in this issue:
activism: PRO LIFE PARISH ONLINE
birth control: AMA
birth control and health insurance: AFL/CIO and ALLIES
chemical abortion: TRANSDERMAL PATCH
disability rights: EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
ethics: HUMAN BEINGS — COPY OR KILL?
pregnancy: CONCEPTION OR IMPLANTATION? / UNPLANNED
sex education: BRITAIN
web news: SPUC
reflection for prayer: FATIMA PRAYER
activism
PRO-LIFE PARISH ONLINE: A Catholic parish in Platte Center, Nebraska, promotes the civilization of life, countering the culture of death, by providing citizens with a unique pro-life newsletter, “God’s People for Life,” and an excellent web site. Archbishop Elden Curtiss has commended St. Joseph’s Parish and its pastor, Father Rodney Kniefl.
birth control
AMA: The American Medical Association rejected a resolution that urged doctors to tell their patients that the birth control pill can cause abortions by interfering with implantation. Columnist Chris Weinkopf observed: “The AMA abandoned its usual commitment to full disclosure and opted to leave millions of women in the dark, and millions of unborn children at risk.”
(Reading: “The AMA’s misplaced outrage,” Front Page magazine, 12/19/01)
birth control and health insurance
AFL/CIO and ALLIES: The labor union has passed a resolution committing itself to “work with state and local governments to ensure that state, county, and local governments include contraceptive coverage in their health care plans.” The National Women’s Law Center is also involved in the push and has created a handbook for employees. Planned Parenthood has created a site of its own on this subject: Cover My Pills.
chemical abortion
TRANSDERMAL PATCH: Researchers have shown that breakthrough bleeding does occur among women using the weekly-administered Ortho Evra “contraceptive” patch. This is considered an indication that the chemicals used in the patch can abort.
(Reading: “Efficacy and safety of a transdermal contraceptive system,” Obstetrics and Gynecology, 11/01, pp. 799-805, subscription only; for details on Ortho Evra, see Ortho-McNeil News Center)
disability rights
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: Five members have tabled a disability rights document that would prohibit discrimination against handicapped persons. The Euro-Fam group is asking citizens of European Union nations to write to their members of parliament, urging them to sign this declaration. The deadline is February 28.
(Reading: Euro-Fam Action Alert, 12/20/01)
ethics
HUMAN BEINGS — COPY OR KILL? In a letter to editors, researchers write, “As scientists we are naturally reluctant to close this experimental door. The benefits of clones as sources for experiment and for human therapy must outweigh the potential alternative. We are not aware of the advantages cloning would offer over the dramatic promise of the rapidly emerging science of stem cell culture. Several lines of research are being pursued that promise to provide cell lines for cell transfusion or tissue or organ therapy. Preliminary efforts to initiate support in the new field of regenerative medicine include use of spare embryos, de novo embryos, embryonic germ cells …Quite simply, human cloning threatens humanity through disruption of the social order.”
COMMENT: And killing embryonic babies doesn’t?
(Reading: “Unnatural deeds do breed unnatural troubles,” Fertility and Sterility, 11/01, pp. 1083-1084, subscription only)
pregnancy
CONCEPTION OR IMPLANTATION? Researchers discuss the process of implantation and scientific efforts to understand how the embryo implants in order to assist women who experience miscarriage or infertility. They state, “Only 50 to 60 percent of all conceptions advance beyond 20 weeks of gestation. Of the pregnancies that are lost, 75 percent represent a failure of implantation and are therefore not clinically recognized as pregnancies.” They base this latter claim on a 1988 article.
(Reading: “Implantation and the survival of early pregnancy,” New England Journal of Medicine, 11/8/01, pp. 1400-1408, subscribers only; “Incidence of early pregnancy loss,” New England Journal of Medicine, 7/28/88, pp. 189-194)
UNPLANNED: Researchers argue that a recent study of 314 enlisted Navy women indicates a need for “enhancing reproductive health via compliance with effective contraceptive and sexually transmitted disease prevention methods.” The researchers claim that among the women surveyed, 48.3% of their pregnancies were “unplanned.”
(Reading: “Chlamydial infection and unplanned pregnancy in women with ready access to health care,” Obstetrics and Gynecology, 12/01, pp. 1117-1123, subscription only)
sex education
BRITIAN: Researchers interviewed 11,161 persons between the age of 16 and 44 with the goal of establishing sexual behavior patterns. One commentator opined that schools should be focused on empirical evidence indicating that in-school programs “are effective in modifying attitudes, beliefs and behaviours associated with pregnancy and STI [sexually transmitted infections] … Efficacy in preventing behaviours associated with unintended pregnancy and STI must remain the primary and sole criterion by which programmes are judged, no matter how widely applied, politically viable, or popular a program may be.”
COMMENT: God is dead; long live the statistics.
(Reading: “Development of programmes for enhancing sexual health,” The Lancet, 12/1/01, pp. 1828-1829; “Sexual behaviour in Britain: Partnerships, practices, and HIV risk behaviours,” The Lancet, 12/1/01, pp. 1835-1842)
web news
SPUC: A daily pro-life news briefing from around the world is available from Britain’s Society for the Protection of Unborn Children.
reflection for prayer
FATIMA PRAYER: “My God, I believe, I adore, I hope and I love Thee! I ask pardon of Thee for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not hope and do not love Thee!”
(Reading: The seven Fatima prayers)