in this issue:
hot button issues: PLANNED PARENTHOOD / PRO-LIFE MEMORIAL DAY / WHO ARE YOU?
action alert: PLAN B
abortion: KANSAS
abortion and breast cancer: MAINSTREAM MEDIA
in vitro fertilization: EMBRYO SCREENING
morning-after abortion pill: NEW HAMPSHIRE
politics: SUPREME COURT
ru-486: CALIFORNIA SPIN
stem cell research: KIDNEY FAILURE
reflection for prayer: MATTHEW 22:37-40
hot button issues
PLANNED PARENTHOOD: American Life League’s STOPP International has called on Planned Parenthood’s national headquarters to condemn a video posted on an affiliate’s web site. Planned Parenthood Golden Gate offered an animated short that showed a “superhero” character vaporizing pro-life demonstrators and drowning an abstinence advocate. There has been no comment from Planned Parenthood regarding the violent feature.
As of this issue’s publication date, the video is available online.
(Reading: “Planned Parenthood silent on violent video; does organization agree with its message?” American Life League news release, 8/16/05)
PRO-LIFE MEMORIAL DAY: American Life League has set aside October 3 as the first Pro-life Memorial Day to recognize the 46 million babies surgically aborted since the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision. ALL is petitioning President Bush to officially proclaim the first Monday in October as National Pro-life Memorial Day. American Life League’s official T-shirt for Pro-life Memorial Day is available online.
WHO ARE YOU? The latest column from American Life League’s Judie Brown looks at Sen. Bill Frist’s about-face on human embryonic stem cell research and reactions to his recent statements.
(Reading: “Mistaken identity,” American Life League, 8/18/05)
action alert
PLAN B: A major drug company is asking the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s permission to sell Plan B, a so-called emergency contraceptive, over the counter — without requiring a doctor’s prescription. Plan B is also known as a “morning-after” pill. An FDA decision is expected before the end of the month. The company, Barr Laboratories, says Plan B “prevents pregnancy.”
COMMENT: That statement is based on deception. Plan B can act to take the life of a tiny preborn baby in the first days after fertilization. This, of course, is not contraception. It is abortion.
(Action: Please contact the commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and tell him the government must NOT permit this dangerous drug to be sold over the counter. Furthermore, demand that this product be removed from the marketplace altogether. Please forward this message to your friends and relatives and ask them to do the same. Contact Mr. Lester Crawford, Commissioner, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 5600 Fishers Lane, Rockville, MD 20857. Phone: 301-827-2410. E-mail: )
abortion
KANSAS: Right to Life of Kansas, an American Life League associate group, praised the efforts of state attorney general Phill Kline, who filed suit to bring an end to state subsidies for abortions. The group’s Elmer Feldkamp said, “There is no legal defense for the state of Kansas to spend one cent on elective abortion. Such expenditures must be stopped.”
(Reading: “Kline’s lawsuit defends the humanity of the next generation of Kansans,” Right to Life of Kansas news release, 8/17/05)
abortion and breast cancer
MAINSTREAM MEDIA: The Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer has slammed Glamour magazine for reporting the link between abortion and breast cancer has been disproved. If that were true, said the coalition’s Karen Malec, “why did British researcher Patrick Carroll present new research to the Joint Statistical Meetings in Minneapolis on August 10 showing abortion to be the ‘best predictor of British breast cancer trends’?”
(Reading: “Glamour magazine disinforms its readers about abortion-cancer link,” Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer news release, 8/15/05)
in vitro fertilization
EMBRYO SCREENING: The Telegraph’s medical correspondent reports, “Embryo screening to stop babies being born with genes that might lead to cancer in later life is being considered by Britain’s fertility watchdog.” The presumption is that the living human embryos that “fail” the screening test will not be selected for implantation and will either be discarded or destroyed for research.
(Reading: “Embryos could be screened for cancer,” The Telegraph, 8/12/05)
morning-after abortion pill
NEW HAMPSHIRE: A law permitting pharmacists to sell so-called emergency contraception without a doctor’s prescription took effect on Monday, but it could be two months before the first drugs are actually dispensed. The state must establish rules for the program, and train any pharmacists who wish to participate.
(Reading: “Emergency pill not yet on shelves,” Nashua Tribune, 8/14/05)
politics
SUPREME COURT: The Washington Post reports Supreme Court nominee John Roberts wrote in a 1985 memo concerning a funeral service for aborted babies in California that the event was “an entirely appropriate means of calling attention to the abortion tragedy.” The statement was in a document released by the Ronald Reagan Library. Meanwhile, others are criticizing Roberts for donating his legal services to the plaintiffs in a lawsuit described as a “gay rights” case.
(Reading: “Memo cited ‘abortion tragedy,'” Washington Post, 8/16/05; “2 conservative groups oppose Roberts,” World Net Daily, 8/10/05)
ru-486
CALIFORNIA SPIN: The Los Angeles Times reports state health officials want to know more about the deaths of four women who took the RU-486 abortion pill. The paper quotes Vicki Saporta of the National Abortion Federation as claiming, “Childbirth is 10 to 13 times riskier than having an abortion, either medical or surgical,” and notes the World Health Organization has placed RU-486 on a list of drugs “essential to healthcare needs in developing countries.”
(Reading: “Abortion pill investigated in four California deaths,” Los Angeles Times, 8/15/05)
stem cell research
KIDNEY FAILURE: The heading above an article about the application of stem cell research to patients suffering from kidney failure tells the whole story: “Score one for ‘adult’ stem cells.”
(Reading: “Stem cells bring fast direct improvement, without differentiation, in acute renal failure,” American Physiological Society news release, 8/15/05)
reflection for prayer
MATTHEW 22:37-40: You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.