in this issue:
hot button issue: CRUSADE WALK
abortion: POST ABORTION COUNSELING?
birth control: SPRAY / TEENS
catholic bishops: CHAPUT / GEORGE
catholic commentary: HLI
euthanasia: ESCAPE HATCH
good news: FR. GROESCHEL
lifelines: THOUGHT
morning-after abortion pills: NORTH CAROLINA / SURGICAL ABORTION / TEENS
pharmacists: PRO-LIFE WEB SITES
politics: HLI / MICHAEL PEROUTKA
preimplantation genetic diagnosis: CONCEIVE TO DONATE
stem cell research: ADULT STEM CELL / BUSH ADMINISTRATION
reflection for prayer: 1 CORINTHIANS 11:29
hot button issue
CRUSADE WALK: This weekend, twelve college students begin a 1300-mile trek from Maine to D.C. on behalf of American Life League’s Crusade for the Defense of Our Catholic Church. They’ll be walking through the northeastern states, sacrificing most of their summer break to help spread the message that you can’t be Catholic and pro-abortion. Learn more about the walk and the walkers online.
(Reading: “American Life League launches Crusade walk across Northeastern U.S.,” American Life League news release, 5/28/04)
abortion
POST ABORTION COUNSELING? Research in Baltimore over an 18 month period revealed that of 109 women who had abortions in a clinic, most were accompanied by a “male partner.” The study suggests that because these men supported the abortion, a rationale exists for giving such couples contraceptive counseling immediately after the abortion.
(Reading: “Are partners available for post-abortion contraceptive counseling?” Contraception, 69 (2004) 419-423.)
birth control
SPRAY: Acrux and the Population Council are set to develop and test a transdermal spray of contraceptive formulations of Neserone, a fourth-generation progestin. Progestin is known to act in several ways, including disturbing the lining of the uterus which results in the death of the human embryo.
(Reading: “Acrux and Population Council to develop transdermal spray contraceptive,” Drug Delivery Insight)
(Background: “Progestin-only oral contraceptives: An update,” The Contraception Report, 9/99)
TEENS: Arguments are now being made that direct provision of birth control pills at school-based clinics may be an effective way getting these drugs to young women.
(Reading: “Break down teen barriers with direct provision,” Contraceptive Technology Update, 4/04)
catholic bishops
CHAPUT: Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver wrote, “Claiming to be Catholic and then rejecting Catholic teaching is an act of dishonesty and a lack of personal integrity. Worse, if we then receive Communion, we violate every Catholic who does believe and does strive to live the faith fully and unselfishly. And that compounds a sin against honesty with a sin against justice and charity. Again, as Justin Martyr said: ‘No one may take part (in the Eucharist) unless he believes what we teach is true.'”
(Reading: “It’s a matter of honesty: to receive Communion, we need to be in communion,” Denver Catholic Register, 5/26/04)
GEORGE: The Chicago Sun-Times reports “Gay Catholics who plan to identify themselves by wearing a rainbow sash in church Sunday should be denied communion, according to a memo Cardinal Francis George has written to all pastors in the Archdiocese of Chicago.”
COMMENT: The cardinal would not deny Communion to pro-abortion politicians.
(Reading: “Cardinal says no communion for gay protesters,” Chicago Sun-Times, 5/25/04; “Chicago cardinal would not withhold Eucharist,” Catholic World News, 4/9/04)
catholic commentary
HLI: Human Life International’s Fr. Thomas Euteneuer writes: “The recent statement by 48 hypocrites of the U.S. Congress criticizing the U.S. Catholic bishops for actually being Catholic deserves our withering contempt. In fact, they merit an all-out prophetic rebuke. Are the lost sheep to lecture the shepherds on how to pasture a flock?”
(Reading: “HLI president’s statement on scandal in the Catholic Church,” HLI news release, 5/24/04)
euthanasia
ESCAPE HATCH: Dr. Timothy Quill, who first wrote 13 years ago about how he helped a patient die, is now recommending that patients need to know they have “last-resort options” if they fear “being trapped in a life filled with suffering without the prospect of a timely escape.” Among those options he recommends sedation to unconsciousness, voluntary stopping of eating and drinking and physician-assisted suicide.
(Reading: “Dying and decision-making — evolution of end-of-life options,” New England Journal of Medicine, 5/13/04, pp 2029-2032; “It’s Over Debbie,” 1990; Amicus Brief, Vacco v. Quill, American Life League, 1996)
good news
FR. GROESCHEL: Fr. Benedict Groeschel is doing well and continues to improve. You can read his daily Internet meditations online.
lifelines
THOUGHT: When praying, don’t give God instructions — just report for duty.
morning-after abortion pills
NORTH CAROLINA: A telephone prescription service “was successful in providing prompt access to ECPs [emergency contraceptive pills] to women throughout the state…. Callers preferred to obtain ECPs from local pharmacies rather than from Planned Parenthood health centers, despite higher prices at pharmacies.”
(Reading: “The North Carolina DIAL EC project: increasing access to emergency contraceptive pills by telephone,” Contraception, 69 (2004) 367-372.)
SURGICAL ABORTION: A study in Lothian, Scotland reveals that the wide spread distribution of morning after pills through health services “may not be an effective way to reduce the incidence of unintended pregnancy.” The abortion rates remained constant.
(Reading: “Advanced provision of emergency contraception does not reduce abortion rates,” Contraception, 69 (2004) 361-366)
TEENS: Proponents of morning-after abortion pills argue that teens may have unique problems accessing the pills. They point out that “while two-thirds of women ages 18-44 surveyed said they were aware that a woman can prevent pregnancy in the few days following sexual intercourse, only 6% of them reported using EC.”
COMMENT: Their definition of pregnancy is seven days later than the true beginning.
(Reading: “Teens face obstacles when obtaining EC,” Contraceptive Technology Update, 4/04)
pharmacists
PRO-LIFE WEB SITES: Pharmacists for Life International; David’s Pharmacy; Lloyds Remedies; and to have your pro-life pharmacy listed, see the Pharmacists for Life International web site.
politics
MICHAEL PEROUTKA: “As president, I would do everything in my power to end the national disgrace of abortion starting with a formal acknowledgement of the legal personhood of every child from the moment of conception. I would appoint U. S. Attorneys — by recess appointment if necessary — who will enforce the Fifth Amendment requirement that no person be deprived of life without due process of law.”
(Reading: “An abortion free American by January, 2005,” Peroutka 2004, 5/14/04)
preimplantation genetic diagnosis
CONCEIVE TO DONATE: Bioethicist Norman Fost points out that the use of preimplantation genetic diagnosis for the presence of human leukocyte antigen which can be taken from cord blood to treat an ailing sibling “may hinge less on debate about ethical principles than on the evolving evidence of safety and efficacy.”
COMMENT: No surprise when embryonic human beings are treated like products rather than persons.
(Reading: “Conception for donation,” Journal of the American Medical Association, 5/4/04, pp. 2125-2126)
(Background: “Pre-implantation genetic diagnosis,” American Life League, 2002)
stem cell
ADULT STEM CELL: Canadian scientists found that adult stem cells have the ability to turn into certain types of tissue such as muscle tissue.
(Reading: “Ottawa research team finds muscle-generating gene for adult stem cells,” LifeSiteNews, 5/12/04)
BUSH ADMINISTRATION: National Institutes of Health Director Elias Zerhouni has written a letter providing some with encouragement that perhaps the Bush Administration may permit the private sector to provide more human embryonic stem cells to researchers. In the letter, Zerhouni says “it is essential for the U.S to maintain its scientific and technological leadership. … Many of the major advances in hESC research are emerging from research laboratories in this country.” Proponents of the research find the letter “encouraging.”
(Reading: “U.S. stem cell rules loosening?” The Scientist, 5/20/04; Zerhouni letter, Dept. of Health and Human Services, 5/14/04)
reflection for prayer
1 CORINTHIANS 11:29: Whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will have to answer for the body and blood of the Lord. A person should examine himself, and so eat the bread and drink the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself.