-church group Catholics for a Free Choice, are asking the Justice Department’s Office on Violence Against Women to promote the morning-after abortion pill for rape victims. Vida Humana Internacional reports some of the petition’s signers work in Latin America, promoting the morning-after abortion pill in countries where abortion is illegal.
(Reading: Letter to Diane M. Stuart, Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, 1/6/05; “U.S. organizations and foundations launch anti-life attacks on Hispanic countries,” Vida Humana Internacional, 1/05)
organ transplants
THE POPE SPEAKS: Pope John Paul II has written on a topic of “particular complexity and importance: that of the ‘signs of death,’ in the context of the practice of transplanting organs from deceased persons.”
(Reading: “Letter of John Paul II to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences,” Libraria Editrice Vaticana, 2/1/05)
personhood
FROZEN EMBRYOS: An Illinois judge has ruled that parents of a frozen human embryo that was accidentally discarded have the right to file a wrongful death lawsuit against the in vitro fertilization lab that was responsible. In ruling that the embryo was a human being, Judge Jeffrey Lawrence wrote, “Philosophers and theologians may debate, but there is no doubt in the mind of the Illinois legislature when life begins. It begins at conception.”
(Reading: “Destroyed embryo deemed human,” Chicago Sun Times, 2/5/05)
HUMAN CLONING: Dianne N. Irving, Ph.D., has published a commentary that refutes the contention that human embryos formed through cloning techniques such as somatic cell nuclear transfer are not human persons.
(Reading: “Comment: You don’t need a sperm!” Life Issues, 2/3/05)
planned parenthood
WASHINGTON: A tidbit from the web log of Jatrice Martel Gaiter, CEO of Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan Washington, in which she describes keeping her Washington, D.C. facility open despite protests outside from American Life League’s Rock for Life and other pro-lifers: “One of our friends from Catholics for a Free Choice brought us flowers and a special tee shirt for me since I am Catholic.” The blog also features photos of some of the Rock for Life youth team.
(Reading: “A few choice words,” Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan Washington, 1/22/05)
reminder
RIGHT TO LIFE ACT OF 2005: This bill (which will be identical to the previous version) states, “The terms ‘human person’ and ‘human being’ include each and every member of the species homo sapiens at all stages of life, including, but not limited to, the moment of fertilization, cloning, or other moment at which an individual member of the human species comes into being.”
COMMENT: Is your member of Congress a co-sponsor? He or she should be. Ask!
reflection for prayer
PSALM 51:14-15: Restore my joy in your salvation; sustain in me a willing spirit. I will teach the wicked your ways, that sinners may return to you.