in this issue:
abortion: NARAL, RU-486; RU-486 poll
communique clarification: Mothers’ Watch
conspiracy: investigative report by LDI
contraception: behavior counts
culture of death: observation by Valko
fetal tissue: government subsidies reported
politics: Buchanan, Bush, Gore, expelling demons, partisan salvation
school based clinics: birth control
siamese twins: web site keeps hope alive
vaccines: herpes
you: adoption
reflection for prayer: Augustine
abortion
NARAL: A pro-abortion organization, NARAL of New York, provides a web site analysis of how abortion is affected by or paid for by Medicaid and various managed care programs.
RU-486/mifepristone/Mifeprex: The American Medical News confirms that more physicians will use a chemical cocktail to abort a child than those who will surgically kill the person: “In a survey, 44 percent of gynecologists and 31 percent of family physicians said they were somewhat or very likely to prescribe RU-486.”
(Reading: “RU-486 Approval Redraws Abortion Practice,” American Medical News, 10/23-30)
RU-486 POLL: Pharmacists for Life offers you a chance to respond to serious questions about the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the newest chemical designed as a human pesticide.
communique clarification
MOTHERS’ WATCH (see Communique, 9/18/00) While we appreciate the outstanding analytical work done by Mothers’ Watch, we are appalled at the personal attack on the president of Catholics United for the Faith on page 13 of the Summer 2000 newsletter. The cause of truth must remain separate from judgmental, personal attacks on individuals. (“>Judie Brown)
conspiracy
INVESTIGATIVE REPORT: Life Decisions International has prepared a report exposing the history of a “conspiracy against pregnancy-help centers.” To request a copy, please submit a $25.00 donation to Life Decisions International, P.O. Box 75161, Washington, D.C. 20013, Attn: Douglas Scott, president.
contraception
BEHAVIOR COUNTS II (see Communique 10/30/00): The Alan Guttmacher Report quotes USAID officials: “In settings where HIV or sexually transmitted disease prevalence is high, information and counseling about how to effectively avoid unwanted pregnancy should also include information about how women can protect themselves against exposure to sexually transmitted disease, including HIV.”
COMMENT: In other words, anything to end the life of a child in utero when officials deem the child “unwanted.”
(Reading: “Preventing HIV/AIDS and Unintended Pregnancy: Coinciding Strategies,” Guttmacher Report on Public Policy, 10/00, pp. 3-4)
culture of death
OBSERVATION: Pro-life nurse and ethics expert Nancy Valko writes: “Hard things happen. Babies are born with disabilities. Young people are hurt in accidents. The elderly become frail and sickly. But before the ‘right to die’ mentality took hold, death was not considered the answer to medical misfortune.”
(Reading: Comment by “>Nancy Valko, RN, on “Ethicists Helped Family Make Life’s Toughest Choice,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 10/15/00)
fetal tissue
GOVERNMENT SUBSIDIES: Senator Bob Smith has revealed the contents of a General Accounting Office report confirming the use of taxpayer dollars to buy fetal tissue for research. The report is available online in PDF format.
(Reading: “Smith Reveals Federal Government Buys Fetal Tissue with Taxpayer Money,” news release, 10/25/00; a note of thanks to “>Senator Bob Smith is in order)
politics
BUCHANAN: A personal letter from Judie Brown asked Pat Buchanan if he opposed abortion caused by the pill, IUD, etc. The letter was given to Buchanan-Foster research director Kara Hopkins for immediate response. She wrote, “For the record, Mr. Buchanan’s solid pro-life position remains as steadfast as his faith. He believes that life begins at conception, makes no exceptions for the circumstances under which that life was conceived, and rejects any pill or procedure that ends a life. Period.”
BUSH: Did not respond to the question regarding abortions caused by the pill, etc.
GORE: Did not respond to the question regarding abortions caused by the pill, etc.
EXPELLING DEMONS: Francis Cardinal George: “Death is the enemy of God; and, in the end, God will judge us, individually and as a people, by how we have used death for our purposes. Expelling demons and destroying death are works of Christ and of his Church in every age. How to do both of them effectively is a question for every age, including ours.”
(Reading: “The Face of Evil: Demons and Death,” Catholic New World, 10/1/00)
PARTISAN SALVATION: Commentator Thomas Droleskey: “There is no salvation in partisan politics. The forum of electoral politics provides us with a vehicle by which we can speak to the primacy of the Divine positive law and the natural law over us men and our civil societies. The more Catholics spin reality to fit the statists of the Democratic party or the careerists in the Republican party will be the more the most pressing moral issue of the day continues to be subordinated to the interests of career politicians, who believe that we exist to enable them to win office as an end in and of itself.”
(Reading: “Spinning for Pols,” “>Thomas A. Droleskey, 10/24/00)
school-based clinics
BIRTH CONTROL: A comprehensive report on the availability of birth control in school-based clinics containing facts on how promoters of birth control intend to win the public over is available in the latest Guttmacher Report. The federal government funded the study: U. S. Department of Health and Human Services grant FPR000072-01.
(Reading: “School-Based Health Centers and the Birth Control Debate,” The Guttmacher Report on Public Policy, 10/00, pp. 5-8)
siamese twins
WEB SITE KEEPS HOPE ALIVE: The British case involving Siamese twins Mary and Jodie, who are due to have surgery that will take the life of the weaker twin, has moved a disability rights group to establish a web siteaddressing Mary and Jodie’s right to life.
vaccines
HERPES: An American Medical News report suggests that a newly discovered vaccine that may offer some protection against the sexually transmitted disease may have problems because of questionable long-term efficacy.
(Reading: “Herpes Vaccine Offers Some Protection,” American Medical News, 10/16/00, p. 26)
you
ADOPTION: To learn about a newsletter recently created to serve the needs of families seeking to adopt children, visit Adoption Blessings Newsletter.
reflection for prayer
Do not be overwhelmed by those who seem trustworthy and yet teach heresy. Remain firm, like the anvil under the hammer. The good athlete must take punishment in order to win. And above all we must bear with everything for God, so that he in turn may bear with us. Increase your zeal. Read the signs of the times. Look for him who is outside time, the eternal one, the unseen, who became visible for us; he cannot be touched and cannot suffer, yet he became subject to suffering and endured so much for our sake.
-from “A Letter to Polycarp” by St. Augustine