abortion
AMAZING WEB SITE: For the real facts on personhood and abortion you will not want to miss the web site Just the Facts.
bioethics
MEANINGFUL LIFE? Alexander B. Niculescu III, M.D., Ph.D. comments on conferring “simplicity, consistency and moral clarity to end-of-life issues” as follows: “the goals of medicine should be to treat pain and suffering completely and to delay death for as long as possible, certainly as long as meaningful, cognitive ability remains. It should not encourage and provide euthanasia.”
COMMENT: And what of the human being, the person who does not have that subjective quality of “meaningful, cognitive ability”?????? Moral clarity????
(Reading: Archives of Internal Medicine, 6/12/00)
WHICH ETHICS? To compare the strange world of “bioethics” with sound medical ethics, please see “Which medical ethics for the 21st century?” by Dianne Irving, Ph.D.
congress
PAIN RELIEF PROMOTION ACT: Physicians for Compassionate Care is striving to provide clinical evidence in support of a bill (S2607) that would ban intentionally fatal doses of prescription drugs. The effect would be to nullify Oregon’s pro-physician-assisted suicide law. For details see Physicians for Compassionate Care. To view the legislation, see Thomas and search by bill number.
contraception
AFRICAN GUINEA PIGS? The spermicide gel containing nonoxynol-9, which was involved in clinical trials using African women from Benin, Ivory Coast and South Africa, as well as Asian women from Thailand, has been found totally ineffective in preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS. A previous 1998 study of 1,200 Cameroon prostitutes (see communique, 8/21/98) found that the gel was not effective in protecting the women against HIV/AIDS. Why, then, is the UN AIDS agency just now expressing dismay over findings that were well-known two years ago?
(Reading: “Gel Fails to Protect Women from AIDS in World Test, UN Says,” Associated Press, 6/13/00; see American Life League site index, and search nonoxynol 9)
emergency abortion (“contraception,” a.k.a. medical abortion)
ADOLESCENTS: Writing about the ways to improve access to emergency abortion for teens, Claire Austin, a physician assistant, says “emergency contraception pills (ECPs) can either prevent conception or ‘intercept’ a fertilized ovum before it becomes established.” She presents a case for the “interception” mechanism of action that confirms science and confirms that the chemicals abort. And she assures her fellow physician assistants that they “can help reduce adolescent morbidity and mortality by first increasing their own comfort zone with sexual history taking and prescribing and educating adolescents about ECPs.”
(Reading: “Emergency Contraception: Improving Availability to Adolescents,” Physician Assistant, 2/00, pp. 60-72)
euthanasia by withholding nutrition and hydration
PRO-LIFE POSITION I: Father Joseph Howard, Jr., director of the American Bioethics Advisory Commission, wrote in the Linacre Quarterly, regarding the actual personhood of a human being who is diagnosed with Persistent Vegetative State (PVS): “The Roman Catholic Church embraces the Aristotelian/Thomistic notion of the soul being the substantial form of the body.” He continues by pointing out “the presence of vegetative operations as expressed by the evaluation of brain stem reflex clearly demonstrates that a soul is present and that we are dealing with a human being who is alive.” Therefore, if treatments are withheld or removed which are ethically ordinary, the act of withholding or removing such treatments “constitutes passive euthanasia; in fact, from a moral perspective it constitutes murder.”
(Reading: “DDAVP,” The Linacre Quarterly, 2/00, p. 4 – paid subscription only)
PRO-LIFE POSITION II: William J. Burke, M.D., comments, “The view of the Catholic Church is that life itself is a benefit, no matter how disabled the person might be. This benefit is sufficient to require the provision of food and water, which is part of the normal care due all patients, who need them to live. To meet the criteria for withdrawal, it must be shown that there is a significant burden to the patient that is directly related to the provision of food and water by tube. In this regard, the burden of remaining alive cannot be considered a justification for withdrawal of food and water. These conditions for withdrawal are met when the patient’s condition is imminently terminal ? that is, when the patient is so close to death that withdrawal of food and water will not cause his or her death or when food and water cannot be assimilated by the patient’s body. Neither of these conditions applies to a patient with dementia.”
(Reading: “Rethinking the Role of Tube Feeding in Patients with Advanced Dementia,” The New England Journal of Medicine, 6/8/00, pp. 1755)
media
WEB SITES: Sites that can help get a window on the media:
- Opinion Pages – several hundred English language publications’ opinion pieces are indexed
- Media News – Log of top stories from selected papers around the nation
- Media Research Center – Exposing liberal media bias
personhood
ZYGOTES AND EMBRYOS ARE PEOPLE: See an article, based on scientific evidence and Catholic magisterial teaching, by Father Anthony Zimmerman.
politics
BUCHANAN: Lenora Fulani is out as Buchanan co-chair. We had previously found it odd (see communique, 4/20/00) that a pro-abortion television host whose views seemed to be polar opposites of Buchanan’s was positioned in such a high-profile perch. In her resignation letter to Buchanan, she chastised him for “using your campaign to change the fundamental character of the Reform Party in a direction that most American independents do not support.” While Fulani said she understands and respects Buchanan’s viewpoints on abortion (which she considers a social issue), “I must and do object to your efforts to transform the party into a party of and for only social conservatives.”
(Reading: “Fulani Resigns as Co-Chair,” Buchanan Reform web site)
population
AGING: Nature contains a study warning “the startling gains in longevity [in developed countries] will sharpen anxieties about how to sustain a population where there is a growing percentage of retirees and a declining base of workers . . . To maintain a reasonable support ratio, these countries will have to admit large numbers of foreign workers over the next five decades.”
(Reading: “Aging Population Problem Far Worse than Thought, Warn Scientists,” Agence France-Presse, 6/14/00. To find detailed studies substantiating this “new” finding, see Windows to the Truth, go to the index and search “aging population.”)
rape treatment
ETHICAL PROCEDURE: Lorna Cvetkovich, M.D., an obstetrician/gynecologist states: “Only about one percent of rape victims become pregnant. Some studies even show no pregnancies as a result of rape. That means at least 99 percent don’t become pregnant and can benefit from our knowledge about the menstrual cycle, cervical mucus evaluation and technology, such as ovarian ultrasound and rapid progesterone levels, to assure them that they are not at risk to become pregnant. Thus, we are offering hope and assurance to the 99 percent who are not at risk. Not only can they be assured that they will not become pregnant, but they also could be assured that they have no need for morning-after pill or any other treatment. This would seem to be a far better approach than exposing the great majority of rape victims to exogenous hormones which they do not really need.”
(Reading: Letter to Judie Brown from Lorna L. Cvetkovich, M.D., Saint Elizabeth Physician Network [Catholic health initiatives], Lincoln, Nebraska.)
selective reduction
RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association, RESOLVE, publishes a booklet for parents that comments, “you may have difficult choices to make if you conceive a multiple gestation pregnancy with three or more embryos implanted in the uterus. Each medical situation is different, and only you, your partner and your physician can determine what would be best for you. One choice you may consider is multiple gestation reduction, an outpatient procedure that involves reducing the number of embryos that have implanted to improve the chance of having a healthy pregnancy-and a positive outcome.”
(“Multiple Gestation Pregnancy and Multiple Birth,” Resolve, p. 4)
vaccines
ALTERNATIVES TO FETAL TISSUE: Vaccine researcher Debi Vinnedge contacted Aventis Pasteur, asking about the possibility of the company investigating the manufacture of certain vaccines not grown on fetal tissue. “I am looking into this matter,” assured Len Levenda, director of public affairs. Please communicate your concerns and encourage Aventis Pasteur to proceed to: “>Len Lavenda; see Aventis Pasteur for information on the company.
reflection for prayer
In all your prayer and entreaty keep praying in the Spirit on every possible occasion. Never get tired of staying awake to pray for all God’s holy people, and pray for me to be given an opportunity to open my mouth and fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel of which I am an ambassador in chains; pray that in proclaiming it I may speak as fearlessly as I ought to.
-Ephesians 6:18-20
AMAZING WEB SITE: For the real facts on personhood and abortion you will not want to miss the web site Just the Facts.
bioethics
MEANINGFUL LIFE? Alexander B. Niculescu III, M.D., Ph.D. comments on conferring “simplicity, consistency and moral clarity to end-of-life issues” as follows: “the goals of medicine should be to treat pain and suffering completely and to delay death for as long as possible, certainly as long as meaningful, cognitive ability remains. It should not encourage and provide euthanasia.”
COMMENT: And what of the human being, the person who does not have that subjective quality of “meaningful, cognitive ability”?????? Moral clarity????
(Reading: Archives of Internal Medicine, 6/12/00)
WHICH ETHICS? To compare the strange world of “bioethics” with sound medical ethics, please see “Which medical ethics for the 21st century?” by Dianne Irving, Ph.D.
congress
PAIN RELIEF PROMOTION ACT: Physicians for Compassionate Care is striving to provide clinical evidence in support of a bill (S2607) that would ban intentionally fatal doses of prescription drugs. The effect would be to nullify Oregon’s pro-physician-assisted suicide law. For details see Physicians for Compassionate Care. To view the legislation, see Thomas and search by bill number.
contraception
AFRICAN GUINEA PIGS? The spermicide gel containing nonoxynol-9, which was involved in clinical trials using African women from Benin, Ivory Coast and South Africa, as well as Asian women from Thailand, has been found totally ineffective in preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS. A previous 1998 study of 1,200 Cameroon prostitutes (see communique, 8/21/98) found that the gel was not effective in protecting the women against HIV/AIDS. Why, then, is the UN AIDS agency just now expressing dismay over findings that were well-known two years ago?
(Reading: “Gel Fails to Protect Women from AIDS in World Test, UN Says,” Associated Press, 6/13/00; see American Life League site index, and search nonoxynol 9)
emergency abortion (“contraception,” a.k.a. medical abortion)
ADOLESCENTS: Writing about the ways to improve access to emergency abortion for teens, Claire Austin, a physician assistant, says “emergency contraception pills (ECPs) can either prevent conception or ‘intercept’ a fertilized ovum before it becomes established.” She presents a case for the “interception” mechanism of action that confirms science and confirms that the chemicals abort. And she assures her fellow physician assistants that they “can help reduce adolescent morbidity and mortality by first increasing their own comfort zone with sexual history taking and prescribing and educating adolescents about ECPs.”
(Reading: “Emergency Contraception: Improving Availability to Adolescents,” Physician Assistant, 2/00, pp. 60-72)
euthanasia by withholding nutrition and hydration
PRO-LIFE POSITION I: Father Joseph Howard, Jr., director of the American Bioethics Advisory Commission, wrote in the Linacre Quarterly, regarding the actual personhood of a human being who is diagnosed with Persistent Vegetative State (PVS): “The Roman Catholic Church embraces the Aristotelian/Thomistic notion of the soul being the substantial form of the body.” He continues by pointing out “the presence of vegetative operations as expressed by the evaluation of brain stem reflex clearly demonstrates that a soul is present and that we are dealing with a human being who is alive.” Therefore, if treatments are withheld or removed which are ethically ordinary, the act of withholding or removing such treatments “constitutes passive euthanasia; in fact, from a moral perspective it constitutes murder.”
(Reading: “DDAVP,” The Linacre Quarterly, 2/00, p. 4 – paid subscription only)
PRO-LIFE POSITION II: William J. Burke, M.D., comments, “The view of the Catholic Church is that life itself is a benefit, no matter how disabled the person might be. This benefit is sufficient to require the provision of food and water, which is part of the normal care due all patients, who need them to live. To meet the criteria for withdrawal, it must be shown that there is a significant burden to the patient that is directly related to the provision of food and water by tube. In this regard, the burden of remaining alive cannot be considered a justification for withdrawal of food and water. These conditions for withdrawal are met when the patient’s condition is imminently terminal ? that is, when the patient is so close to death that withdrawal of food and water will not cause his or her death or when food and water cannot be assimilated by the patient’s body. Neither of these conditions applies to a patient with dementia.”
(Reading: “Rethinking the Role of Tube Feeding in Patients with Advanced Dementia,” The New England Journal of Medicine, 6/8/00, pp. 1755)
media
WEB SITES: Sites that can help get a window on the media:
- Opinion Pages – several hundred English language publications’ opinion pieces are indexed
- Media News – Log of top stories from selected papers around the nation
- Media Research Center – Exposing liberal media bias
personhood
ZYGOTES AND EMBRYOS ARE PEOPLE: See an article, based on scientific evidence and Catholic magisterial teaching, by Father Anthony Zimmerman.
politics
BUCHANAN: Lenora Fulani is out as Buchanan co-chair. We had previously found it odd (see communique, 4/20/00) that a pro-abortion television host whose views seemed to be polar opposites of Buchanan’s was positioned in such a high-profile perch. In her resignation letter to Buchanan, she chastised him for “using your campaign to change the fundamental character of the Reform Party in a direction that most American independents do not support.” While Fulani said she understands and respects Buchanan’s viewpoints on abortion (which she considers a social issue), “I must and do object to your efforts to transform the party into a party of and for only social conservatives.”
(Reading: “Fulani Resigns as Co-Chair,” Buchanan Reform web site)
population
AGING: Nature contains a study warning “the startling gains in longevity [in developed countries] will sharpen anxieties about how to sustain a population where there is a growing percentage of retirees and a declining base of workers . . . To maintain a reasonable support ratio, these countries will have to admit large numbers of foreign workers over the next five decades.”
(Reading: “Aging Population Problem Far Worse than Thought, Warn Scientists,” Agence France-Presse, 6/14/00. To find detailed studies substantiating this “new” finding, see Windows to the Truth, go to the index and search “aging population.”)
rape treatment
ETHICAL PROCEDURE: Lorna Cvetkovich, M.D., an obstetrician/gynecologist states: “Only about one percent of rape victims become pregnant. Some studies even show no pregnancies as a result of rape. That means at least 99 percent don’t become pregnant and can benefit from our knowledge about the menstrual cycle, cervical mucus evaluation and technology, such as ovarian ultrasound and rapid progesterone levels, to assure them that they are not at risk to become pregnant. Thus, we are offering hope and assurance to the 99 percent who are not at risk. Not only can they be assured that they will not become pregnant, but they also could be assured that they have no need for morning-after pill or any other treatment. This would seem to be a far better approach than exposing the great majority of rape victims to exogenous hormones which they do not really need.”
(Reading: Letter to Judie Brown from Lorna L. Cvetkovich, M.D., Saint Elizabeth Physician Network [Catholic health initiatives], Lincoln, Nebraska.)
selective reduction
RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association, RESOLVE, publishes a booklet for parents that comments, “you may have difficult choices to make if you conceive a multiple gestation pregnancy with three or more embryos implanted in the uterus. Each medical situation is different, and only you, your partner and your physician can determine what would be best for you. One choice you may consider is multiple gestation reduction, an outpatient procedure that involves reducing the number of embryos that have implanted to improve the chance of having a healthy pregnancy-and a positive outcome.”
(“Multiple Gestation Pregnancy and Multiple Birth,” Resolve, p. 4)
vaccines
ALTERNATIVES TO FETAL TISSUE: Vaccine researcher Debi Vinnedge contacted Aventis Pasteur, asking about the possibility of the company investigating the manufacture of certain vaccines not grown on fetal tissue. “I am looking into this matter,” assured Len Levenda, director of public affairs. Please communicate your concerns and encourage Aventis Pasteur to proceed to: “>Len Lavenda; see Aventis Pasteur for information on the company.
reflection for prayer
In all your prayer and entreaty keep praying in the Spirit on every possible occasion. Never get tired of staying awake to pray for all God’s holy people, and pray for me to be given an opportunity to open my mouth and fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel of which I am an ambassador in chains; pray that in proclaiming it I may speak as fearlessly as I ought to.
-Ephesians 6:18-20