in this issue:
hot button issues: CROSSROADS
abortion: GALLUP POLL
birth control: BANNED IN ARGENTINA
condoms: TRINIDAD
defending the church: BISHOP FABBRO / BISHOP O’MALLEY / NEW MOVIE
end-of-life care: SPIRITUAL WELL BEING
media: L.A. TIMES ADMITS BIAS
organ transplant: GLOBAL TRAFFIC
partial-birth infanticide: CURRENT LOOPHOLE / SENATE ARCHIVES
practitioners: TRAINING
reflection for prayer: THOMAS A KEMPIS
hot button issues
CROSSROADS: American Life League’s team of college students who are on a pro-life walking pilgrimage across the country are due in Reno, Nevada this weekend. The walk began May 29 in San Francisco and concludes August 15 in Washington, D.C. The students are sacrificing their summer vacation to witness to the sanctity of human life.
abortion
GALLUP POLL: The most recent national survey on abortion shows the following results:
23% say abortion should be legal under any circumstances
15% say abortion should be legal under most circumstances
42% say abortion should be legal only in a few circumstances
19% say abortion should be illegal in all circumstances
1% have no opinion
On the question of which circumstances under which third-trimester abortion should be legal:
75% say when the woman’s life is endangered
59% say when the pregnancy was caused by rape or incest
COMMENT: Abortion is never “necessary” to preserve the mother’s life or health.
(Reading: “Abortion views hold steady over past year,” Gallup Poll, 6/2/03)
birth control
BANNED IN ARGENTINA: Judge Cristina Garzon de Lascano ordered a ban on production and sale of oral contraceptives and IUDs, citing the fact that these forms of birth control are abortifacient. She also ordered existing supplies destroyed. Abortion is illegal in Argentina. A critic called the ruling “absurd and based on the plea of religious fundamentalists,” and promised to appeal a ruling that “went against international norms.” The same judge banned the morning-after abortion pill in 2001.
(Reading: “Argentine contraceptive ban ‘absurd,'” BBC News. 5/24/03)
condoms
TRINIDAD: A YMCA representative in Port of Spain is handing out condoms on street corners near a library and a secondary school. It’s a hot topic on radio talk shows and in letters to the editor columns, with one writer asking, “Would you send your daughter to a condom school?” The Family Planning Association of Trinidad and Tobago supports the project. Jim Sedlak of ALL’s STOPP International reports that group is affiliated with Planned Parenthood.
(Reading: “Handing out condoms to students causes uproar in Trinidad,” Inter Press Service, 6/3/03; e-mail from Jim Sedlak)
defending the church
BISHOP FABBRO: In announcing his intention to participate in a pro-life walk, Bishop Ronald Fabbro of London, Ontario said: “There’s a mentality in this culture that maintains you can be a Catholic and pro-choice and that would be acceptable. It’s not. We need to educate people — even our Catholics — about why we take the stance we do for life, that there is a specifically Catholic position on abortion that is based on human reason and experience? In a way, what’s required is a conversion from the consumerist mentality that treats people like things and commodities.”
(Reading: “Canadian bishop and member of Parliament join London pro-life walkathon,” LifeSite News, 5/30/03)
BISHOP O’MALLEY: From a homily by Bishop Sean O’Malley of Palm Beach, Florida: “Today the Church in the United States is calling all the members of our community of faith to spend the day in prayer and penance. Changing laws is not enough. It is only by changing human hearts that the cause of life will prevail. And human hearts will be changed only by God’s grace.
“Our task is to build a civilization of love or there will be no civilization at all. It is really a quest for holiness. We will be able to do something about abortion when we all are holier-courage and love are the strength of holiness. One of the most painful things about our shortcomings and failings as individuals and as a community is that it prevents us from doing the Lord’s work the way He asks of us. This must be a great incentive to us to embrace the grace of conversion in our own lives, so that we might be better witnesses for the Gospel of Life, less like Jonah more like the Samaritan.”
(Reading: “Homily given by Most Reverend Sean Patrick O’Malley, O.F.M. Cap., Bishop of Palm Beach, at the Basilica of the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception,” 1/22/03)
NEW MOVIE: Saint Luke Productions has produced a feature-length film on the life of St. Therese of Lisieux. This is their first big film, and in order for it to get wide exposure, they need as many people as possible to view the movie’s web site. Leonardo DiFilippis (director of the film and founder of Saint Luke Productions) would appreciate your support and your spreading the word to others.
end-of-life care
SPIRITUAL WELL BEING: Researchers discovered that faith and prayer can assist in protecting a patient from despair when death is imminent. They suggest that this finding is very important for those committed to palliative care.
(Reading: “Effect of spiritual well-being on end-of-life despair in terminally-ill cancer patients,” The Lancet, 5/10/03, pp. 1603-1607)
media
L.A. TIMES ADMITS BIAS: An internal memo from the editor-in-chief of the Los Angeles Times chides the paper’s staff for letting its liberal leanings show in a front-page story about abortion and breast cancer. Editor John Carroll criticized the reporter for using cheap shots and phrases loaded with derision. The story quoted researcher Joel Brind. The reporter noted that Brind was pro-life, but said nothing about his scientific credentials.
(Reading: “L.A. Times abortion coverage flawed, editor says,” Family News in Focus, 6/2/03)
organ transplant
GLOBAL TRAFFIC: The Lancet has published an interesting and comprehensive commentary on the world situation with regard to organ marketing and the appeal of illicit transactions, not to mention the way they undermine medical ethics and human dignity.
(Reading: “Keeping an eye on the global traffic in human organs,” The Lancet, 5/10/03, pp. 1645-1648)
partial-birth infanticide
CURRENT LOOPHOLE: House Bill 760 continues to permit the grisly procedure by including the following language: “1531 (a) Any physician who, in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce, knowingly performs a partial-birth abortion and thereby kills a human fetus shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 2 years, or both. This subsection does not apply to a partial-birth abortion that is necessary to save the life of a mother whose life is endangered by a physical disorder, physical illness, or physical injury, including a life-endangering physical condition caused by or arising from the pregnancy itself.”
COMMENT: In other words, the direct murder of a child who is nearly born will put the perpetrator in jail for no more than two years. And, if he is clever enough, he will find room in the balance of the language in 1531(a) to murder his victim without criminal charges being filed. And this is pro-life?
(Reading: Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003, HB 760, Library of Congress)
SENATE ARCHIVES: The Republican Party of Wisconsin web site posts the following exchange from a 2002 U.S. Senate debate on partial-birth infanticide:
Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.): “If that baby were delivered breech style and everything was delivered except for the head, and for some reason that baby’s head would slip out — that the baby was completely delivered — would it then still be up to the doctor and the mother to decide whether to kill that baby?”
Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.): “I am not the person to be answering that question. That is a question that should be answered by a doctor, and by the woman who receives the advice from the doctor…[We] should not be making those decisions here on the floor of the Senate.”
(Reading: “Out of step with Russ Feingold,” Republican Party of Wisconsin, 5/21/03)
practitioners
TRAINING: Researchers studied residency abortion training including three variables: the number of abortions performed during residency, gestational age limit and urban practice. The conclusion is that the more extensive the training, the better the abortionist.
(Reading: “The effect of training on the provision of elective abortion: a survey of five residency programs,” American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 5/03, pp. 1161-1163, abstract)
reflection for prayer
THOMAS A KEMPIS: Love is swift, sincere, pious, pleasant, and delightful; strong, patient, faithful, prudent, long-suffering, courageous, and never seeking itself. For where a man seeks himself, there he falls from love.
(Reading: “Imitation of Christ,” Book III, Chapter 5, Section 7)