in this issue:
hot button issues: HELP WANTED / STEM CELL BILL / STEM CELL VETO / VOGUE / WAXMAN
abortion: HAWAII / PREMATURE BIRTHS
boycott: CREDIT CARDS
catholic bishops: BISHOP JOHN YANTA
contraception: ABORTION CONNECTION / GRIEF
euthanasia: DYING WITH DIGNITY
physicians: MATERCARE
politics: SENATOR GEORGE ALLEN
planned parenthood: OXYMORONIC
pregnancy: TWENTY-SOMETHING
scholarships: AVE MARIA SCHOOL OF LAW
stem cell research / ethical: AMPUTATION / VIDEO
stem cell research / unethical: LORD OF THE RINGS
tax dollars: NEW YORK
vaccines: HPV
reflection for prayer: TRUST
hot button issues
HELP WANTED: American Life League is seeking an individual with an online marketing background to work closely with our web and publications teams in expanding and enhancing our pro-life communications, advocacy and fundraising efforts. The position is available at ALL headquarters in Stafford, Virginia. Details are posted online.
STEM CELL BILL: “The Alternative Pluripotent Stem Cell Therapies Enhancement Act (S. 2754) is supposed to spare human embryos from abuse, but we oppose this bill because it allows for a technique that would actually create and then kill human embryos,” said American Life League president Judie Brown. “Furthermore, while some lawmakers believe that human embryos will be safeguarded from government research by the Dickey-Wicker Amendment, the amendment has been violated in the past and it may be violated again.”
(Reading: “Moral implications of Specter/Santorum bill,” American Life League news release, 7/14/06)
STEM CELL VETO: American Life League commends President Bush for his veto of the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act. If passed, this legislation would have advanced the unconscionable act of killing preborn persons.
(Reading: “Bush takes strides in right direction with veto,” American Life League news release, 7/19/06)
VOGUE: The July issue of Vogue magazine contains a feature on new Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards. The article attempts to portray abortion as an honorable “right” that women should embrace, but ALL’s Judie Brown believes otherwise. “As a woman and a mother, I am sickened by this perversion of the truth,” she said.
(Reading: “Planned Parenthood president drenched in hypocrisy,” American Life League news release, 7/17/06)
WAXMAN: Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) released the results of a purported investigation of crisis pregnancy centers that receive government funding, telling reporters, “It’s wrong to pour millions of federal dollars into organizations that are providing false health information to vulnerable teenagers.” ALL’s Judie Brown responded, “That is exactly what Planned Parenthood does, and this controversial organization has been doing so with impunity for generations.”
(Reading: “Waxman’s comments offer unintended bonus,” American Life League news release, 7/18/06)
abortion
HAWAII: Gov. Linda Lingle vetoed a bill would have provided “legal” abortions for minors ages 14-17.
(Reading: SB 2166, Hawaii Legislature, 7/11/06)
PREMATURE BIRTHS: A new report states that premature births are on the rise and nobody knows why.
COMMENT: Nary a word about abortion as a cause. But studies have already made that perfectly clear as evidenced in “March of Dimes ignores abortion-premature birth link” and “Induced abortion and risk of later premature births.”
(Reading: “Premature births on rise, study finds,” South Florida Sun Sentinel, 7/14/06)
boycott
CREDIT CARDS: Life Decisions International is calling on people to boycott credit cards, not companies. A listing can be found online.
catholic bishops
BISHOP JOHN YANTA: Congratulations to Bishop John W. Yanta of Amarillo, Texas for an amazing pastoral letter.
(Reading: “Modesty starts with purification of the heart,” Diocese of Amarillo, 6/18/06)
contraception
ABORTION CONNECTION: Malcolm Potts, former medical director of International Planned Parenthood, said “Abortion and contraception are inextricably intertwined in their use. As the idea of family limitation spreads through a community, there appears to be a rise in the incidence of induced abortion at the point where the community begins to initiate the use of contraceptives.”
(Reading: “Abortion in the Netherlands,” Life Issues)
GRIEF: Theresa Burke, Ph.D., founder of Rachel’s Vineyard, has written a new book entitled “The Contraception of Grief: The Genesis of Anguish Conceived by Abortifacients and Sterilization.”
(Reading: “Grieving over contraception and sterilization,” Zenit News Service, 7/16/06)
euthanasia
DYING WITH DIGNITY: Juliette Hughes writes, “The pro-euthanasia lobby has hijacked the concept of dying with dignity.”
(Reading: “Making life a burden,” The Age, 7/13/06)
physicians
MATERCARE: The fourth annual Matercare International Workshop of Catholic Obstetricians and Gynecologists will be held in Rome on October 11-15. For details visit Matercare.
planned parenthood
OXYMORONIC: Matt Abbott points out the ridiculousness of Planned Parenthood and provides several examples of hate speech directed at HLI’s president, Father Tom Euteneuer, in his latest column
(Reading: “Planned Parenthood’s nonsense: Hate speech towards pro-life priest,” Renew America, 7/13/06)
politics
SENATOR GEORGE ALLEN: A political reporter states the Virginia senator “is not pro-life. But at the same time he is not pro-abortion. He favors abortions, in very limited circumstances (something to do with brainwaves?) but just about any time he is presented with a vote he comes down on the pro-life side. But rhetorically he clearly does not favor outlawing abortion.”
(Reading: “George Allen and abortion,” Red State, 7/15/06)
pregnancy
TWENTY-SOMETHING: A news report states, “Reducing teen childbearing must remain a national priority, with nearly 415,000 births annually (42 per 1,000 teen women); however, births to young, single adults surpass even ‘epidemic’ levels of teen childbearing, with 550,000 births (71 per 1,000 single women ages 20-24).”
COMMENT: Our sexually-saturated society is reaping what has been sown.
(Reading: “New urgency for early-20’s single moms,” Christian Science Monitor, 7/11/06)
scholarships
AVE MARIA SCHOOL OF LAW: Interested in a possible scholarship? Please contact Ave Maria School of Law, Office of Admissions, 3475 Plymouth Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48105 or call 734-827-8063 or “>send e-mail.
stem cell research / ethical
AMPUTATION: Indiana University doctors are pioneering a new way to prevent amputation in those who have vascular disorders. They are harvesting adult stem cells from the patient’s bone marrow and injecting them into the diseased leg. Ten patients have gone through the treatment thus far, and “results so far look promising.”
(Reading: “Stem cells may avert amputation,” Indianapolis Star, 7/11/06)
VIDEO: Actual testimony given by patients who have received adult/cord blood stem cell therapy can be seen online.
(Reading: “A toast to adult and cord blood stem cells,” Bogo)
stem cell research / unethical
LORD OF THE RINGS: Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh, the director and producer of the Academy Award winning “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, are giving $311,000 to the University of California Irvine for human embryonic stem cell research. The Catholic Church condemns such research, as it destroys living human embryos. “The Lord of the Rings” was written by a Catholic author, J.R.R. Tolkien.
(Reading: “‘Lord of the Rings’ director makes donation to UCI stem cell research,” UC Irvine news release, 7/14/06)
tax dollars
NEW YORK: Thomas Suozzi, Nassau County Executive, has proposed a “program to reduce the number of abortions.” His proposal included providing one million dollars to eight groups ranging from Planned Parenthood of Nassau County to Catholic Charities of the diocese of Rockville.
(Reading: “Suozzi’s abortion effort may be shelved,” Newsday, 7/17/06)
vaccines
HPV: The expert vaccine organization, Children of God for Life, tells parents, “While we welcome advances in medicine that could help fight cervical cancer, there is no health reason to force this vaccine on children.”
(Reading: “Oppose HPV vaccine mandate,” Children of God for Life news release, 7/10/06)
reflection for prayer
TRUST: We often find hostility and opposition. In either situation — success or failure — as we try to build Christ’s Kingdom, we must trust in him and remember that we are called to be faithful, not necessarily successful from a human standpoint.
Lord Jesus, you’ve given me a mission to spread your Gospel among my family members, friends and coworkers — everyone I encounter. Help me to be faithful to this mission and to undertake it how you wish, not how it most pleases me. Help me to remember that success in this mission is demonstrated in the measure of my fidelity, not in outward success.
(Reading: “Learning to follow directions,” Regnum Christi, 7/16/06)