in this issue:
hot button issues: FDA / MS. MAGAZINE / RIGHT TO LIFE ACT
abortion: DEAD BABY FOUND
activism: CONFERENCE / LAITY FOR LIFE
catholic bishops: BAKER
euthanasia: JUST SAY NO / MINIMALLY CONSCIOUS / SCHIAVO / TEXAS
human embryology: EARLY DEVELOPMENT
morning-after abortion pill: MODE OF ACTION
politics: FRIST
stem cell research / ethical: BONES / FAT
stem cell research / unethical: COMMENTARY
tax dollars: NEW YORK
vaccines: HPV
wisdom: DYING TEACHES ONE TO LIVE
zinger: FDA
reflection for prayer: ST. TERESA OF AVILA
hot button issues
FDA: The Food and Drug Administration will reconsider Barr Laboratories’ request to make the Plan B emergency contraceptive available over the counter for women over 18. “American Life League is aghast that the FDA has caved to mounting political pressures,” said ALL’s Judie Brown.
ACTION: Tell President Bush he must use his executive authority and overrule the FDA. Call the White House at 202-456-1111 or “>e-mail .
(Reading: “FDA must just say no to OTC sale of Plan B,” American Life League news release, 7/31/06)
MS. MAGAZINE: The publication is promoting a “we had abortions” petition campaign. “These women are celebrating an act of violence that has proven traumatic for millions of mothers and deadly for their innocent preborn children,” said ALL’s Judie Brown.
(Reading: “Ms. Magazine campaign highlights pro-abortion cruelty,” American Life League news release, 7/31/06)
RIGHT TO LIFE ACT: With the addition of the 100th Congressional sponsor to the Right to Life Act (http://www.RightToLifeAct.org), the pro-life movement has reached an important milestone in its quest to end the slaughter of innocent preborn children by abortion.
(Reading: Congressional assault on abortion reaches milestone,” American Life League news release, 8/1/06)
abortion
DEAD BABY FOUND: A Hialeah, Florida abortion facility is being investigated because of “the gruesome discovery of a dead baby’s body.”
(Reading: “Dead baby found in Hialeah abortion clinic,” WFOR-TV, 7/28/06)
activism
CONFERENCE: The Pro-Life Action League’s Contraception is Not the Answer conference, scheduled September 22-23 in Chicago, is a must for pro-lifers dedicated to the total eradication of abortion.
LAITY FOR LIFE: Learn about an organization dedicated to providing spiritual and moral support for pro-life activist Catholics, training Catholics and others, and helping encourage church financial support for pro-life activities.
catholic bishops
BAKER: Bishop Robert Baker’s clear, definitive statement on stem cells is worth reading.
(Reading: “Catholic teaching on embryonic stem-cell research,” The New Catholic Miscellany, 8/23/01)
euthanasia
JUST SAY NO: When doctors attempted to discontinue life support for Pamela Winnick’s father because he “should die with dignity,” she persisted in protecting him. Her father is now home and doing well.
(Reading: “Doctors kept asking to let my father die: Wall Street journalist,” Life Site News, 7/26/06)
MINIMALLY CONSCIOUS: Explaining that “the minimally conscious state refers to those patients who show minimal but definite evidence of consciousness,” the Lancet is calling for guidelines concerning diagnosis and treatment for patients diagnosed as being in this category.
(Reading: “The minimally conscious state: a call for guidelines,” The Lancet, 7/15/06)
SCHIAVO: Michael Schiavo’s political antics are analyzed by June Maxam in an excellent commentary.
(Reading: “The political exploitation of Terri Schiavo,” North Country Gazette, 7/14/06)
TEXAS: The family of Kalilah Roberson-Reese, a 29-year-old woman who suffered brain damage after her breathing tube became disconnected, is fighting hospital efforts to remove all her life support.
(Reading: “Family fighting Houston hospital’s efforts to remove life support,” Associated Press, 7/8/06)
human embryology
EARLY DEVELOPMENT: A complete table of early human embryonic development has been compiled by Professor Dianne Irving.
(Reading: “The Carnegie stages of early human embryonic development,” Life Issues, 4/22/06)
morning-after abortion pill
MODE OF ACTION: James Trussell, M.D., points out that so-called emergency contraceptives “may prevent pregnancy by delaying or inhibiting fertilization, or inhibiting implantation of a fertilized egg.” He writes that other effects such as alterations in the tubal transport of sperm, egg or embryo are also possible. He further claims that “social conservatives wage a scientifically inaccurate campaign wrongly portraying ECPs as abortifacient.”
COMMENT: Of course Trussell denies that pregnancy begins when the baby’s life begins at fertilization.
(Reading: “Mechanism of action of emergency contraceptive pills,” Contraception, 74 (2006) 87-89)
politics
FRIST: Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, who supports human embryonic stem cell research, said that “Republicans who oppose abortion rights could still support him” and went on to say that “the Republican Party has both the diversity of views — still, a pro-life position — and the support of science.”
COMMENT: Not when “science” acts to kill innocent embryonic children.
(Reading: “Frist: abortion opponents can back me despite vote,” Des Moines Register, 7/28/06)
stem cell research / ethical
BONES: Patients’ own bone marrow stem cells have been successfully used to help repair broken bones that were failing to mend properly. The stem cells help form new bone and heal the fracture.
(Reading: “Stem cells help broken bones heal,” London Daily Telegraph, 7/29/06)
FAT: Stem cells from human fat can be transformed into smooth muscle cells, offering a way to treat heart, gastrointestinal and bladder disease.
(Reading: “Fat stem cells turn into muscle,” Reuters, 7/27/06)
stem cell research / unethical
COMMENTARY: Explaining that “leftover” human embryos are frequently forgotten as children by their parents, law professor Richard Stith compares embryo destruction and abortion.
(Reading: “Why embryo destruction is worse than abortion,” Life Site News, 7/19/06)
tax dollars
NEW YORK: When pro-lifer Lorraine Gariboldi told the media about Planned Parenthood’s “promotion of bestiality,” Nassau County executive Ton Suozzi rescinded a $90,000 grant he had promised to Gariboldi’s Life Center of Long Island.
COMMENT: It doesn’t pay to dance with the devil.
(Reading: “Anti-abortion program loses funding over comments about Planned Parenthood,” Newsday, 7/27/06)
vaccines
HPV: A little-known fact about the new human papilloma virus vaccine is that “studies have shown that the vaccine is effective for 3 � years.” Yet the CDC is recommending widespread vaccination of young, grade-school age children.
(Reading: “Local doctors have high hopes for HPV vaccine,” The Coloradoan, 7/14/04)
wisdom
DYING TEACHES ONE TO LIVE: Fr. Patrick Howell, S.J., writes: “The Christian notion views death not as a good end, but as a good transition into a fuller life. Death becomes for the Christian (or other believers) a source of spiritual liberation — enabling us to love the things of this world as they ought to be lived, with an open heart and generous hands — and to answer God’s final summons with peace, and perhaps even joy.”
(Reading: “How dying teaches us to live right,” Seattle Times, 7/15/06)
zinger
FDA: A recent editorial claims that “public confidence in the FDA is the lowest it has been for years.”
COMMENT: Is it any wonder when the FDA has been lying to women about birth control chemicals that kill for nearly 40 years, and has turned a blind eye to the deaths caused by RU-486? Of course we are certain this is not why the culture is concerned with the FDA since abortion is not killing but a matter of choice.
(Reading: “Is the FDA going easy on violators?” The Lancet, 7/8/06)
reflection for prayer
ST. TERESA OF AVILA: “My God, it does not fit those of us who want to be your true children, and hold on to their inheritance, to flee suffering.”