in this issue:
birth control pill: RISKS I, RISKS II
bush watch: WHAT WILL BUSH DO?
margaret sanger: RACIST
ohio: VICTORY FOR BABIES
parkinson’s disease and human embryos: TRANSPLANTATION
personhood: HUMAN EMBRYO IS PERSON
politics: INCREMENTALISM
safe sex efforts: FAILURE
sterilization: ESSURE
zinger: FOOLS?
reflection for prayer: POPE PAUL VI
birth control pill
RISKS I: A Purdue University study indicates that women aged 18-30 who are on the pill “have increased risks of bone loss if they are physically active.” The study is published in Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise(subscription required).
(Reading: “Bone Loss Linked to Birth-Control Pills, Exercise,” Indianapolis Star, 7/9/01; “The Pill Impacts Exercise,” Health Scout News, 07/04/01)
RISKS II: Commenting on the connection between the second generation pill and the risk of thrombosis (see Communique, 7/25/01) pro-abort David Grimes, MD told Reuters Health the “epidemic of unintended pregnancies, unnecessary abortions and unwanted births” after a similar 1995 news report is an example of “the adverse health effects of the media.” He expressed the hope that if concerned, a doctor would “just prescribe another pill.”
(Reading: “Nonchalance Greets Latest Report on Third-Generation OCs and Thrombosis,” Reuters Health, 7/19/01)
bush watch
WHAT WILL BUSH DO? Chuck Colson has described the destruction of an embryonic person for the harvesting of stem cells as sacrificing “the image of God.” Utah Senator Bob Bennett has declared that “all embryos are not created equal,” and that is why he supports ghoulish stem cell research. Pope John Paul II, after meeting with President Bush, said “Experience is already showing how a tragic coarsening of consciences accompanies the assault on innocent human life in the world, leading to accommodation and acquiescence in the face of other related evils such as euthanasia, infanticide, and, most recently, proposals for the creation for research purposes of human embryos destined to destruction in the process.”
ACTION: President Bush has only one pro-life position to take: ban all research and experimentation that results in the destruction of an embryonic person, period! Anything less is compromise.
CONTACT: President George W. Bush, The White House, Washington, D.C. 20251; fax 202-456-2461; call White House operator 202-456-1414; call White House comment line 202-456-1111; e-mail “>President Bush.
(Reading: “Putting a Price on Life: The Risks of Moral Compromise,” BreakPoint with Charles Colson, Commentary #010711, 7/11/01; “Bennett Backs Funding Stem Cell Research,” Salt Lake Tribune, 7/22/01; “Pope Gives Bush Clear Message on Embryonic Stem Cell Research,” CNS, 7/23/01)
margaret sanger
RACIST: Julianne Malveaux on Margaret Sanger: “She never rebuked eugenicists who believed in improving the hereditary qualities of a race or breed by controlling mating in order to eliminate ‘undesirable’ characteristics and promote ‘desirable’ traits.”
(Reading: “Sanger’s Legacy Is Reproductive Freedom and Racism,” Women’s E-News, 7/19/01; to order a copy of “The Pivot of Civilization in Historical Perspective,” see Inkling Books)
ohio
VICTORY FOR BABIES: A new Ohio law prohibits the use of state taxpayer family planning dollars for counseling for abortion. For details, contact Ohio Right to Life Society attorney “>Mark Lally.
parkinson’s disease and human embryos
TRANSPLANTATION: A group of doctors writes to the New England Journal of Medicine that “The study of the transplantation of embryonic dopamine neurons for severe Parkinson’s disease reported by Freed, et al. (March 8 issue), revealed no benefit as measured on the basis of the primary outcome variable.”
(Reading: “Transplantation of Embryonic Dopamine Neurons for Severe Parkinson’s Disease,” New England Journal of Medicine, 7/12/01, p. 146, subscriber only)
personhood
HUMAN EMBRYO IS PERSON: On May 24, 1996, Pope John Paul II expressed the equal rights of all embryonic persons including those who are “subjected to freezing.” He said,
“While distinguishing between the sciences concerned, and recognizing that the attribution of the concept of person is a philosophical issue, we must assume, as our starting point, the biological status of the embryo, which is a human individual having the qualities and dignity proper to the person.”
(Reading: “I Appeal to the World’s Scientific Authorities: Halt the Production of Human Embryos,” Pope John Paul II, 5/24/96)
politics
INCREMENTALISM: Rev. Flip Benham: “Instead of relying upon the power of Almighty God to watch over His Word to perform it, you end up relying on your own wiles to out-negotiate the enemy. Of course this always involves the need to compromise God’s Word. The devil demands this of you, for the Word of God is intolerant of him and absolutely unacceptable in the art of politics. To try to end child killing in America by outwitting the devil will end in utter futility. It causes us to rely upon our own ingenuity to accomplish God’s purposes in our culture. Incrementalism is not God’s way.”
(Reading: “Incrementalism: A Lie from the Pit of Hell,” Operation Save America)
safe sex efforts
FAILURE: A British Medical Journal study reveals “even carefully formulated behavioral interventions should not be assumed to bring benefit.” The study focused on 343 gay men who, it found, were “more likely to acquire a new sexually transmitted disease” after a safe sex workshop.
(Reading: “Evaluating Safe Sex Efforts,” Journal of the American Medical Association, 7/11/01, p. 159; “A Cognitive Behavioral Intervention to Reduce Sexually Transmitted Infections Among Gay Men: Randomized Trial,” British Medical Journal, 6/16/01, pp. 1451-1456)
sterilization
ESSURE: Manufacturer Conceptus, Inc. has introduced a hysteroscopic procedure to insert the sterilization device, ESSURE, for women requiring no more than one day recovery time.
(Reading: “Female Sterilization Device Speeds Recovery Time,” Reuters, 7/11/01; for information direct from manufacturer, visit Conceptus)
zinger
FOOLS? G. K. Chesterton wrote in 1917, “Men are ruled … by liars who refuse them news, and by fools who cannot govern.”
(Reading: “Inspired Quotations,” LexNatura.Net)
reflection for prayer
POPE PAUL VI: I am bound to proclaim that Jesus is Christ, the Son of the living God. Because of Him we come to know the God we cannot see. He is the firstborn of all creation; in Him all things find their being. Man’s teacher and redeemer, He was born for us, died for us, and for us He rose from the dead.
(Reading: Liturgy of the Hours, vol. 3, p. 418)