abortion
PARTIAL BIRTH CONGRESSIONAL VOTE: The U.S. House passed the partial birth abortion ban (287-141) with a veto-proof margin — a bill that, despite its title, will not ban the grisly act of infanticide, commonly known as partial birth abortion. The bill contains a life-of-the-mother exception, even though former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, among countless others in the medical profession, has pointed out that there is never a reason perform such a procedure to “save the life of the mother.”
(Reading: American Life League news release, 4/6/00; several analyses exist on the web, including Partial Birth Abortion Laws)
UNPLANNED PREGNANCY: Physicians commenting on David Grimes’ bias in favor of abortion (“A 26-year-old Woman Seeking an Abortion,”) point out that “abortion can trigger posttraumatic stress disorder and most women who have undergone an abortion procedure experience guilt and depression. The risk of ectopic pregnancy is twice as high for women with a history of one abortion and up to four times as high for women with two or more previous abortions,” and that “Dr. Grimes never mentioned that abortion might have a moral dimension.” Grimes’ responses include this comment alluding to pregnancy as a result of rape: “If safe, legal abortion was not available, these women would be forced to obtain an illegal abortion or give birth to the rapist’s child.”
COMMENT: Grimes is a proponent of abortion on demand, but alleges neutrality.
(Reading: “Abortion and Unplanned Pregnancy,” Journal of the American Medical Association 3/22/00, pp. 1565-67)
chemical (medical) abortion
MISOPROSTOL: Researchers compared the use of vaginally-administered saline-moistened misoprostol with the use of oral tamoxifen combined with misoprostol for the purpose of terminating pregnancy during the first 56 days. The conclusions were that side effects were constant and that there was no valid reason for combining misoprostol with tamoxifen. Completed abortion occurred in 90 percent of the cases.
(Reading: “A Comparison of Tamoxifen and Misoprostol to Misoprostol Alone for Early Pregnancy Termination,” Contraception, 11/19/00, pp. 353-356; subscription required)
MORNING-AFTER PILL WEB SITES: The subject of “emergency contraception” (or “morning after pills”) is consistent fare for the purveyors of the culture of death, as witnessed by the following list of organizations and their particular sites on the topic:Population Council’s Spanish site
Princeton University’s site
PATH’s (Program for Appropriate Technology in Health – a Gates Foundation favorite) Consortium for Emergency Contraception with pages in English, French, Portuguese and Spanish
The scientific truth, including a statement signed by many physicians, can be found at Morning After Pill. This is American Life League’s latest effort to focus attention on clinical facts rather than abortion-minded mythology.
fertility
DJERASSI INSIGHTS: A recent conference in Great Britain, “Sex Wars,” featured Carl Djerassi, an arch-proponent of the Pill, who is reported to have told the audience “developments in the storage of eggs and sperm will mean that ex-utero fertilization is the future for reproduction. People will be able to put their eggs ‘in the bank’ and be sterilized. Sexual intercourse will simply occur as an expression of love, or for fun.”
(Reading: “Shopping at the Contraceptive Supermarket,” The Lancet, 2/26/00, p. 763)
imposed death
HEMLOCK MEETING I: The World Federation of Right to Die Societies and Hemlock Society will host a September 1-3 meeting in Boston. The theme: “Assisted Dying in the New Millennium.” Disability rights group Not Dead Yet (NDY) will be on hand, and has advised members that there are four messages to be conveyed:
- Every human being is of equal value.
- Dignity isn’t a handout, and our doctors can’t give it to us in the form of a lethal prescription.
- Human diversity is a fact of life.
- Human diversity is worth celebrating.
For details on NDY planned events, contact “>Not Dead Yet.
(Reading: “Save the Date: Labor Day Weekend,” The Resistance (newsletter of Not Dead Yet), page 3; headquarters: 7521 Madison St., Forest Park, IL 60130)
HEMLOCK MEETING II: Professor Charles Baron of Boston College (a Catholic institution) will be a speaker at the pro-euthanasia world conference on assisted dying. Promotional material about the conference on the website of the Hemlock Society notes that “Baron, author of several major articles on assisted dying and professor of law at Boston College, [will] explain how the prohibition model makes a mockery of the law.”
(Action: e-mail your concerns to: “>Fr. William P. Leahy, president of Boston College and to the “>Boston Pilot, the Boston archdiocesan newspaper.
(Reading: LifeSite News, 4/12/00)
TUBE FEEDING: Dr. Anne Timell sees advantages to an October, 1999, medical article affirming that tube feeding need not be provided to Alzheimer’s (advanced dementia) patients. She relates the recommendations to treatment of the developmentally disabled and writes: “This article provides data to support the concept that feeding tube insertion may, in certain circumstances, be a medically futile intervention. In New York State, this may prove to be an especially important concept, since various statutes and regulations forbid surrogate decision-makers from making decisions about withholding or withdrawing ‘life-sustaining treatments.’ This article implies that tube feeding should not be included in these statutes.”
COMMENT: All of a sudden, starving people to death sounds like a good idea!
(Reading: “Tube Feeding in Patients with Advanced Dementia,” Journal of the American Medical Association, 3/22-29/00, p. 1564; for the text of the article to which Timell’s letter refers, see Tube Feeding in Patients With Advanced Dementia: A Review of the Evidence)
politics
BUCHANAN’S CO-CHAIR! The co-chair of the Patrick J. Buchanan Reform Party presidential campaign committee is Lenora Fulani, hostess of a weekly television show, and supporter of a woman’s “right” to abortion. The Buchanan web site reveals that Pat is well aware of this woman’s anti-life position and said as much during an interview with Tim Russert.
COMMENT: I am speechless, and totally disheartened. I guess this just goes to show that politics is indeed the business of compromise and can dilute principle for reasons of expediency. Poor Pat. Let us pray for him, and for Ms. Fulani too.
(Reading: Pat Buchanan web site and search for Lenora Fulani)
population control
AFRICAN YOUTH: The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation awarded $57 million to a five-year initiative expanding campaigns in Botswana, Ghana, Uganda and Tanzania focused on youth and their awareness relating to HIV/AIDS prevention and personal protection. The partnership is forged with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Pathfinder International and local groups. UNFPA Executive Director Nafis Sadick pointed out the components of the project including “accessible reproductive health” and “family planning services.”
(Reading: UNFPA news release, 4/5/00; See Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation reproductive health section; Pathfinder International; and for the facts about population, see Educate Bill Gates)
population poll
AMERICAN POPULATION IQ: RAND conducted a survey of public attitudes in America regarding population. Among the findings: “six in ten say the globe is overpopulated,” “only 14 percent have a correct notion of world population size,” and “50 percent of the public approves the 1996 congressional vote to reduce the U.S. contribution to international family planning.”
COMMENT: Confusion reigns!
(Reading: RAND news release, 3/23/00; full study available on RAND web site)
rally for life
MADISON, WISCONSIN: Pro-Life Wisconsin is expecting record crowds at the Rally for Life at noon on May 13, on the State Street steps of the capitol in Madison. Speakers will include legislators, state pro-life and pro-family leaders, Mary-Louis Kurey (Miss Wisconsin 1999) and the founder of Pro-Life Wisconsin, Mary Matuska. For details contact “>Pro-Life Wisconsin: phone 262-796-111l.
web news
HOWARD CENTER ON LINE: Excellent materials produced by the Howard Center include research updates and The Family in America Studies Center.
reflection for prayer
Let us put on the breastplate of righteousness so that our hearts may be safeguarded, proof against the arrows of the enemy. Let our feet be protected by the shows of the teaching of the Gospel so that when we begin to trample on the serpent and crush it, we may not be bitten and tripped up by it. . . . If the day of persecution funds us thinking on these things and meditating upon them, the solider of Christ, trained by Christ’s commands and instructions, does not begin to panic at the thought of battle, but is ready for the crown of victory.
-Cyprian, bishop and martyr, 210-258 AD
PARTIAL BIRTH CONGRESSIONAL VOTE: The U.S. House passed the partial birth abortion ban (287-141) with a veto-proof margin — a bill that, despite its title, will not ban the grisly act of infanticide, commonly known as partial birth abortion. The bill contains a life-of-the-mother exception, even though former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, among countless others in the medical profession, has pointed out that there is never a reason perform such a procedure to “save the life of the mother.”
(Reading: American Life League news release, 4/6/00; several analyses exist on the web, including Partial Birth Abortion Laws)
UNPLANNED PREGNANCY: Physicians commenting on David Grimes’ bias in favor of abortion (“A 26-year-old Woman Seeking an Abortion,”) point out that “abortion can trigger posttraumatic stress disorder and most women who have undergone an abortion procedure experience guilt and depression. The risk of ectopic pregnancy is twice as high for women with a history of one abortion and up to four times as high for women with two or more previous abortions,” and that “Dr. Grimes never mentioned that abortion might have a moral dimension.” Grimes’ responses include this comment alluding to pregnancy as a result of rape: “If safe, legal abortion was not available, these women would be forced to obtain an illegal abortion or give birth to the rapist’s child.”
COMMENT: Grimes is a proponent of abortion on demand, but alleges neutrality.
(Reading: “Abortion and Unplanned Pregnancy,” Journal of the American Medical Association 3/22/00, pp. 1565-67)
chemical (medical) abortion
MISOPROSTOL: Researchers compared the use of vaginally-administered saline-moistened misoprostol with the use of oral tamoxifen combined with misoprostol for the purpose of terminating pregnancy during the first 56 days. The conclusions were that side effects were constant and that there was no valid reason for combining misoprostol with tamoxifen. Completed abortion occurred in 90 percent of the cases.
(Reading: “A Comparison of Tamoxifen and Misoprostol to Misoprostol Alone for Early Pregnancy Termination,” Contraception, 11/19/00, pp. 353-356; subscription required)
MORNING-AFTER PILL WEB SITES: The subject of “emergency contraception” (or “morning after pills”) is consistent fare for the purveyors of the culture of death, as witnessed by the following list of organizations and their particular sites on the topic:
Population Council’s Spanish site
Princeton University’s site
PATH’s (Program for Appropriate Technology in Health – a Gates Foundation favorite) Consortium for Emergency Contraception with pages in English, French, Portuguese and Spanish
The scientific truth, including a statement signed by many physicians, can be found at Morning After Pill. This is American Life League’s latest effort to focus attention on clinical facts rather than abortion-minded mythology.
fertility
DJERASSI INSIGHTS: A recent conference in Great Britain, “Sex Wars,” featured Carl Djerassi, an arch-proponent of the Pill, who is reported to have told the audience “developments in the storage of eggs and sperm will mean that ex-utero fertilization is the future for reproduction. People will be able to put their eggs ‘in the bank’ and be sterilized. Sexual intercourse will simply occur as an expression of love, or for fun.”
(Reading: “Shopping at the Contraceptive Supermarket,” The Lancet, 2/26/00, p. 763)
imposed death
HEMLOCK MEETING I: The World Federation of Right to Die Societies and Hemlock Society will host a September 1-3 meeting in Boston. The theme: “Assisted Dying in the New Millennium.” Disability rights group Not Dead Yet (NDY) will be on hand, and has advised members that there are four messages to be conveyed:
- Every human being is of equal value.
- Dignity isn’t a handout, and our doctors can’t give it to us in the form of a lethal prescription.
- Human diversity is a fact of life.
- Human diversity is worth celebrating.
For details on NDY planned events, contact “>Not Dead Yet.
(Reading: “Save the Date: Labor Day Weekend,” The Resistance (newsletter of Not Dead Yet), page 3; headquarters: 7521 Madison St., Forest Park, IL 60130)
HEMLOCK MEETING II: Professor Charles Baron of Boston College (a Catholic institution) will be a speaker at the pro-euthanasia world conference on assisted dying. Promotional material about the conference on the website of the Hemlock Society notes that “Baron, author of several major articles on assisted dying and professor of law at Boston College, [will] explain how the prohibition model makes a mockery of the law.”
(Action: e-mail your concerns to: “>Fr. William P. Leahy, president of Boston College and to the “>Boston Pilot, the Boston archdiocesan newspaper.
(Reading: LifeSite News, 4/12/00)
TUBE FEEDING: Dr. Anne Timell sees advantages to an October, 1999, medical article affirming that tube feeding need not be provided to Alzheimer’s (advanced dementia) patients. She relates the recommendations to treatment of the developmentally disabled and writes: “This article provides data to support the concept that feeding tube insertion may, in certain circumstances, be a medically futile intervention. In New York State, this may prove to be an especially important concept, since various statutes and regulations forbid surrogate decision-makers from making decisions about withholding or withdrawing ‘life-sustaining treatments.’ This article implies that tube feeding should not be included in these statutes.”
COMMENT: All of a sudden, starving people to death sounds like a good idea!
(Reading: “Tube Feeding in Patients with Advanced Dementia,” Journal of the American Medical Association, 3/22-29/00, p. 1564; for the text of the article to which Timell’s letter refers, see Tube Feeding in Patients With Advanced Dementia: A Review of the Evidence)
politics
BUCHANAN’S CO-CHAIR! The co-chair of the Patrick J. Buchanan Reform Party presidential campaign committee is Lenora Fulani, hostess of a weekly television show, and supporter of a woman’s “right” to abortion. The Buchanan web site reveals that Pat is well aware of this woman’s anti-life position and said as much during an interview with Tim Russert.
COMMENT: I am speechless, and totally disheartened. I guess this just goes to show that politics is indeed the business of compromise and can dilute principle for reasons of expediency. Poor Pat. Let us pray for him, and for Ms. Fulani too.
(Reading: Pat Buchanan web site and search for Lenora Fulani)
population control
AFRICAN YOUTH: The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation awarded $57 million to a five-year initiative expanding campaigns in Botswana, Ghana, Uganda and Tanzania focused on youth and their awareness relating to HIV/AIDS prevention and personal protection. The partnership is forged with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Pathfinder International and local groups. UNFPA Executive Director Nafis Sadick pointed out the components of the project including “accessible reproductive health” and “family planning services.”
(Reading: UNFPA news release, 4/5/00; See Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation reproductive health section; Pathfinder International; and for the facts about population, see Educate Bill Gates)
population poll
AMERICAN POPULATION IQ: RAND conducted a survey of public attitudes in America regarding population. Among the findings: “six in ten say the globe is overpopulated,” “only 14 percent have a correct notion of world population size,” and “50 percent of the public approves the 1996 congressional vote to reduce the U.S. contribution to international family planning.”
COMMENT: Confusion reigns!
(Reading: RAND news release, 3/23/00; full study available on RAND web site)
rally for life
MADISON, WISCONSIN: Pro-Life Wisconsin is expecting record crowds at the Rally for Life at noon on May 13, on the State Street steps of the capitol in Madison. Speakers will include legislators, state pro-life and pro-family leaders, Mary-Louis Kurey (Miss Wisconsin 1999) and the founder of Pro-Life Wisconsin, Mary Matuska. For details contact “>Pro-Life Wisconsin: phone 262-796-111l.
web news
HOWARD CENTER ON LINE: Excellent materials produced by the Howard Center include research updates and The Family in America Studies Center.
reflection for prayer
Let us put on the breastplate of righteousness so that our hearts may be safeguarded, proof against the arrows of the enemy. Let our feet be protected by the shows of the teaching of the Gospel so that when we begin to trample on the serpent and crush it, we may not be bitten and tripped up by it. . . . If the day of persecution funds us thinking on these things and meditating upon them, the solider of Christ, trained by Christ’s commands and instructions, does not begin to panic at the thought of battle, but is ready for the crown of victory.
-Cyprian, bishop and martyr, 210-258 AD