in this issue:
activism: TEST TUBE PROTEST / WORLD FAMILY CONFERENCE
cloning: KENTUCKY / WISCONSIN
media: BLACK HOLE?
morning-after abortion pills: FLORIDA / VIRGINIA / WANT THE TRUTH?
politics: EXCEPTIONS / PLOY / POSTSCRIPT
ru-486: EARLY OPTION
semantics: DOUBLESPEAK
vox populi: MUDDLED MIDDLE
reflection for prayer: POPE JOHN PAUL II
activism
TEST TUBE PROTEST: American Life League’s campaign against in vitro fertilization continues Feb. 2 with a demonstration at the offices of the Jones Institute for Reproductive Medicine at 8501 Arlington Blvd. in Farifax, Va. The campaign is designed to generate awareness of the fact that embryonic babies die in the in vitro procedures.
(Reading: “Babies are aborted in ‘test tube’ clinics, too,” American Life League news release, 1/29/02, also in RealAudio; also see “In vitro fertilization undermines human dignity“)
WORLD FAMILY CONFERENCE: Plans are unfolding for American Life League’s next Celebration of Life World Family Conference, scheduled for July 10-14 in New Orleans. Speakers include former ambassador Alan Keyes, Life Dynamics founder Mark Crutcher and Omaha Archbishop Elden Curtiss. Conference outlines and registration information may be found online.
cloning
KENTUCKY: A bill proposed in the state house (HB 138) would ban human cloning. Experimentation that uses “cloning techniques to produce molecules, DNA, cells other than human embryos, tissues, organs, plants, or animals other than humans” would be allowed.
WISCONSIN: Lawmakers are considering two measures related to human cloning. AB 699 bans two cloning methods for any reason. SB 379, however, would allow the “clone and kill” option. This bill prohibits only “cloning or attempting to clone a human being,” which is described in the bill as intentionally using a cloned human embryo “to initiate a pregnancy that is intended to result in the birth of a human being.”
media
BLACK HOLE? Commentator Thomas Droleskey observes that once again this year, the March for Life was a non-event for many major media outlets, despite the fact that tens of thousands of people attended. “Ah, some sanctimonious apologists of the fascism of the American Left will say that the march is not news, that the same people gather every year to say the same thing,” he writes. “I guarantee you that a gathering of homosexual and lesbian activists which took place every year would receive complete news coverage.”
(Reading: “The fascism of the new left,” Griffin Internet Syndicate, 1/24/02)
morning-after abortion pills
FLORIDA: A state house committee has okayed a bill that would require hospitals to either provide the so-called morning-after pill to rape victims, or refer them to a medical center which offers the abortifacient prescription. The bill seems aimed at Catholic hospitals, since most other Florida hospitals offer the pills. The bill does not contain a religious exemption.
(Reading: “Bill would help rape victims prevent pregnancy,” Tallahassee Democrat, 1/25/02)
VIRGINIA: Legislators are considering a bill (HB 1263) that would allow pharmacists to dispense morning-after abortion pills without a doctor’s prescription. A reader poll accompanies the online version of this story from the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot. So far, almost 60 percent of those voting favor the proposal.
(Reading: “Emergency birth control pill gains in popularity,” [Norfolk] Virginian-Pilot, 1/26/02 — don’t forget to vote!)
WANT THE TRUTH? New research by Chris Kahlenborn, M.D., Joseph B. Stanford, M.D., MSPH, and Walter L. Larimore, M.D., is reported in the “Annals of Pharmacology.” Their study “shows evidence that morning-after pill drug regimens may cause the death of a living embryo by blocking its attempts to attach inside the uterus.” The doctors recommend full disclosure of this information to women who ask for a “morning-after” pill prescription, and note that the study “could have an impact on current, controversial efforts to make morning-after pill regimens available over the counter nationwide.”
(Reading: “Does the morning-after pill prevent pregnancy, or cause abortion?” Annals of Pharmacology news release, 1/22/02)
politics
EXCEPTIONS: Colleen Parro of the Republican National Coalition for Life asks, “How can protection of the right to life be restored when important leaders in the pro-life movement endorse as ‘pro-life’ politicians whose commitment and actions do not match their rhetoric?” She notes that President Bush tolerates abortion in cases of rape or incest, or in instances where the mother’s life is said to be in danger.
(Reading: “The exception makes the rule: ‘Pro-life with exceptions’ a contradiction in terms,” Republican National Coalition for Life FaxNotes, 1/22/02)
PLOY: In Los Angeles, Planned Parenthood is backing the Reproductive Privacy Act (SB 1301), a California bill that would keep abortion legal in the state even if the Supreme Court were to overturn Roe v. Wade and other key decisions.
(Reading: “Planned Parenthood Los Angeles urges support for Reproductive Privacy Act in California,” PPLA news release, 1/22/02)
POSTSCRIPT: In the news release cited above, Planned Parenthood Los Angeles claims, “Before Roe v. Wade, approximately 5,000 women a year died as a result of illegal abortion.” However, statistics from the Centers for Disease Control indicate that in 1972, the year before the Roe v. Wade ruling was issued, 90 women died from illegal abortions. Said former abortionist Bernard Nathanson, M.D., one of the founders of NARAL, “I confess that I knew the figures [5,000 to 10,000 annual deaths] were totally false, and I suppose the others did too if they stopped to think of it. But in the ‘morality’ of our revolution, it was a useful figure, widely accepted, so why go out of our way to correct it with honest statistics?”
(Reading: Pro-Life Activists’ Encyclopedia, Chapter 59)
ru-486
EARLY OPTION: The term “RU-486” fails to appear a single time in a three-page National Abortion Federation newsletter, even though the abortion pill is the primary focus. The NAF uses the generic name “mifepristone” a few times, but prefers to latch onto terms like “medical abortion” and “the early option pill.” The NAF proudly trumpets that it has “educated 3,450 healthcare professionals” about RU-486 over the past two years, “often in partnership with the CAPS project of Planned Parenthood.”
(Reading: “Early options e-mail update,” National Abortion Federation, 1/22/02)
semantics
DOUBLESPEAK: In a special report, Covenant News notes, “as we began researching several current federal policies and laws dealing with the funding of abortions in many other countries, we were amazed to see how the federal steamroller exploits language in precisely the way Orwell predicted.” The report tracks the effects of language in the Mexico City Policy, in USAID programs, and in dealings with other “groups at the public hog trough.”
(Reading: “Family planning: An exercise in doublespeak,” Covenant News, 1/24/02)
vox populi
MUDDLED MIDDLE: A new Gallup poll claims most Americans are fence sitters when it comes to abortion. Some 56 percent of those questioned say abortion is okay in some cases, but not in others; 26 percent say all abortions should be legal; only 17 percent agreed with the statement that abortion should never be legal. However, 39 percent say abortion laws should be made more strict.
(Reading: “Americans still not content with abortion laws, but majority would keep abortion legal,” Gallup News Service, 1/22/02)
reflection for prayer
POPE JOHN PAUL II: Man’s life comes from God; it is his gift, his image and imprint, a sharing in his breath of life. God therefore is the sole Lord of this life: man cannot do with it as he wills.
(Reading: “Evangelium Vitae,” section 39)