in this issue:
hot button issues: PUBLIC HEALTH WORKERS / WASHINGTON DISPATCH
activism: DECEMBER 14 / DEFIANT BIRTH
birth control: THE PILL AND ANTI-DEPRESSANTS
catholic bishops: HERO / MIRACLE / POPE JOHN PAUL II
eugenics: MENTAL RETARDATION AND REPRODUCTIVE FREEDOM
morning-after abortion pill: ABORTS / NEW MEXICO / NEW YORK / WISCONSIN
partial-birth abortion: I SEE DEAD PEOPLE
politics: 100% PRO-LIFE PAC
targeting: DOWN SYDROME BABIES
terri schiavo: MASSIVE CONFUSION RE: CATHOLIC CHURCH TEACHING
reflection for prayer: ST. CAJETAN
hot button issues
PUBLIC HEALTH WORKERS: American Life League will present attendees at next week’s American Public Health Association expo in San Francisco with two pro-life messages. One message is directed at Catholics in the health care business regarding their rights and responsibilities. The other message is directed at health care workers involved in abortion.
(Reading: “Catholics in health care industry have rights and responsibilities, too,” American Life League news release, 11/13/03; “ALL to public health care workers: Abortion is not health care,” American Life League news release, 11/13/03)
WASHINGTON DISPATCH: American Life League provides weekly commentaries for the online Washington Dispatch. The two most recent columns concern this week’s meeting of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
(Reading: “The emperor has clothes; unfortunately, it’s a seamless garment,” Washington Dispatch, 11/7/03; “Catholic bishops face ultimate challenge,” Washington Dispatch, 11/14/03)
activism
DECEMBER 14: The annual Prayer for Life day, dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe, will occur this year on December 14 (the Sunday closest to the feast day). For details please visit Our Lady of Guadalupe Mission.
DEFIANT BIRTH: Melinda Tankard Reist is working with another writer on a new book dealing with difficult pregnancies and the heroic women who continue to carry their babies despite difficulties. She is asking for first-hand accounts. Please contact directly by e-mail. The book will give a voice to women who have defied medical advice and had their babies; it will expose the strengths and weaknesses of medical advice these women received. Please help if you can.
birth control
THE PILL AND ANTI-DEPRESSANTS: A very interesting observation by Dr. Edwin Leap can be reviewed online. He notes, “Broken hearts can cause depressed minds. And that, I suspect, is one of the major reasons why so many women take anti-depressants along with their birth-control pills.”
(Reading: “Contraceptives and anti-depressants,” Physician Magazine, 11-12/03)
catholic bishops
HERO: Bishop Robert Vasa has spoken out publicly in defense of Terri Schiavo’s right to live.
COMMENT: You are invited to e-mail Bishop Vasa a note of gratitude for his awesome words via the “>Chancellor of the Baker (Oregon) Diocese.
(Reading: “In the matter of Terri Schiavo,” Most Rev. Robert Vasa, 11/7/03)
MIRACLE: The United States Catholic Conference of Bishops decided, during their annual meeting in Washington, D.C., to establish a committee to examine what kind of punishment can be meted out to those “Catholic” politicians who are pro-abortion.
(Reading: “Bishops debate punishing pro-abortion politicians,” Associated Press, 11/10/03)
POPE JOHN PAUL II: “As bishops you have to teach that freedom of conscience is never freedom from the truth but always and only freedom in the truth…. When the Church teaches, for example, that abortion, sterilization or euthanasia are always morally inadmissible, she is giving expression to the universal moral law inscribed on the human heart, and is therefore teaching something which is binding on everyone’s conscience. Her absolute prohibition that such procedures be carried out in Catholic health-care facilities is simply an act of fidelity to God’s law.”
(Reading: “Consciences must be formed to discern the objective moral law,” Pope John Paul II ad limina address, 6/27/98)
eugenics
MENTAL RETARDATION AND REPRODUCTIVE FREEDOM: According to a commentator in Medical Ethics Advisor, many care-givers and parents of the disabled seek sterilization because they honestly believe the affected person will have a better life, free of menstrual periods, anxiety, and pregnancy. But he is reported to believe that “a desire for sterilization still indicates on some level that people are less inclined to consider the rights of persons with mental retardation on par with those of other people.”
(Reading: “Mental retardation and reproductive freedom,” Medical Ethics Advisor, 11/03, pp. 126-129)
morning-after abortion pill
ABORTS: Carolyn Westoff, MD, apologist for abortion, claims that “about 3 million unintended pregnancies occur” annually in the United States. Her solution is wider use of the morning after pill regimen, which she clearly defines as abortive. She writes, “The mechanism of action of emergency contraception [sic] is incompletely understood. It does not interfere with an established, postimplantation pregnancy. The use of emergency contraception can delay ovulation and decrease the probability of fertilization after ovulation; at least some of its effect appears to occur after ovulation.”
COMMENT: Note her description of “established, postimplantation pregnancy,” thus dismissing all preborn babies during their pre-implantation life as simply non-existent. How convenient for the propaganda machine.
(Reading: “Emergency Contraception,” New England Journal of Medicine, 11/6/03, pp. 1830-1835)
NEW MEXICO: Researchers studied the situation in Albuquerque pharmacies relating to the ready availability of morning after abortion pills. Of the 89 pharmacies visited, 19 had the pills on hand; 53% of those with it stated they could get the pills within 24 hours. Pharmacists explained that they do not stock the pills because prescriptions are so rare. The researchers conclude that more “education” is needed.
(Reading: “Emergency contraception: pharmacy access in Albuquerque, New Mexico,” Obstetrics and Gynecology, 102:5-1:918-921)
NEW YORK: New York State Comptroller Alan Hevesi claims he can save the state millions of dollars by making the abortive pills widely available. He claims “reproductive rights are under siege” and that “EC has averted over 100,000 unintended pregnancies in 2000.”
(Reading: “Improved access to emergency contraception could prevent unwanted pregnancies and abortions and save New York $450 million annually,” Alan Hevesi news release, 11/6/03)
WISCONSIN: Pro-Life Wisconsin has challenged Wisconsin Attorney General Lautenschlager’s efforts to force employers into covering the regimen of pills that is known to cause abortion.
(Reading: “Forcing contraceptive coverage is bad public policy,” Pro-Life Wisconsin news release, 11/11/03)
partial-birth abortion
I SEE DEAD PEOPLE: Pro-life activist Paul deParrie has written a chilling commentary.
(Reading: “I see dead people,” Covenant News, 11/10/03)
politics
100% PRO-LIFE PAC: The Pro-Life PAC of Pennsylvania has a splendid presentation of why being totally against the direct slaughter of the preborn is an asset for any candidate. Visit the web site and read about “Pro-life Rita.”
targeting
DOWN SYNDROME BABIES: Researchers claim that studies are being done on the use of new sonographic and serum screening markers during the first trimester. They report: “The number of fetuses with Down syndrome still alive during the second trimester will be significantly reduced because many such fetuses will have already been diagnosed in the first trimester.”
(Reading: “First-trimester sonographic screening for Down Syndrome,” Obstetrics and Gynecology, 102:5-1:1066-1079)
terri schiavo
MASSIVE CONFUSION RE: CATHOLIC CHURCH TEACHING: Prof. Dianne Irving has analyzed the problems average Catholics face because of colossal misrepresentations created by theologians who do not represent the Church accurately.
(Reading: “Massive confusion re: church teachings on euthanasia by pastors,” Dianne N. Irving, Ph.D., 11/6/03)
reflection for prayer
ST. CAJETAN: I am a sinner and do not think much of myself; I have recourse to the greatest servants of the Lord, that they may pray for you to the blessed Christ and his Mother. But do not forget that all the saints cannot endear you to Christ as much as you can yourself. It is entirely up to you. If you want Christ to love you and help you, you must love him and always make an effort to please him. Do not waver in your purpose, because even if all the saints and every single creature should abandon you, he will always be near you, what ever your needs.
(Reading: Letter by Saint Cajetan, Liturgy of the Hours)