in this issue:
hot button issues: PLANNED PARENTHOOD I / PLANNED PARENTHOOD II
abortion: EFFICACY / EUGENICS / RISKS
culture of death: BRITAIN / CHOICE / FRAMING A DEBATE / GUARDIAN OF THE YEAR?
culture of life: VIRGINIA
dark side: NARAL NY
stem cell research: HEART ATTACK VICTIMS / SPINAL CORD / WASHINGTON POST
wisdom: BISHOPS
zinger: WISCONSIN
reflection for prayer: FAITH
hot button issues
PLANNED PARENTHOOD I: An animated presentation on the Planned Parenthood Golden Gate web site shows a “Superhero for Choice” blowing up pro-life picketers and drowning an abstinence educator. American Life League’s STOPP International is demanding that Planned Parenthood “reveal the names of all persons involved in the development and posting of this outrageous material and immediately dismiss all individuals involved from their positions as employees or volunteers. We also demand that Planned Parenthood issue a public apology without delay to pro-life Christians everywhere for inciting violence against them.”
On Tuesday, the link to the video was removed from the PPGG web site. On Thursday, what appeared to be a link was returned to the site, but the link was inactive. As of this issue’s publication, the video was still available online.
(Reading: “Planned Parenthood hides pro-violence video, but can’t run away from organization’s failures,” American Life League news release, 8/11/05; “Planned Parenthood animated short glorifies violence against Christians,” American Life League news release, 8/8/05)
PLANNED PARENTHOOD II: Blogger Dawn Eden is encouraging readers to contact their local media outlets and request coverage of the Planned Parenthood video this Sunday, pointing out that Planned Parenthood Golden Gate gets 53 percent of its funding from government sources. She notes that Sunday is August 14, the feast of St. Maximilian Kolbe.
(Reading: “How to make Planned Parenthood’s cartoon blow up in its face (non-violently, of course),” The Dawn Patrol, 8/11/05)
abortion
EFFICACY: Researchers find that those abortions performed after laminaria is inserted in the cervix are significantly faster than those after misoprostol. It is reported that using misoprostol is not as efficient when dilation is needed before a 13-to-16-week-old preborn child is aborted. Researchers report 84 mothers enrolled in this trial.
(Reading: “Misoprostol compared with laminaria before early second-trimester surgical abortion: a randomized trial,” Obstetrics and Gynecology, 8/1/05, pp. 234-241)
EUGENICS: Columnist George Neumayer points out that increasing numbers of abortions are performed on preborn babies who are screened for disabilities. “Medical researchers estimate that 80 percent or more of babies now prenatally diagnosed with Down syndrome are aborted.”
(Reading: “The abortion debate that wasn’t,” Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 7/17/05)
RISKS: Federal health investigators are looking into why four California women have died from bloodstream infection after using mifepristone (RU-486).
(Reading: “Infection deaths and abortion pill probed,” Associated Press, 8/2/05)
culture of death
BRITAIN: The Family Planning Association claims that Britain could save nearly a billion pounds by investing more money in abortion and birth control services. Research shows that “cutting abortion waiting times by ten days would mean more women were eligible for early medical abortions.”
COMMENT: More efficient use of procedures designed to kill little people will result in cost savings.
(Reading: “Sex health services could save,” Daily Mail, 7/31/05)
CHOICE: April Thompson says when she told her Atlanta employer she was pregnant, she was given a choice: get an abortion or get fired. She refused to have an abortion and says she was indeed fired. Thompson is now suing her former employer.
(Reading: “Firm ordered abortion, ex-employee says,” Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 8/4/05)
FRAMING A DEBATE: Professor Dianne Irving has prepared an exhaustive bibliography on human embryonic stem cells that demonstrates obfuscations perpetrated by proponents of the deadly research.
(Reading: “Framing the debates on human cloning and human embryonic stem cells: Pluripotent vs. totipotent,” Life Issues, 7/23/05)
GUARDIAN OF THE YEAR? The Florida State Guardianship Association said Michael Schiavo was a controversial choice, but the group commended him for honoring his wife’s wishes. Brother Paul O’Donnell, who counseled Terri Schiavo’s family, called the award “outrageous.”
(Reading: “Michael Schiavo named Guardian of the Year,” Associated Press, 8/7/05)
culture of life
HOPE IN VIRGINIA: Susan Torres, following a stroke she suffered in May, was kept alive so her preborn daughter would have a chance to live. On August 2, her daughter was born. The following day, Torres died when her ventilator and the feeding tube were removed.
(Reading: “Brain dead Virginia woman dies after giving birth,” USA Today, 8/4/05)
dark side
NARAL NY: The New York Times offers insight into the question, “What kind of person runs a pro-abortion organization?” with a feature on Kelli Conlin, director of NARAL Pro-Choice New York. She has 2-year-old twins (the product of in vitro fertilization) and a “partner” of 10 years who’s referred to as “she.” Conlin described herself as a “semi-practicing Catholic” who is “pro-choice because of my faith, and not in spite of it.”
(Reading: “Choosing when to be a mother hen,” New York Times, 8/5/05)
stem cell research
HEART ATTACK VICTIMS: Researchers in Baltimore claim adult stem cells could be used to repair injured muscles of the heart.
(Reading: “Stem cells to be tested in heart attack patients,” Associated Press, 7/25/05)
SPINAL CORD: Researchers find that genetically engineered stem cells can help rats with severed spinal cords so that the cord grows back together.
(Reading: “Stem cells heal spinal cords in study on rats,” Reuters, 7/27/05)
WASHINGTON POST: The paper has discovered “fierce opposition” to human embryonic stem cell research in flyover country, where research centers are dangling lucrative incentives to state and local governments to build high-tech stem cell testing grounds. The article suggests something akin to a red-state/blue-state division over use of human embryos in research.
(Reading: “In heartland, stem cell research meets fierce opposition,” Washington Post, 8/10/05)
wisdom
BISHOPS: Father Kenneth Baker maintains, “there are many holy priests who would make excellent bishops. They are routinely passed over because they are not part of the establishment in the chancery office. We need a system that will identify them and nominate them to become bishops.”
(Reading: “On choosing bishops,” Homiletic and Pastoral Review, 4/03, p. 80)
zinger
WISCONSIN: If you ever wondered how bad politics can get, think about the recent “gift” pro-life Assembly Speaker John Gard, who is a vocal opponent of human cloning, received from his state’s governor. Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle sent Gard a bag of used hypodermic needles from a woman whose daughter has juvenile diabetes. The governor refused to apologize.
(Reading: “Monday Update,” Pro-Life Wisconsin, 8/1/05)
reflection for prayer
FAITH: “If we measure the possibility of success according to the standards of fast food, ease of use, and other comfort ratings, Christ’s while message becomes impossible. At best, all that is left is to become a ‘Cafeteria Catholic,” where you pick and choose as you please, and where the cross and sacrifice are left untouched. But Cafeteria Catholicism is not what Christ came to the world to bring. Cafeteria Catholicism is the consequence of a lack of a living and dynamic faith. We need to ask Our Lord to preserve in us the gift of faith. We need to ask Him to increase that faith so it will be our light and streng5th to follow in his footsteps. We need to ask for a faith that will allow us to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and never lose sight of who He is: the only Son of God.”
(Reading: “Walking on solid ground,” Regnum Christi, 8/2/05)