abortion
WRONGFUL LIFE: A case involving a woman who gave birth to a child with trisomy 21, and subsequently sued her physician “for failure to advise her of the problem and offer her the alternative of an abortion before the fetus was viable” has been decided. “The trial court judge dismissed the case … stating that the only medical evidence presented was that viability of the baby, defined as the ability to live independently of the mother, started at 26-27 weeks. Since the parents had been offered the option of an abortion before that time, they could not bring a suit for ‘wrongful life.’ The ruling was confirmed by the state appeals court.”
(Reading: “Mother Sues for Failure to Advise Earlier Abortion,” Cortlandt Forum, 2/00, p. 79)
birth control pill
BREAST CANCER LINK: For commentary on the research work of Chris Kahlenborn, M.D. and his findings, see a report in The Interim.
RISKS: Researchers attempted to identify various risk factors for deep venous thromboembolism, and found that aside from the presence of high levels of factor XI antigens in the blood, other risk factors include “oral-contraceptive use.”
(Reading: “High Levels of Coagulation Factor XI as a Risk Factor for Venous Thrombosis,” New England Journal of Medicine, 3/9/00, pp. 696-701; “A New Link to Blood Clots in Veins,” American Heart Association news)
catholic hospitals
RAPE TREATMENT PROTOCOL: In a letter to Judie Brown, John Cardinal O’Connor defines succinctly what the appropriate treatment for a rape victim is and the specific circumstances relating to the use of contraceptives such as morning after pills. “These drugs would be permissible for ‘contraceptive’ usage following a rape in accordance with Directive 36 in the Ethical and Religious Directives which say, in part, ‘A female who has been raped should be able to defend herself against a potential conception from the sexual assault.’ Rape as an act of violence and aggression would justify the woman to repel this act of aggression by preventing the progression of sperm prior to the time of conception. However, use of an anovulant is only permissible, if there is absolute certainty that an embryo is not present. Any acceptable protocol would require that the time of the anti-conceptive effect be carefully identified through reliable testing of the ovulation cycle of the victim.”
(Reading: Letter to Judie Brown from John Cardinal O’Connor, February 23, 2000)
eugenics
DECEPTIVE WEB SITE? An alleged “History of American Eugenics” is “explored” on a site funded by Cold Spring Harbor. However eugenics expert John Cavanaugh O’Keefe tells communique: “The Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory has put a fascinating collection about eugenics on line, worth seeing. Be cautious, though, because CSHL opposes specific aspects of eugenics (like forced sterilization), not the overall program of improving the human race by genetic control, population control and human cloning. One example: CSHL helped disseminate ideas about how to trace mental illness in families without the knowledge of the targeted family, by changing the data collected in a national census and credit card data banks (“What’s your mother’s maiden name?”). For comprehensive data about eugenics, see Africa 2000.
(Reading: “The History of American Eugenics Is Explored Online,” The Village Voice, 2/23-29/00)
health care
HEALTHY PEOPLE 2010: The U. S. government’s Healthy People 2010 project includes the perspectives that “every pregnancy should be intended” and focuses on health insurance coverage for contraception as a key objective.
COMMENT: Every child a wanted child has now become “every pregnancy.” Further avoidance of the reality of the child.
(Reading: “DHHS Cites Impact of Family Planning, Sets Goals for 2010,” Guttmacher Report on Public Policy, 2/2000, p. 13; Healthy People 2010)
human embryology
TEXTBOOK HELP SITE: For those familiar with “Human Embryology” and the “Essentials of Human Embryology” textbooks by recently deceased professor William Larsen, Ph.D., the Human Embryology web site may be of interest.
imposed death
HAWAII: The Honolulu Star-Bulletin reports that two people suffocated themselves within two days of the showing of the controversial “Final Exit” film, which is based on a best seller by Hemlock Society founder Derek Humphry.
(Reading: “Official Links Two Weekend Isle Suicides to Olelo [Channel 52] Video,” Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 3/7/2000)
MAINE: A poll conducted February 27-29 for the Bangor Daily News found that “support for legalizing physician-assisted suicide in Maine stands at 38 percent, a turnaround from a survey two years earlier in which 71 percent endorsed such a law.”
(Reading: “Numbers of Assisted-Suicide Supporters Getting Smaller According to New Poll,” Portland (Maine) Press Herald, 3/8/00)
WITHDRAWING “TREATMENT”: Researchers analyze the arguments in favor of withdrawing treatment (turning off a pacemaker) from a chronically ill patient who is suffering from “severe dementia.” In a subsection entitled “ending a burdensome life,” the scientists and physicians conclude that at times physician-assisted suicide becomes unnecessary because withdrawal of certain “interventions (turning off a pacemaker) can almost always be accomplished.”
Professor Edmund Pellegrino, commenting on this case, said, “Discontinuance of the pacemaker could be ethically permissible provided the intention was to remove a futile treatment and, thus, to allow the natural history of the illness to proceed unimpeded. The condition of valid double effect would be fulfilled, i.e., the act would be morally neutral; the intention would be good (i.e., to remove ineffective treatment); the good effect would flow from the removal of the impediment to an inevitable death, not from the death of the patient; there would be a proportionate reason to take the action; and no other action would achieve the same end. If, however, the surrogates’ or medical attendants’ intentions were to hasten death intentionally or to end a life they unilaterally judged to be of ‘no quality,’ then removal of the pacemaker would not be morally licit.”
COMMENT: One wonders why the pacemaker is “treatment” in one case and life-saving alternative in the another case.
(Reading: “Withdrawing Very Low-Burden Interventions in Chronically Ill Patients,” Journal of the American Medical Association, 2/23/00, pp. 1061-1063; “Decisions to Withdraw Life-Sustaining Treatment,” ibid., pp. 1065-1067)
politics
U.S. BISHOPS REMIND CATHOLIC VOTERS-NO COMPROMISE: In the 1998 document, “Living the Gospel of Life,” the American bishops state, “Real freedom rests on the inviolability of every person as a child of God. The inherent value of human life, at every stage and in every circumstance, is not a sectarian issue any more than the Declaration of Independence is a sectarian creed.” (#6) and “No public official, especially one claiming to be a faithful and serious Catholic, can responsibly advocate for or actively support direct attacks on innocent human life.” (#32)
COMMENT: Note the words “every person” and “direct attacks.” The bishops do not allow for exceptions that permit the continued killing of certain babies.
(Reading: “Living the Gospel of Life,” as quoted in a 3/1/2000 reflection by Father Frank Pavone of Priests for Life)
population control
PERU: Population Research Institute has exposed details regarding the coercive family planning programs in Peru and the evidence of United States AID involvement.
(Reading: “Peru’s Coercive Family Planning Program and USAID Involvement,” Population Research Institute briefing, 3/9/00)
selling sex
ABERCROMBIE AND FITCH: Human Life Alliance notes the ongoing suggestive advertising done by the pricey Abercrombie and Fitch. Boycotting is recommended and we suggest letters and e-mails advising the firm of the reasons why purchasing is not being done. The address for the company is P.O. Box 182168, Reynoldsburg, Ohio 43218, or e-mail through the Abercrombie and Fitch web site.
sexually transmitted disease
MICROBICIDE: Details of the latest research involving these agents “that kill or deactivate disease-causing micro-organisms, technically known as pathogens, including HIV,” are available on the Centers for Disease Control web site. The Alan Guttmacher Institute claims “women’s health advocates are convinced that microbicides could have a significant impact on public health worldwide.”
(Reading: “Campaign to Accelerate Microbicide Development for STD Prevention Gets Under Way,” Guttmacher Report on Public Policy, 2/00, p. 3)
united nations
FEMINIST INVOLVMENT: Ongoing reports on the feminist agenda and various pro-death projects such as CEDAW can be found on the United Nations website.
you
EMMA LAZARUS PROJECT: Visit a site where the first message to the reader is that every baby already IS a wanted baby. A Christian project with a view toward arranging adoptions and affirming life.
reflection for prayer
Practice prayer from the beginning. Paint your house with the colors of modesty and humility. Make it radiant with the light of justice. Decorate it with the finest gold leaf of good deeds. Adorn it with the walls and stones of faith and generosity. Crown it with the pinnacle of prayer. In this way you will make it a perfect dwelling place for the Lord. You will be able to receive Him as in a splendid palace and through His grace you will already possess Him, His image enthroned in the temple of your spirit.
-Saint John Chrysostom, bishop
WRONGFUL LIFE: A case involving a woman who gave birth to a child with trisomy 21, and subsequently sued her physician “for failure to advise her of the problem and offer her the alternative of an abortion before the fetus was viable” has been decided. “The trial court judge dismissed the case … stating that the only medical evidence presented was that viability of the baby, defined as the ability to live independently of the mother, started at 26-27 weeks. Since the parents had been offered the option of an abortion before that time, they could not bring a suit for ‘wrongful life.’ The ruling was confirmed by the state appeals court.”
(Reading: “Mother Sues for Failure to Advise Earlier Abortion,” Cortlandt Forum, 2/00, p. 79)
birth control pill
BREAST CANCER LINK: For commentary on the research work of Chris Kahlenborn, M.D. and his findings, see a report in The Interim.
RISKS: Researchers attempted to identify various risk factors for deep venous thromboembolism, and found that aside from the presence of high levels of factor XI antigens in the blood, other risk factors include “oral-contraceptive use.”
(Reading: “High Levels of Coagulation Factor XI as a Risk Factor for Venous Thrombosis,” New England Journal of Medicine, 3/9/00, pp. 696-701; “A New Link to Blood Clots in Veins,” American Heart Association news)
catholic hospitals
RAPE TREATMENT PROTOCOL: In a letter to Judie Brown, John Cardinal O’Connor defines succinctly what the appropriate treatment for a rape victim is and the specific circumstances relating to the use of contraceptives such as morning after pills. “These drugs would be permissible for ‘contraceptive’ usage following a rape in accordance with Directive 36 in the Ethical and Religious Directives which say, in part, ‘A female who has been raped should be able to defend herself against a potential conception from the sexual assault.’ Rape as an act of violence and aggression would justify the woman to repel this act of aggression by preventing the progression of sperm prior to the time of conception. However, use of an anovulant is only permissible, if there is absolute certainty that an embryo is not present. Any acceptable protocol would require that the time of the anti-conceptive effect be carefully identified through reliable testing of the ovulation cycle of the victim.”
(Reading: Letter to Judie Brown from John Cardinal O’Connor, February 23, 2000)
eugenics
DECEPTIVE WEB SITE? An alleged “History of American Eugenics” is “explored” on a site funded by Cold Spring Harbor. However eugenics expert John Cavanaugh O’Keefe tells communique: “The Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory has put a fascinating collection about eugenics on line, worth seeing. Be cautious, though, because CSHL opposes specific aspects of eugenics (like forced sterilization), not the overall program of improving the human race by genetic control, population control and human cloning. One example: CSHL helped disseminate ideas about how to trace mental illness in families without the knowledge of the targeted family, by changing the data collected in a national census and credit card data banks (“What’s your mother’s maiden name?”). For comprehensive data about eugenics, see Africa 2000.
(Reading: “The History of American Eugenics Is Explored Online,” The Village Voice, 2/23-29/00)
health care
HEALTHY PEOPLE 2010: The U. S. government’s Healthy People 2010 project includes the perspectives that “every pregnancy should be intended” and focuses on health insurance coverage for contraception as a key objective.
COMMENT: Every child a wanted child has now become “every pregnancy.” Further avoidance of the reality of the child.
(Reading: “DHHS Cites Impact of Family Planning, Sets Goals for 2010,” Guttmacher Report on Public Policy, 2/2000, p. 13; Healthy People 2010)
human embryology
TEXTBOOK HELP SITE: For those familiar with “Human Embryology” and the “Essentials of Human Embryology” textbooks by recently deceased professor William Larsen, Ph.D., the Human Embryology web site may be of interest.
imposed death
HAWAII: The Honolulu Star-Bulletin reports that two people suffocated themselves within two days of the showing of the controversial “Final Exit” film, which is based on a best seller by Hemlock Society founder Derek Humphry.
(Reading: “Official Links Two Weekend Isle Suicides to Olelo [Channel 52] Video,” Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 3/7/2000)
MAINE: A poll conducted February 27-29 for the Bangor Daily News found that “support for legalizing physician-assisted suicide in Maine stands at 38 percent, a turnaround from a survey two years earlier in which 71 percent endorsed such a law.”
(Reading: “Numbers of Assisted-Suicide Supporters Getting Smaller According to New Poll,” Portland (Maine) Press Herald, 3/8/00)
WITHDRAWING “TREATMENT”: Researchers analyze the arguments in favor of withdrawing treatment (turning off a pacemaker) from a chronically ill patient who is suffering from “severe dementia.” In a subsection entitled “ending a burdensome life,” the scientists and physicians conclude that at times physician-assisted suicide becomes unnecessary because withdrawal of certain “interventions (turning off a pacemaker) can almost always be accomplished.”
Professor Edmund Pellegrino, commenting on this case, said, “Discontinuance of the pacemaker could be ethically permissible provided the intention was to remove a futile treatment and, thus, to allow the natural history of the illness to proceed unimpeded. The condition of valid double effect would be fulfilled, i.e., the act would be morally neutral; the intention would be good (i.e., to remove ineffective treatment); the good effect would flow from the removal of the impediment to an inevitable death, not from the death of the patient; there would be a proportionate reason to take the action; and no other action would achieve the same end. If, however, the surrogates’ or medical attendants’ intentions were to hasten death intentionally or to end a life they unilaterally judged to be of ‘no quality,’ then removal of the pacemaker would not be morally licit.”
COMMENT: One wonders why the pacemaker is “treatment” in one case and life-saving alternative in the another case.
(Reading: “Withdrawing Very Low-Burden Interventions in Chronically Ill Patients,” Journal of the American Medical Association, 2/23/00, pp. 1061-1063; “Decisions to Withdraw Life-Sustaining Treatment,” ibid., pp. 1065-1067)
politics
U.S. BISHOPS REMIND CATHOLIC VOTERS-NO COMPROMISE: In the 1998 document, “Living the Gospel of Life,” the American bishops state, “Real freedom rests on the inviolability of every person as a child of God. The inherent value of human life, at every stage and in every circumstance, is not a sectarian issue any more than the Declaration of Independence is a sectarian creed.” (#6) and “No public official, especially one claiming to be a faithful and serious Catholic, can responsibly advocate for or actively support direct attacks on innocent human life.” (#32)
COMMENT: Note the words “every person” and “direct attacks.” The bishops do not allow for exceptions that permit the continued killing of certain babies.
(Reading: “Living the Gospel of Life,” as quoted in a 3/1/2000 reflection by Father Frank Pavone of Priests for Life)
population control
PERU: Population Research Institute has exposed details regarding the coercive family planning programs in Peru and the evidence of United States AID involvement.
(Reading: “Peru’s Coercive Family Planning Program and USAID Involvement,” Population Research Institute briefing, 3/9/00)
selling sex
ABERCROMBIE AND FITCH: Human Life Alliance notes the ongoing suggestive advertising done by the pricey Abercrombie and Fitch. Boycotting is recommended and we suggest letters and e-mails advising the firm of the reasons why purchasing is not being done. The address for the company is P.O. Box 182168, Reynoldsburg, Ohio 43218, or e-mail through the Abercrombie and Fitch web site.
sexually transmitted disease
MICROBICIDE: Details of the latest research involving these agents “that kill or deactivate disease-causing micro-organisms, technically known as pathogens, including HIV,” are available on the Centers for Disease Control web site. The Alan Guttmacher Institute claims “women’s health advocates are convinced that microbicides could have a significant impact on public health worldwide.”
(Reading: “Campaign to Accelerate Microbicide Development for STD Prevention Gets Under Way,” Guttmacher Report on Public Policy, 2/00, p. 3)
united nations
FEMINIST INVOLVMENT: Ongoing reports on the feminist agenda and various pro-death projects such as CEDAW can be found on the United Nations website.
you
EMMA LAZARUS PROJECT: Visit a site where the first message to the reader is that every baby already IS a wanted baby. A Christian project with a view toward arranging adoptions and affirming life.
reflection for prayer
Practice prayer from the beginning. Paint your house with the colors of modesty and humility. Make it radiant with the light of justice. Decorate it with the finest gold leaf of good deeds. Adorn it with the walls and stones of faith and generosity. Crown it with the pinnacle of prayer. In this way you will make it a perfect dwelling place for the Lord. You will be able to receive Him as in a splendid palace and through His grace you will already possess Him, His image enthroned in the temple of your spirit.
-Saint John Chrysostom, bishop