abortion
RESEARCH: Canadian researcher Brent Rooney provides documented evidence of the connections between abortion and breast cancer, abortion and cerebral palsy, abortion and low birth weight and more on his Ounce of Prevention web site. Professor Joel Brind and others confirm the veracity of this work.
chemical abortion
MORNING AFTER ABORTION: Researchers find that among “low-income post-partum women” the information is scarce. Researchers call for increased education and “accurate information about its mechanism of use and safety.”
COMMENT: No mention is made of its chemical destruction of the embryonic child.
(Reading: “Knowledge and Willingness to Use Emergency Contraception Among Low-Income, Post-Partum Women,” Contraception, 2000:61:352-357 paid subscription only)
culture of death
RHETORIC: Joe Sobran writes, “The bad conscience of the pro-aborters shows in their studious avoidance of the word kill to describe what abortion is. Why be coy about it? We don’t mind speaking of ‘killing’ when we kill lower life forms. Lawn products kill weeds; mouthwashes kill germs; insecticides kill bugs; mousetraps kill mice. If the human fetus is an insignificant little thing, why shrink from saying an abortion kills it? But the pro-abortion side prefers the evasive euphemism that abortion ‘terminates a pregnancy.’ As Orwell noted, dishonest people instinctively prefer the abstract to the concrete.”
(Reading: “Abortion and the English Language,” Sobran’s, 9/8/00)
imposed death
ATTITUDES: Researchers surveyed 70 patients suffering from advanced cancer. The survey is described as “semi-structured” and was conducted, in each case, by a clinical psychologist, doctoral students in psychology or a research associate in palliative care. 32 patients indicated a possible future interest in requesting euthanasia or assisted suicide; and among the 32 patients, 63 reasons were identified for “why they would make such requests.”
(Reading: “Attitudes of Terminally Ill Patients Toward Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Suicide,” Archives of Internal Medicine, 9/11/2000, pp. 2454-2460)
in vitro fertilization
WARNING: Dr. Laura Schieve of The Centers for Disease Control has completed a study which found that assisted hatching of embryos is associated with higher rates of ‘monozygotic twinning,’ which in turn is more likely “to produce babies with defects than the more usual form of twinning, in which two fertilized embryos implant themselves into the womb.” Schieve recommends more study on the question.
(Reading: “IVF Technique Linked to Birth Defects,” BBC News, 9/12/00; numerous web sites for “fertility clinics” provide explanations of the process)
physicians
MEDICAL STUDENTS and AT-RISK NEONATES: Medical Student Journal of the American Medical Association devotes pages to the “winners of the 2000 John Conley Ethics Contest” debating the “ethical obligations of the physician who is asked by the parents of a neonate with trisomy 21 to withhold treatment for a lethal, but surgically repairable, medical condition.” Robert T. Clark Jr., comments, “By agreeing to not treat Baby Joe, we concede that imperfection is grounds to deny a person of fundamental rights. We should not condemn a child to die only because he falls short of parental expectations.” Jason Morrow notes reasons for avoiding “selective infanticide.”
(Reading: “Parental Decisions and Physician Responsibilities,” MSJAMA, 9/6/00, pp. 142-1147)
politics
PASTOR LAMB GETS IT: Pastor James I. Lamb, executive director of Lutherans for Life, points out in a recent column that there is no “wiggle” room about destroying innocent human life. And of God, Lamb writes, “He says: ‘You shall not murder.’ We must not forget what abortion is. All the rhetoric surrounding abortion has deceptively blinded us to the truth. …Abortion is a spiritual issue. Abortion is a sin. The Christian cannot vote for sin.”
(Reading: “Is Abortion an Election Issue?” Lutherans for Life; the article cited is also available in brochure format.)
NOVEMBER 7 NOVENA: A Novena prayer for the specific intention of asking that God’s will be done on election day is found at the end of this edition of Communique. The prayer was inspired by devotion to the Immaculate Conception of Mary, mother of God.
population control
ROTARY INTERNATIONAL: The current edition of “The Rotarian” presents an article on Dhaka and recommends greater promotion of family planning, cites former Bombay Rotary president Darshana Doshi’s position that Rotarian leaders “need to encourage overpopulated communities to focus on expanding vocational opportunities — not families.”
(Reading: “Developing Answers,” The Rotarian, 8/00)
rock for life
KID ROCK: Commending Kid Rock for focusing attention on post abortion trauma among fathers, Rock for Life spokesman Erik Whittington pointed out that Rock for Life “does not endorse Kid Rock’s music or lifestyle, and unconditionally rejects the idea of suicide.”
(Reading: Rolling Stone.com report on Rock for Life)
stem cell research
AUSTRALIA: Skirting the Australian government ban on stem cells from embryos, BresaGen has imported human embryonic stem cells from WiCell, an American company formed by the alumni of the University of Wisconsin.
(Reading: “Stem Cell Researchers Skirt Regs,” 9/8/00; also see BresaGen and University of Wisconsin stem cell press kit)
PRO LIFE VIEW: ALL friend Bob Walsh of New York watched the stem cell research hearings on Capitol Hill, and writes, “I watched Michael J. Fox plead for approval of stem cell research, as an unwilling ‘expert’ on Parkinson’s disease. I too am a victim of Parkinson’s, a 63-year-old father of five and grandfather of five (so far). I do not want to have babies killed to improve my health, or extend the pleasure and enjoyment of watching my grandchildren grow. Nor do I want to be used to provide justification to anyone considering abortion, in that the abortion will contribute to medical research and the good of society.”
COMMENT: God bless you, Bob!
(Reading: For an additional pro-life viewpoint read Jay Sappington’s Victimization as Research,” Family Research Council)
SPECTER VISION: Feminist, pro-abort attorney Lori Andrews, author of “The Clone Age” recently wrote, “There’s no guarantee that embryo stem cells will be used to cure serious diseases…. Indeed, biotech companies can make more money by offering to use them for the burgeoning market of ‘enhancement’ medicine. Where cardiac patients might need new heart cells to repair a damaged chamber, athletes may use these same cells to increase stamina. Geron Corporation that holds the exclusive U.S. license on embryo stem cell technology, touts the artificial skin it is developing as a treatment not just for burn victims but also for people with sun damage and other age-related conditions. Indeed, 70-year-old [Senator Arlen] Specter let slip his real interest in embryonic stem cells when he referred to them as ‘a veritable fountain of youth.’”
COMMENT: Apparently what matters to Andrews is NOT that tiny boys and girls are killed but only how their body parts are used in research.
(Reading: City File, Chicago Reader, 9/8/00; bio sketch of Professor Lori B. Andrews)
sterilization
QUINACRINE: Researchers find that Chilean women sterilized with Quinacrine pellets are more likely to experience pregnancy than those who are surgically sterilized, though ectopic pregnancy rates between both groups are similar.
(Reading: “Pregnancy Rates Among Chilean Women Who Had Non-surgical Sterilization with Quinacrine Pellets Between 1977 and 1989,” Contraception, 2000:61:379-384; for background see Suzanne Rini, “Coming Attractions: Phantom Sterilizations,” http://www.all.org/issues/rini002.htm)
you
GUADALUPE PROJECT: December 12 will mark the second anniversary of the national campaign to bring the Guadalupe image to every abortion mill in America. For details on the project and to sign up, see the web site, which will soon be updated. You can also contact “>Guadalupe Project by e-mail.
SOUND WAVE IMAGES: Ultra sound is a pro-life tool. To learn about the latest advances, see Shari Richard’s “Imaging Network Diagnostic Ultrasound Program and Resources” newsletter. It is now available through the website A Window to the Womb.
zinger
GLORIA SKIPPED BIOLOGY 101: In an interview, Planned Parenthood president Gloria Feldt was asked about the damage the religious right has done to Planned Parenthood, and she said, “I think the hard-line religious political extremists have done a great deal of damage to American women’s ability to get family planning and reproductive health care [i.e. abortion]. They have polarized the issue by being so doctrinaire, so hard line. If they really wanted to prevent abortions, their time would be better spent working with us to provide family planning and education than by carrying picket signs.”
COMMENT: Gloria overlooks the millions of male and female persons destroyed by her “family planning” favorites.
(Reading: “Breakfast with … Gloria Feldt,” 9/11/00, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
prayer
NOVEMBER 7 NOVENA PRAYER IN HONOR OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION:
Immaculate Virgin Mary, you were pleasing in the sight of God from the first moment of your conception in the womb of your mother St. Anne. You were chosen to be the Mother of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I believe the teaching of Holy Mother the Church that in the first instant of your conception, by the singular grace and privilege of Almighty God, in virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, Savior of the human race and your beloved Son, you were preserved from all stain of original sin. I thank God for this wonderful privilege and grace He bestowed upon you as I honor your Immaculate Conception.
Look graciously upon me as I implore this special favor of asking you to intercede on election day that God’s will may be done for our beloved United States of America.
Virgin Immaculate, Mother of God and my Mother, from your throne in heaven turn your eyes of pity upon me. Filled with confidence in your goodness and power, I beg you to help me in this journey of life, which is so full of dangers for my soul. I entrust myself entirely to you, that I may never be the slave of the devil through sin, but may always live a humble and pure life. I consecrate myself to you forever, for my only desire is to love your Divine Son Jesus.
Mary, since none of your devout servants has ever perished, may I, too, be saved. Amen.
RESEARCH: Canadian researcher Brent Rooney provides documented evidence of the connections between abortion and breast cancer, abortion and cerebral palsy, abortion and low birth weight and more on his Ounce of Prevention web site. Professor Joel Brind and others confirm the veracity of this work.
chemical abortion
MORNING AFTER ABORTION: Researchers find that among “low-income post-partum women” the information is scarce. Researchers call for increased education and “accurate information about its mechanism of use and safety.”
COMMENT: No mention is made of its chemical destruction of the embryonic child.
(Reading: “Knowledge and Willingness to Use Emergency Contraception Among Low-Income, Post-Partum Women,” Contraception, 2000:61:352-357 paid subscription only)
culture of death
RHETORIC: Joe Sobran writes, “The bad conscience of the pro-aborters shows in their studious avoidance of the word kill to describe what abortion is. Why be coy about it? We don’t mind speaking of ‘killing’ when we kill lower life forms. Lawn products kill weeds; mouthwashes kill germs; insecticides kill bugs; mousetraps kill mice. If the human fetus is an insignificant little thing, why shrink from saying an abortion kills it? But the pro-abortion side prefers the evasive euphemism that abortion ‘terminates a pregnancy.’ As Orwell noted, dishonest people instinctively prefer the abstract to the concrete.”
(Reading: “Abortion and the English Language,” Sobran’s, 9/8/00)
imposed death
ATTITUDES: Researchers surveyed 70 patients suffering from advanced cancer. The survey is described as “semi-structured” and was conducted, in each case, by a clinical psychologist, doctoral students in psychology or a research associate in palliative care. 32 patients indicated a possible future interest in requesting euthanasia or assisted suicide; and among the 32 patients, 63 reasons were identified for “why they would make such requests.”
(Reading: “Attitudes of Terminally Ill Patients Toward Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Suicide,” Archives of Internal Medicine, 9/11/2000, pp. 2454-2460)
in vitro fertilization
WARNING: Dr. Laura Schieve of The Centers for Disease Control has completed a study which found that assisted hatching of embryos is associated with higher rates of ‘monozygotic twinning,’ which in turn is more likely “to produce babies with defects than the more usual form of twinning, in which two fertilized embryos implant themselves into the womb.” Schieve recommends more study on the question.
(Reading: “IVF Technique Linked to Birth Defects,” BBC News, 9/12/00; numerous web sites for “fertility clinics” provide explanations of the process)
physicians
MEDICAL STUDENTS and AT-RISK NEONATES: Medical Student Journal of the American Medical Association devotes pages to the “winners of the 2000 John Conley Ethics Contest” debating the “ethical obligations of the physician who is asked by the parents of a neonate with trisomy 21 to withhold treatment for a lethal, but surgically repairable, medical condition.” Robert T. Clark Jr., comments, “By agreeing to not treat Baby Joe, we concede that imperfection is grounds to deny a person of fundamental rights. We should not condemn a child to die only because he falls short of parental expectations.” Jason Morrow notes reasons for avoiding “selective infanticide.”
(Reading: “Parental Decisions and Physician Responsibilities,” MSJAMA, 9/6/00, pp. 142-1147)
politics
PASTOR LAMB GETS IT: Pastor James I. Lamb, executive director of Lutherans for Life, points out in a recent column that there is no “wiggle” room about destroying innocent human life. And of God, Lamb writes, “He says: ‘You shall not murder.’ We must not forget what abortion is. All the rhetoric surrounding abortion has deceptively blinded us to the truth. …Abortion is a spiritual issue. Abortion is a sin. The Christian cannot vote for sin.”
(Reading: “Is Abortion an Election Issue?” Lutherans for Life; the article cited is also available in brochure format.)
NOVEMBER 7 NOVENA: A Novena prayer for the specific intention of asking that God’s will be done on election day is found at the end of this edition of Communique. The prayer was inspired by devotion to the Immaculate Conception of Mary, mother of God.
population control
ROTARY INTERNATIONAL: The current edition of “The Rotarian” presents an article on Dhaka and recommends greater promotion of family planning, cites former Bombay Rotary president Darshana Doshi’s position that Rotarian leaders “need to encourage overpopulated communities to focus on expanding vocational opportunities — not families.”
(Reading: “Developing Answers,” The Rotarian, 8/00)
rock for life
KID ROCK: Commending Kid Rock for focusing attention on post abortion trauma among fathers, Rock for Life spokesman Erik Whittington pointed out that Rock for Life “does not endorse Kid Rock’s music or lifestyle, and unconditionally rejects the idea of suicide.”
(Reading: Rolling Stone.com report on Rock for Life)
stem cell research
AUSTRALIA: Skirting the Australian government ban on stem cells from embryos, BresaGen has imported human embryonic stem cells from WiCell, an American company formed by the alumni of the University of Wisconsin.
(Reading: “Stem Cell Researchers Skirt Regs,” 9/8/00; also see BresaGen and University of Wisconsin stem cell press kit)
PRO LIFE VIEW: ALL friend Bob Walsh of New York watched the stem cell research hearings on Capitol Hill, and writes, “I watched Michael J. Fox plead for approval of stem cell research, as an unwilling ‘expert’ on Parkinson’s disease. I too am a victim of Parkinson’s, a 63-year-old father of five and grandfather of five (so far). I do not want to have babies killed to improve my health, or extend the pleasure and enjoyment of watching my grandchildren grow. Nor do I want to be used to provide justification to anyone considering abortion, in that the abortion will contribute to medical research and the good of society.”
COMMENT: God bless you, Bob!
(Reading: For an additional pro-life viewpoint read Jay Sappington’s Victimization as Research,” Family Research Council)
SPECTER VISION: Feminist, pro-abort attorney Lori Andrews, author of “The Clone Age” recently wrote, “There’s no guarantee that embryo stem cells will be used to cure serious diseases…. Indeed, biotech companies can make more money by offering to use them for the burgeoning market of ‘enhancement’ medicine. Where cardiac patients might need new heart cells to repair a damaged chamber, athletes may use these same cells to increase stamina. Geron Corporation that holds the exclusive U.S. license on embryo stem cell technology, touts the artificial skin it is developing as a treatment not just for burn victims but also for people with sun damage and other age-related conditions. Indeed, 70-year-old [Senator Arlen] Specter let slip his real interest in embryonic stem cells when he referred to them as ‘a veritable fountain of youth.’”
COMMENT: Apparently what matters to Andrews is NOT that tiny boys and girls are killed but only how their body parts are used in research.
(Reading: City File, Chicago Reader, 9/8/00; bio sketch of Professor Lori B. Andrews)
sterilization
QUINACRINE: Researchers find that Chilean women sterilized with Quinacrine pellets are more likely to experience pregnancy than those who are surgically sterilized, though ectopic pregnancy rates between both groups are similar.
(Reading: “Pregnancy Rates Among Chilean Women Who Had Non-surgical Sterilization with Quinacrine Pellets Between 1977 and 1989,” Contraception, 2000:61:379-384; for background see Suzanne Rini, “Coming Attractions: Phantom Sterilizations,” http://www.all.org/issues/rini002.htm)
you
GUADALUPE PROJECT: December 12 will mark the second anniversary of the national campaign to bring the Guadalupe image to every abortion mill in America. For details on the project and to sign up, see the web site, which will soon be updated. You can also contact “>Guadalupe Project by e-mail.
SOUND WAVE IMAGES: Ultra sound is a pro-life tool. To learn about the latest advances, see Shari Richard’s “Imaging Network Diagnostic Ultrasound Program and Resources” newsletter. It is now available through the website A Window to the Womb.
zinger
GLORIA SKIPPED BIOLOGY 101: In an interview, Planned Parenthood president Gloria Feldt was asked about the damage the religious right has done to Planned Parenthood, and she said, “I think the hard-line religious political extremists have done a great deal of damage to American women’s ability to get family planning and reproductive health care [i.e. abortion]. They have polarized the issue by being so doctrinaire, so hard line. If they really wanted to prevent abortions, their time would be better spent working with us to provide family planning and education than by carrying picket signs.”
COMMENT: Gloria overlooks the millions of male and female persons destroyed by her “family planning” favorites.
(Reading: “Breakfast with … Gloria Feldt,” 9/11/00, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
prayer
NOVEMBER 7 NOVENA PRAYER IN HONOR OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION:
Immaculate Virgin Mary, you were pleasing in the sight of God from the first moment of your conception in the womb of your mother St. Anne. You were chosen to be the Mother of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I believe the teaching of Holy Mother the Church that in the first instant of your conception, by the singular grace and privilege of Almighty God, in virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, Savior of the human race and your beloved Son, you were preserved from all stain of original sin. I thank God for this wonderful privilege and grace He bestowed upon you as I honor your Immaculate Conception.
Look graciously upon me as I implore this special favor of asking you to intercede on election day that God’s will may be done for our beloved United States of America.
Virgin Immaculate, Mother of God and my Mother, from your throne in heaven turn your eyes of pity upon me. Filled with confidence in your goodness and power, I beg you to help me in this journey of life, which is so full of dangers for my soul. I entrust myself entirely to you, that I may never be the slave of the devil through sin, but may always live a humble and pure life. I consecrate myself to you forever, for my only desire is to love your Divine Son Jesus.
Mary, since none of your devout servants has ever perished, may I, too, be saved. Amen.