in this issue:
hot button issues: 3 MILLION ABORTED / CAMPUS FOR LIFE / RACHEL’S VINEYARD
abortion/breast cancer: SOFT-PEDALING
birth control pill: REACTIONS WITH OTHER DRUGS
catholic colleges: CONTROL / GRADUATION WATCH
cloning human beings: BUSH WATCH / GET IT RIGHT
morning-after abortion pill: NARAL / OVER THE COUNTER
philanthropy: BILL GATES I / BILL GATES II
practitioners: GEORGIA
reflection for prayer: JOHN 15:16-17
hot button issues
3 MILLION ABORTED: That’s the total number of abortions Planned Parenthood performed between 1977-2001. ALL’s STOPP International gleaned the figures from Planned Parenthood’s own annual reports. Those abortions netted an income of almost $900 million. Other facts and figures are contained in a special edition of STOPP’s Ryan Report.
(Reading: “Ryan Report Special Edition 2003: 26 years of Planned Parenthood abuses,” STOPP International news release, 5/19/03)
CAMPUS FOR LIFE: The Washington Post profiled American Life League’s plans to build a Campus for Life south of Washington, D.C. While pro-abortion leaders were quoted, the article allowed ALL to state the needs for a comprehensive center to advance pro-life education.
(Reading: “Antiabortion group plans ‘campus,'” Washington Post, 5/18/03, p. C9)
RACHEL’S VINEYARD: Leadership training sessions for those involved in post-abortion ministry are scheduled this summer, with programs offered in Oklahoma City and in Palm Beach, Fla. ALL’s Rachel’s Vineyard coordinates retreats for healing after abortion in 45 states and around the world.
(Reading: “Training and Education,” Rachel’s Vineyard)
abortion/breast cancer
SOFT-PEDALING: British researchers are downplaying a new study that highlights increased risk of breast cancer among women who are on the pill. One said the findings should not “overthrow current thinking.”
(Reading: “Fears over breast cancer link to pill are played down,” The [London] Telegraph, 5/19/03)
birth control pill
REACTIONS WITH OTHER DRUGS: Consultant pharmacist John Wilks has developed a brief outline describing the interaction between birth control pills and common antibiotic and antifungal therapy. Some of these medications interfere with the actions of the pill, a fact that is occasionally overlooked.
(Reading: “Interactions between the birth control pill and antibiotic or antifungal therapy: a brief literature review,” John Wilks, BPharm, MPS, MAACP, 5/13/03)
catholic colleges
CONTROL: Last week, Communique reported that Mount St. Mary’s College in Los Angeles sponsored two pro-abortion speakers. The Los Angeles Times quoted a spokesman for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, who said the independent Catholic school was not under Cardinal Roger Mahony’s control. But attorney Richard F. Collier, Jr., takes issue with that statement, based on his reading of Vatican documents:
“The statement from the Archdiocese is an outright falsehood. As Section 116 of Veritatis Splendor clearly states, Cardinal Mahony has a ‘personal obligation’ with respect to ALL ‘Catholic’ institutions within his diocese, including ‘Catholic’ universities. In particular, he has a ‘personal obligation’ to grant such institutions the right to call themselves ‘Catholic,’ and, more importantly, ‘in cases of a serious failure to live up to that title, to take it away.’ We cannot let Cardinal Mahony or any other prince of the Church get away with misleading Catholics and the public with false statements denying ‘control’ over Catholic universities. The Cardinal may lack the power to control the college’s decision to provide a forum for pro-abort celebrities, but he definitely has the power to revoke the college’s right to hold itself out as ‘Catholic.’ When are we going to see the bishops fulfill their ‘personal obligation’ to rebuke abuses instead of making excuses?”
(Reading: Letter to Judie Brown from Richard F. Collier, Jr., 5/20/03)
GRADUATION WATCH: American Life League has teamed up with the Cardinal Newman Society to track Catholic college commencements this spring. The society has published an overview listing the schools that have sponsored pro-abortion speakers.
(Reading: “Catholic colleges invite scandalous commencement speakers,” Cardinal Newman Society release, 5/7/03)
cloning human beings
BUSH WATCH: From the Republican National Coalition for Life: “President Bush should issue an executive order banning the cloning of human beings and banning all experimentation involving the killing of human embryos. Following that, the White House should send to Congress legislation that would ensure legal protection of the tiniest of humans, put the full weight of the Bush administration behind it, and garner the votes for passage.”
CONTACT: “>President George W. Bush: Phone: 202-456-1414; Fax: 202-456-2461.
(Reading: “President Bush, where are you?” Republican National Coalition for Life FaxNotes, 5/15/03)
GET IT RIGHT: Confusion abounds with regard to exactly what it means when legislators or groups claim they are going to ban human cloning. The fact that a particular piece of legislation purports to ban somatic cell nuclear transfer does not mean that the bill bans human cloning; in fact the bill may not even ban the form of human cloning it purports to address. For example, the Brownback/Weldon bill does not define somatic cell nuclear transfer properly, and thus does not ban this technique in the first place. In addition, human cloning may be done in a variety of ways, including parthenogenesis and embryo splitting (blastomere separation, blastocyst splitting or fission, also referred to as embryo multiplication).
COMMENT: Until such proposals address all the facts, employ accurate scientific definitions and deal with every method possible where human cloning is involved, they are unworthy of support. American Life League urges President Bush to ban all forms of human cloning if he follows the wise guidance of the Republication National Coalition for Life (see above). We also urge lawmakers in Wisconsin, on Capitol Hill and elsewhere to amend their current legislative proposals so that all forms of human cloning are banned. Anything else is nothing more fake science masquerading as the real thing.
BACKGROUND: For accurate definitions of the language that must be used in such a ban, see two items by Dianne N. Irving, MA, PhD: University Faculty for Life letter on the Brownback/Weldon bill, 5/27/01; and “Cloning: When Word Games Kill.”
morning-after abortion pill
NARAL: A pro-abortion action note takes a Virginia legislator to task for trying to keep so-called emergency contraception off the state’s college campuses. Delegate Robert Marshall (R-Manassas) received a favorable response from James Madison University. NARAL is telling its supporters, “Anti-choice leaders will stop at nothing to limit women’s access to all reproductive health options, including contraception. This latest tactic demonstrates how they are deliberately trying to confuse EC with abortion.”
COMMENT: There is no confusion. “Emergency contraception” IS abortion.
(Reading: “Anti-choice Va. lawmaker working to ban contraception on college campuses,” NARAL action note, 5/15/03)
OVER THE COUNTER: The American Pharmaceutical Association, in a letter to the FDA, notes that in its opinion, “pharmacists can very effectively manage the provision of emergency contraception services working with physicians under a collaborative practice protocol.” That is to say, the APhA has no objection to offering these pills without requiring a prescription.
CONTACT: The FDA needs to hear from pro-life people regarding the abortifacient nature of so-called emergency contraception. Write to Dockets Management Branch (HFA-305), Food and Drug Administration, 5630 Fishers Lane, Room 1061, Rockville, MD 20852. You can also . Reference Docket 01P-0075 (“Switch Status of Emergency Contraceptives from Rx to OTC”).
BACKGROUND: See “What part of ’emergency contraception’ is not abortion?” American Life League.
(Reading: Letter to FDA from John A. Gans, executive vice president of the American Pharmaceutical Association, 2/14/01)
philanthropy
BILL GATES I: After donating untold millions to population control programs, the Gates Foundation is now contributing $10 million to Catholic education. The network of Christo Rey high schools, run by Jesuits, has succeeding in raising graduation rates in urban neighborhoods and building partnerships with local businesses to help fund operations.
(Reading: “Charities pledge $19 million to Jesuit model schools,” New York Times, 5/21/03)
BILL GATES II: In an interview with PBS host Bill Moyers, Gates noted the reasons he became interested in so-called reproductive issues: “When I was growing up, my parents were always involved in various volunteer things. My dad was head of Planned Parenthood. And it was very controversial to be involved with that. And so it’s fascinating.”
(Reading: “Now with Bill Moyers,” PBS, 5/9/03)
practitioners
GEORGIA: The state has revoked Charles Rossmann’s medical license. The Valdosta obstetrician is accused of performing an illegal abortion on a 23-year-old woman who was 30 weeks pregnant. Under Georgia law, third trimester abortions must be done in hospitals. Rossmann allegedly induced labor after the woman paid him cash for an abortion. He then left the woman alone in his office. She called 911 after delivering a baby boy. Police say it is unlikely the mother will face any charges.
(Reading: “Obstetrician suspected of botched abortion,” Associated Press, 5/19/03)
reflection for prayer
JOHN 15:16-17: Jesus said to his disciples: “It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you. This I command you: love one another.”