in this issue:
hot button issues: NONSENSE / PLANNED PARENTHOOD / PRO-LIFE MEMORIAL DAY / ROCK FOR LIFE
abortion: ACCESS / AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
amazing: IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE
birth control: INTRA UTERINE INJECTION / RISKS
euthanasia: INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM / LOUISIANA
planned parenthood: MISSOURI / OHIO
stem cell research / strategy: MISSOURI
vaccines: TEXAS
zinger: KENTUCKY
reminders: 40 DAYS FOR LIFE / LIFE CHAIN / SAVING THOSE DAMNED CATHOLICS / ULTRASOUND VIDEO
reflection for prayer: NARROW GATES
hot button issues
NONSENSE: ALL’s Judie Brown responds to a recent column in which she was referred to as a member of the “God squad” and the “anti-choice brigade” for defending pro-life principles.
Reading: “Anti-life nonsense,” American Life League, 8/30/07
PLANNED PARENTHOOD: The organization isn’t just pushing its sex education program to teens any more. It is now targeting their parents as well.
Reading: “No real help,” American Life League, 8/29/07
PRO-LIFE MEMORIAL DAY: The first Monday in October, the day the U.S. Supreme Court begins its new session, marks American Life League’s annual event honoring the memory of the babies lost to abortion. This year’s date is October 1.
TO ORDER: The official T-shirt of ALL’s Pro-life Memorial Day 2007 is available online.
ROCK FOR LIFE: In the most recent issue of ALL’s Celebrate Life magazine, Keith Ashley of Rock for Life’s Kansas chapter writes of the epidemic of unplanned pregnancies and how both women and men can avoid regret and sorrow.
Reading: “Lost fatherhood,” Celebrate Life, 7-8/07
abortion
ACCESS: The journal Contraception has published a new analysis on abortion access.
Reading: “Maintaining access to safe abortion in the United States: a post-Gonzales primer and guide to action,” Contraception, 9/07
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL CHALLENGED: Excellent opposition to the recent pro-abortion position adopted by Amnesty International is provided by American Life League’s Rock for Life and by Human Life International’s president, Father Tom Euteneuer.
Reading: “Pro-life rockers clash with Amnesty,” Catholic News Agency, 8/27/07 / “Pro-life rock stars ‘duped’ by Amnesty,” World Net Daily, 8/26/07 / “Amnesty International: what part of human rights don’t you understand?” Human Life International, 8/24/07
amazing
IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE: Please take a moment to watch the remarkable accomplishments of a gentleman suffering from ALS. The video lasts but a minute; the impact far longer.
Video: “In the blink of an eye,” Aish HaTorah
birth control
INTRA UTERINE INJECTION: Research led by Zhao-gui Sun indicates that a single injection of 4-(2-aminoethyl) benzenesulfonyl fluoride hydrochloride will inhibit embryo implantation. They claim this would provide yet another “novel” approach to birth control.
Reading: “A single intrauterine injection of the serine protease inhibitor 4-(2-aminoethyl)benzenesulfonyl fluoride hydrochloride reversibly inhibits embryo implantation in mice,” Contraception, 9/07,pp. 250-255
RISKS: Researcher Jeri Nieves has found that oral contraceptive use and loss of normal menstrual function may negatively impact bone health.
Reading: “Oral contraceptives, other factors reduce bone mass,” Nutrition and Metabolism, 8/26/07
euthanasia
INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM: A conference will be held November 30 in Toronto to discuss pro-life tactics and strategy for the coming years.
Reading: “International symposium on euthanasia and assisted suicide,” Euthanasia Prevention Coalition Newsletter, 5/07
LOUISIANA: CNN reports a New Orleans grand jury that declined to indict a doctor on charges that she murdered patients in the days following Katrina never heard testimony from five medical experts, each of whom concluded that as many as nine of the dead were victims of homicide.
Reading: “Medical experts never testified in Katrina hospital deaths,” CNN, 8/26/07
planned parenthood
MISSOURI: A federal judge temporarily blocked a new Missouri law that would have required abortion clinics, including Planned Parenthood, to meet state building, staffing and health standards. Planned Parenthood argued that if it were to abide by the new law, it would “have to halt abortions at its Columbia and Kansas City offices.”
Reading: “Judge blocks new Missouri abortion law,” Associated Press, 8/28/07
OHIO: In a not-so-surprising case, an Ohio appeals court has ruled that Cincinnati Planned Parenthood does not have to turn over all records of abortions given to patients under 18 years of age. The court said “the burden of disclosure on Planned Parenthood and its patients would exceed the value of the records.”
Reading: “Planned parenthood wins records case,” Cincinnati Enquirer, 8/24/07
stem cell research/ strategy
MISSOURI: As pro-lifers in Missouri fight against the effects of Amendment 2, a new group, Cures Without Cloning, is proposing a ballot measure for 2008 which would clarify the differences between ethical and unethical research.
vaccines
TEXAS: Eight-year-old Garrett Bowen will not be attending Catholic school this year because the Austin diocese refuses to admit him until he receives vaccines which his parents oppose.
Reading: “Family fights Catholic diocese over vaccine requirement,” Austin American-Statesman, 8/10/07
zinger
KENTUCKY: The mother of a disabled child was found guilty of attempting to starve her daughter to death. She was sentenced to ten years in prison. The mother’s attorney said Ronda Ferrell “may have made bad choices over the course of Danyelle’s care, but what would be accomplished by sending this woman to prison?”
COMMENT: What? “This woman” attempted to murder her child. The term “bad choice” hardly seems adequate, even for an attorney.
Reading: “Mother sentenced for starving disabled child,” WLKY-TV, 8/21/07
reminders
40 DAYS FOR LIFE: Grassroots pro-lifers in more than 80 communities will participate in the first-ever national 40 Days for Life campaign this fall. The project is based on an event that began in Bryan/College Station, Texas in 2004 and has spread to a half dozen other communities in the three years since. It combines prayer and fasting, a round-the-clock vigil outside an abortion facility and community outreach.
LIFE CHAIN: Mark your calendars now and check online for a Life Chain in your area. The annual event is scheduled for October 7.
SAVING THOSE DAMNED CATHOLICS: Of Judie Brown’s latest book, one reader writes, “The book mentions many things that bother me about the polarizing of the bishops over abortion and other life issues and their silence on these issues. Glad to know I’m not imagining it. Thank you for talking about it and exposing it!”
TO ORDER: “Saving Those Damned Catholics” is available from ALL in hardcover or paperback. Call 866-LET-LIVE or purchase online.
ULTRASOUND VIDEO: “Baby Steps: Live from the womb, 16 stages of pre-birth development,” is an amazing new video from American Life League that many in the pregnancy center movement say is certain to save lives. The video features dramatic 4-D ultrasound images of preborn babies from 8 to 34 weeks development.
TO ORDER: The “Baby Steps” DVD is available from ALL for $9.95 plus shipping and handling. Call 866-LET-LIVE toll-free, or purchase online.
reflection for prayer
NARROW GATES: When Jesus speaks of the narrow gate, he is saying that salvation is not a birthright or something guaranteed. It depends on our active cooperation with his grace — the real effort to love God and follow his will. “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15). Jesus warned that not everyone who cries out, “Lord, Lord…” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but those who do the will of his Father in heaven. Obedience to God’s will is the best assurance we can have of our salvation. What is there in my life that is not in accord with his will?
Reading: “The one thing necessary,” Regnum Christi, 8/26/07