in this issue:
abortion: SOUTH DAKOTA
brave new world: EGGS ONLINE / TAXES AT WORK / WORDS FROM THE POPE
catholic bishops: BURKE
catholic heroes: GIANNA BERETTA MOLLA / JEROME LEJEUNE
euthanasia: RIGHT VS. WRONG / SCHIAVO
planned parenthood: GUTTMACHER / TEXAS / WISCONSIN
politics: PRYOR / VANISHING EVANGELICALS
strategy: WORDS MATTER
reflection for prayer: PSALM 27:1, 4-5
abortion
SOUTH DAKOTA: A bill that was touted as an effort to ban all abortions in the state has cleared both houses of the legislature. But the Associated Press reports the bill has been amended so that “Abortions would be banned unless a woman’s health or life are in jeopardy.” Concerning this bill, the Aberdeen American News reported, “The National Right to Life Committee is staying silent.”
(Reading: “Abortion bill passes,” Associated Press, 2/25/04; “Abortion foes turning up heat,” Aberdeen American News, 2/24/04)
brave new world
EGGS ONLINE: Calls for tighter legislation to regulate trafficking in human eggs have been issued, following the announcement that human eggs would be offered for sale over the internet. London’s Evening Standard reports, ” The eggs will sell for thousands of pounds, with huge payments for donors and middlemen collecting hefty ‘introductory’ fees.”
(Reading: “Human eggs for sale on the net,” Evening Standard, 2/23/04)
TAXES AT WORK: New Jersey Gov. James McGreevey is drawing fire for his proposal to use $6.5 million in taxpayers’ money to fund embryonic stem cell research. “What we’re talking about here is farming humans through birth for destructive research in the state of New Jersey. If this isn’t repulsive, I don’t know what is,” said Marie Tasy of New Jersey Right to Life.
(Reading: “Stem cell funding elicits ire,” Easton [Pa.] Express-Times, 2/24/04)
WORDS FROM THE POPE: In an address about artificial procreation, Pope John Paul II told members of the Pontifical Academy for life, “Basic values are at stake, values not only for faithful Christians but also for mankind.” He added that the “beautiful act which transcends the life of the parents cannot be substituted by a mere technological procedure which is devoid of human value and subject to the dictates of science and technology.”
(Reading: “Avoid dangerous manipulations in field of procreation,” Vatican Information Service, 2/21/04)
catholic bishops
BURKE: In a wide-ranging interview, Archbishop Raymond Burke of St. Louis touched on Catholic teachings on contraception and abortion, and his ways of dealing with public figures who claim the Catholic faith yet support legalized abortion.
(Reading: “From war to abuse, Burke speaks out,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 2/21/04)
catholic heroes
GIANNA BERETTA MOLLA: The Italian doctor and mother of four, who died in 1962, has been named a saint. She will be canonized May 16 in Rome. She had surgery during her final pregnancy, rejecting doctors’ advice to undergo a procedure that would have taken the child’s life. She insisted that doctors save her baby, even if it cost her own life. She died at age 39, just days after giving birth. Blessed Gianna was profiled in American Life League’s Celebrate Life magazine in 2000.
(Reading: “Anti-abortion icon on way to sainthood,” PA News, 2/19/04; “She gave her life that her child might live,” Celebrate Life, 1-2/00)
JEROME LEJEUNE: A high-ranking Catholic Church official wants to begin the process of beatification for Jerome Lejeune, the French geneticist who was the first president of the Pontifical Academy for Life. Academy members greeted Cardinal Fiorenzo Angelini’s announcement with a standing ovation. Lejeune died in 1994. He wanted the Pontifical Academy for Life to work to safeguard human life, in light of new high-tech threats to human dignity.
(Reading: “Beatification process proposed for Jerome Lejeune,” Zenit News Service, 2/19/04)
euthanasia
RIGHT VS. WRONG: Herbert Hendin, M.D., writes: “People are only beginning to learn that with well-trained doctors and nurses and good end-of-life care, it is possible to avoid the pain of the past experiences of many of their loved ones and to achieve a good death. The right to such care is the right that patients should demand and the challenge that every country needs to meet.” Dr. Hendin has observed cases in the Netherlands where medical personnel put patients to death without the patients’ consent, and felt justified in doing so.
(Reading: “The case against physician-assisted suicide: For the right to end-of-life care,” Psychiatric Times, 2/04)
SCHIAVO: Patient advocate Cheryl Ford, R.N., is urging calls and messages to Gov. Jeb Bush on behalf of Terri Schiavo, the disabled Florida woman whose husband wants to disconnect her feeding tube — an action that will lead to her death. Terri has reportedly suffered health setbacks, and Ford is asking that Bush make Terri a ward of the state in order to safeguard her life.
(Contact: Phone Gov. Jeb Bush at 850-488-4441 or 850-488-7146 or contact him by )
(Reading: E-mail alert from Cheryl Ford, R.N., 2/19/04; “Terri’s Fight“)
planned parenthood
GUTTMACHER: Planned Parenthood’s Alan Guttmacher Institute cites “contraception” as a key reason for declining teen pregnancy rates. American Life League’s STOPP International counters the real reason is more teens are abstaining from sexual activities. STOPP’s Ed Szymkowiak also notes that many of the “contraceptives” Guttmacher credits for reducing pregnancy rates are abortifacient: “As pre-implantation chemical killing becomes more popular, it will push down post-implantation pregnancy and abortion numbers, but that’s really nothing to celebrate.”
(Reading: “Studies debunk Planned Parenthood’s latest claim about teen pregnancy rates,” American Life League / STOPP International news release, 2/24/04)
TEXAS: A Waco area Girl Scout council has severed its relationship with a local Planned Parenthood affiliate and will no longer co-sponsor sex education events. A Baylor University professor had urged a boycott of Girl Scout cookie sales because of the Bluebonnet Council’s association with Planned Parenthood. The scout director announced the change, but told reporters, “we do not take a position on issues like abortion.”
(Reading: “Girl Scouts cut ties with Planned Parenthood,” Waco Tribune, 2/24/04)
WISCONSIN: Pro-lifers are voicing dismay upon learning that a YMCA camp in Hudson will host Planned Parenthood programs for parents and children. The group’s Darla Myers said, “Planned Parenthood is the number one abortionist in the United States and routinely fights against any kind of parental notification laws. For this group to claim that it promotes parent-child communications is preposterous.” Myers said this is the first collaboration she’s aware of involving Planned Parenthood and a YMCA branch.
(Reading: “Local Christians Upset with Planned Parenthood Program at YMCA Camp St. Croix, Hudson, Wisconsin,” news release, 2/21/04)
politics
PRYOR: President Bush has granted a recess appointment to the federal bench to Alabama attorney general William Pryor. The Senate had held up confirmation of Pryor’s nomination to a federal appeals court position, with some pro-abortion senators subjecting him to extreme criticism because of his “deeply held views” as a faithful Catholic. Pryor’s appointment is the second recess appointment since American Life League ran newspaper ads suggesting this tactic for breaking the Senate logjam and getting pro-life nominees appointed to federal judgeships.
(Reading: “American Life League response to recess appointment of William Pryor,” American Life League news release, 2/21/04; “No more dodgeball during recess,” American Life League ad, 10/14/03)
VANISHING EVANGELICALS: A Washington Times report notes that Christians who have loyally supported the Republican party have little to show for it. Notes Gary Bauer of American Values, “the culture is more decadent, the life of not one baby has been saved.” The gist of Ralph Z. Hallow’s report is that President Bush “could pay a steep price in November.”
(Reading: “Evangelicals frustrated by Bush,” Washington Times, 2/20/04)
strategy
WORDS MATTER: Francis Beckwith, a Baylor University professor, describes a “new rhetorical strategy” that focuses on the harm abortion does to women, rather than the fact that abortion takes an innocent human life. Beckwith proclaims this strategy fatally flawed and suggests it could serve to support the pro-abortion viewpoint.
(Reading: “Choice words: A critique of the new pro-life rhetoric,” Touchstone, 1-2/04)
reflection for prayer
PSALM 27:1, 4-5: The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom do I fear? The Lord is my life’s refuge; of whom am I afraid? One thing I ask of the Lord; this I seek: To dwell in the Lord’s house all the days of my life… For God will hide me in his shelter in time of trouble.