in this issue:
hot button issues: ROCK FOR LIFE
abortion: INDIANA
catholic politicians: FOLLOW-UP
dissent: BELGIUM
euthanasia: SCHIAVO
fetal tissue: GEORGETOWN
morning-after abortion pill: CONGRESS / VIRGINIA
planned parenthood: ARIZONA / TEXAS
selective reduction: MICHIGAN
stem cell research: NEW JERSEY
reflection for prayer: PSALM 40:12-13
hot button issues
ROCK FOR LIFE: American Life League’s youth outreach is planning a pro-life activism workshop next week in Washington, D.C. Participants will get an introduction to pro-life philosophy and activities, and will be able to take part in the annual March for Life. For details, contact .
(Reading: “Training and activism week,” American Life League / Rock for Life)
abortion
INDIANA: State Sen. Mike Young (R-Indianapolis) has filed a bill that would require abortionists to offer women an opportunity to view an ultrasound image or listen to the baby’s heartbeat before proceeding with an abortion. A regional Planned Parenthood spokesman called the bill “a backdoor way to intimidate pregnant women into not having abortions.”
(Reading: “Abortion bill to be introduced again,” The [Johnson Co., Ind.] Daily Journal, 1/6/04)
catholic politicians
FOLLOW-UP: The St. Louis Post-Dispatch interviewed a number of local Catholic political figures, as speculation builds about what Bishop Raymond Burke will do when he takes over as leader of the archdiocese of St. Louis later this month. Bishop Burke issued an order in his present diocese (La Crosse, Wis.) that tells pro-abortion Catholic elected officials they may not receive Holy Communion.
(Reading: “New archbishop’s stance makes some Catholic politicians uneasy,” St. Louis Post Dispatch, 1/12/04)
dissent
BELGIUM: Cardinal Godfried Danneels told a Dutch broadcaster that in certain circumstances, condoms should be used to prevent the spread of AIDS. A British report concerning that interview correctly notes that the “Catholic church teaches that abstinence, including between married couples, is the only morally acceptable way to prevent the spread of AIDS.”
(Reading: “Cardinal backs use of condoms,” The Guardian, 1/13/04)
euthanasia
SCHIAVO: In an interview with Ron Panzer of the Hospice Patients Alliance, Dr. William Hammesfahr spoke about his first-hand knowledge of the Terri Schiavo case in Florida. Among other things, Panzer notes, “Dr. Hammesfahr stated that there are notes in the medical record by nurses who were not working at the time they stated they were caring for Terri. Also, Dr. Hammesfahr stated that parts of the medical record were completely missing.”
(Reading: “Startling details about Terri Schindler Schiavo revealed,” Hospice Patients Alliance newsletter, 1/8/04)
fetal tissue
GEORGETOWN: LifeSiteNews reports that Cardinal Theodore McCarrick has responded favorably to a concern brought to his attention last fall by Debi Vinnedge of Children of God for Life. She wrote him with information that Georgetown University in Washington was doing research with aborted fetal cell lines. The objectionable lines have now been removed. Cardinal McCarrick wrote to say that “Georgetown Medical Center’s Tissue Culture Bank is now well aware of the moral problems concerning use of certain cell lines and research involving tissue culture.”
(Reading: “Washington cardinal ends Catholic university’s use of aborted fetal cell lines,” LifeSiteNews.com, 1/6/04)
morning-after abortion pill
CONGRESS: A letter to President Bush, signed by 49 members of Congress, asks the president to refuse to allow the morning-after abortion pill from being sold without a doctor’s prescription. A Food and Drug Administration advisory committee has recommended over-the-counter status for the pills. Rep. Dave Weldon (R-Fla.) says he could have found many more members to sign on, but Congress is currently not in session.
(Reading: “Congressmen warn of morning-after pill dangers,” Family News in Focus, 1/13/04)
VIRGINIA: The student health center at James Madison University will once again distribute morning-after pills. The school’s board of visitors, including five new members recently appointed by Gov. Mark Warner (D-Va.), voted to reverse the previous board’s decision to stop providing the pills to students.
(Reading: “Va. school restores ‘morning after’ pill,” Associated Press, 1/9/04)
planned parenthood
ARIZONA: A Planned Parenthood office in Sierra Vista has to find a new location. After 20 years in a local storefront, the facility’s landlord has declined to renew its lease. The decision comes three months after Planned Parenthood began offering Mifeprex (RU-486) abortions
(Reading: “Planned Parenthood clinic in Sierra Vista forced to move,” Tucson Citizen, 1/6/04)
TEXAS: Concrete supplier Chris Danze reports work has resumed at a Planned Parenthood abortion facility construction site in Austin. Danze had organized a contractors’ boycott of the project, resulting in a suspension of work. Danze is now asking for prayers and encouragement for a contractor who’s being pressured into returning to the jobsite. In a CNN interview, it was suggested that Danze is playing hardball by hitting Planned Parenthood and its contractors in the wallet. Danze responded, ” When they go into an abortion chamber and rip the arms and legs and tear the head off these little boys and girls that’s hardball, if you want to talk about hardball. That’s hardball.”
(Reading: “Boycott: Breaking news,” Chris Danze newsletter, 1/13/04; CNN Newsnight Aaron Brown, 1/8/04; Boycott Planned Parenthood)
selective reduction
MICHIGAN: The first of six babies being carried by a Hamilton woman was born on Jan. 7. The mother, Amy Van Houten, took fertility drugs. But she and her husband Ben refused to abort any of the children despite being advised that such a procedure would increase the chance of survival of the remaining babies.
(Reading: “First sextuplet is born, siblings remain in womb,” Associated Press, 1/9/04)
stem cell research
NEW JERSEY: In opposing a bill signed into law by Gov. James McGreevey, Bishop Paul Bootkoski of Metuchen writes: “The use of adult stem cells is morally acceptable, and is proving to be very successful. The same is not true for embryonic stem cells, which can only be derived by killing a living human embryo. Equally abhorrent, this bill would also allow for the cloning of human life using somatic nuclear transplantation. The bottom line is that this bill desecrates the sanctity of human life and is morally wrong.”
(Reading: “Stem cell research bill poses dire consequences,” Diocese of Metuchen, 1/2/04)
reflection for prayer
PSALM 40:12-13: Lord, do not withhold your compassion from me; may your enduring kindness ever preserve me. For all about me are evils beyond count.