in this issue:
abortion: THAILAND, WHAT IF?
activism: LIFEGUARD
bush watch: ASKING HIM TO ACT
catholic health care: COLLABORATION
frozen embryo adoption: BISHOP SGRECCIA COMMENTS
imposed death: AUSTRALIA
in vitro fertilization: CANCER SCREENING, MASS PRODUCTION
parental consent: ACOG OPPOSES
personhood: WORLD FEDERATION OF DOCTORS WHO RESPECT HUMAN LIFE
planned parenthood: OREGON EXPRESS
youth: REALITY CHECK
reflection for prayer: PSALM 119:102-104
abortion
THAILAND: Medical council chairman Somsak Loklekha urged a review of current abortion laws, because “medical advances had put it well within the scope of modern medicine to determine whether a baby would be born healthy or not.” Further, he said, “the council would propose that if a woman would suffer mentally during pregnancy, or would suffer as a consequence of having to raise the child, there might be legal grounds for abortion.”
(Reading: “Move to Relax Abortion Rules,” The Nation [Thailand], 5/18/01)
WHAT IF? The Pro-Life Infonet recently reported: “A US federal judge has confirmed that Wisconsin’s ban on partial birth abortions cannot be enforced following an appeals court ruling last month that the ban was unconstitutional. Wisconsin’s law, which contained an exception only when the woman’s life was in danger, was considered too restrictive according to the precedent set by the US Supreme Court last year when it threw out Nebraska’s partial-birth abortion ban.”
COMMENT: What if the very first Congressional partial-birth abortion ban proposal had actually been a ban that contained no exceptions? What if each state legislature had followed suit? What if the Supreme Court had actually been called upon to review a principled ban that did not contain the exception that allowed the heinous act the bill allegedly was going to outlaw? What if?
activism
LIFEGUARD: The non-profit counseling, evangelization and education organization, Lifeguard, of Great Mills, Maryland, is actively pursuing public awareness through peaceful demonstrations at abortion mills. The group has a “Code of Conduct” which affirms their respect for all human persons from conception on. To learn more, see Lifeguard.
bush watch
ASKING HIM TO ACT: Life Dynamics, Inc., has devised a good plan for inviting President George W. Bush to defend every human person from conception. The concept is called First Step Initiative, and the request: that Bush appoint a blue ribbon committee to assist the president in devising a pragmatic strategy for restoring legal protection to EVERY innocent human being. For details, and to sign up, see First Step Initiative. Major pro-life groups including Life Advocacy Alliance and Pro-Life Action League as well as American Life League have endorsed the effort.
catholic health care
COLLABORATION: The Catholic Health Association has announced efforts to work with the American Medical Association to “educate physicians on the importance of end-of-life uses.”
(Reading: “CHA, AMA Work on End-of-Life Care, Reform,” Catholic Health World, 5/10/01)
frozen embryo adoption
BISHOP ELIO SGRECCIA COMMENTS: Concerning embryo adoption:
The idea of adoption, per se, has an end which is good. Theologians say it is licit, but there is an extremely high rate of failure. It seems that out of 100 attempts to implant, only three or four would work. We know this because of experiments on animals. About 90 percent don’t work because when you unfreeze an embryo, it dies. Or it won’t implant itself.
Even if it does work, there are no guarantees that the child won’t have serious handicaps. The risk of handicap increases the longer an embryo is frozen: one or two years or five years.
Can we really counsel women to do this? It would mean counseling heroism. Many attempts would fail. Also, you would have to do it at certain periods of the month when the uterus is ready. And if the baby is born handicapped, she must still take care of it, because it would be cruel to abort it.
The issue is one big question mark. The point is, we should never have gone down this road to begin with. It is full of problems.
COMMENT: This is yet another argument in favor of banning in vitro fertilization.
(Reading: “Utilitarianism Without Mercy,” Catholic World Report, 5/01, p. 57, not on web; Bishop Elio Sgreccia is vice president of the Pontifical Academy for Life)
imposed death
AUSTRALIA: Euthanasia advocate Philip Nitschke tells the media he is arranging for terminally ill Australians who are seeking assisted suicide to go to the Netherlands, where the act is legal.
(Reading: “For Euthanasia Go to Holland, says Nitschke,” Nine MSN news, 5/31/01)
in vitro fertilization
CANCER SCREENING: Australian geneticist David Cram at Monash University is using pre-implantation genetic diagnosis to identify embryos whose genes are predisposed to develop various types of cancer.
(Reading: “Cancer Check for Test Tube Embryos,” The Star [Australia], 6/5/01)
MASS PRODUCTION: American researchers have developed a device that will “automate the process of in-vitro fertilization” and “eventually be able to test embryos for genetic flaws.” Professors “>David Beebe of University of Wisconsin and “>Matthew Wheeler of University of Illinois expect the discovery to be used first on livestock.
(Reading: “Promise of Production-Line Embryos,” BBC News, 5/23/01)
parental consent
ACOG OPPOSES: The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has alerted its e-mail activist members to the fact that they oppose parental consent before giving teens the pill, reproductive health “services” or other “benefits” of school based health clinics.
COMMENT: Clearly, ACOG opposes parental involvement in areas pertinent to sexuality and future patient load.
(Reading: 5/29/01 ACOG Key Contact Listserv, for additional information, see ACOG Legislative News)
personhood
WORLD FEDERATION OF DOCTORS WHO RESPECT HUMAN LIFE: In a letter to President George W. Bush, the organization’s president, Karel Gunning, M.D., writes: “Some people argue that unborn children are not yet human. But the undeniable facts are that human life begins at the moment of conception, as at that moment a new living being is formed carrying the genetic material of a human being and therefore belonging to the species ‘man.’ For each living being belongs all its life to one and the same species, according to its genetic material, and cannot change into another species. If it is human at age x, it has been human and will remain human at any other age.”
(Reading: 6/5/01 letter to George W. Bush, request a copy from “>Karel Gunning; for information on the World Federation of Doctors Who Respect Human Life, contact Secretary General “>Philippe Schepens, M.D., or see World Federation of Doctors Who Respect Human Life)
planned parenthood
OREGON EXPRESS: Planned Parenthood opens the country’s first “express clinic” in Eugene, offering “reproductive services that don’t require an examination, including birth control pills, condoms and emergency contraception [sic].”
(Reading: “Planned Parenthood Opens Eugene Express Clinic,” The Oregonian, 5/22/01, article available for fee)
youth
REALITY CHECK: The monthly newsletter published by the ALL youth divisions consistently receives testimonies to its effectiveness. For example, “Your publication is solely responsible for changing my attitude about abortion. Because of you, I went from pro-choice to ‘not for me but OK for other women’ to ‘abortion is an insane choice to add to an already screwed up decision making process.’ Because of your work, I now pray for awakening and repentance from this holocaust which makes Hitler’s Germany look like a walk in the park! … PS: Even 37 year old people like your magazine!”
If you aren’t getting Reality Check, you should! Subscribe for $12 per year by calling 888-546-2580 toll free. Ask for “>Nick DiGiovanni, and start the joy of reading Reality Check regularly. And visit WhyLife?.
reflection for prayer
PSALM 119:102-104: I do not turn aside from your rulings,
since you yourself teach me these.
Your promise, how sweet to my palate!
Sweeter than honey to my mouth.
Your precepts endow me with perception;
I hate all deceptive paths.