in this issue:
adolescents: “SERVICES” PROMOTE SEX
dark side: ACLU / NEXT GENERATION
human cloning: BOTTOM LINE / EXTRATERRESTRIAL PRINCE OF CLONING
media: CONTEXT
pill: UK LAWSUIT
pontifical academy: NON-NEGOTIABLE / UNITY
providers: LOUISIANA
reminder: WORLD FAMILY CONFERENCE
reflection for prayer: ISAIAH 41:10
adolescents
“SERVICES” PROMOTE SEX: A new British study says teens under 16 who use family planning services “were more likely to be sexually active than other teenagers.” Lead researcher David Paton of Nottingham University said, “Family planning seems to encourage more people to have sex… A lot of people won’t like it, I’m aware of that. But it’s important to take account of the facts before making policies in this area.” Added Catholic Church spokesman Peter Kearney, “The government is happy to moralize on issues like healthy eating, alcohol consumption, tobacco use and even speed limits, so why not sexual behavior?”
(Reading: “Clinics blamed for rise in teenage mothers,” The Herald [Glasgow, Scotland], 3/5/02)
dark side
ACLU: An excerpt from the American Civil Liberties Union page promoting March 10, the National Day of Appreciation for Abortion Providers: “On this day, stand up with your abortion services providers and say: Thank you for your heroism, perseverance, courage, and commitment to women.” Much of the page is copied directly from the text offered by the event’s originators, the activist group Refuse and Resist.
(Reading: “National Day of Appreciation for Abortion Providers,” ACLU; “National Day of Appreciation for Abortion Providers,” Refuse and Resist)
NEXT GENERATION: Medical Students for Choice wants to know if any of its members plan to enter the National Health Service Corps when they complete their medical residencies. The organization is encouraging such persons to attend its annual meeting in San Jose, Calif., April 13-14.
(Reading: “From the MSFC national office,” Medical Students for Choice, 3/3/02)
human cloning
BOTTOM LINE: Writer Wesley J. Smith says human cloning is indeed immoral. But that isn’t the reason why it will eventually be rejected: “There is increasing evidence that therapies based on cloned embryo cells would be so difficult and expensive to develop and so utterly impractical to bring to the bedside, that the pie-in-the-sky promises which fuel the pro-cloning side of the debate are unlikely to materialize. Not only is human cloning immoral but it may have negative utility — in other words, attempting to develop human cloning technologies for therapeutic use may drain resources and personnel from more useful and practical therapies.”
(Reading: “The false promise of ‘therapeutic’ cloning,” Weekly Standard, 3/11/02)
EXTRATERRESTRIAL PRINCE OF CLONING: After months of getting a free pass by most of the mainstream media, Claude Vorilhon finally gets a critical review from the Los Angeles Times. Vorilhon, guru of the Rael cult, teaches that mankind is descended from space aliens. He also is one of the purported frontrunners in the effort to clone a human being. “Serious” scientists fear Vorilhon’s antics will lead lawmakers to ban cloning.
(Reading: “Clones, free love and UFOs,” Los Angeles Times, 3/5/02; also see “Mutant sheep, space aliens and Elvis sightings,” Celebrate Life, 11/01; Clonaid, the first human cloning company)
media
CONTEXT: Commentator Dean Karayanis notes that media pundits came unglued when HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson used the term “unborn child” — but uttered the very same words themselves when they talked about slain Wall Street Journal reporter Danny Pearl’s pregnant widow. “So tell me, CNN,” he writes. “Are they unborn children or aren’t they?”
(Reading: “Danny and Mariane Pearl: Pro-life heroes,” World Net Daily, 3/1/02)
pill
UK LAWSUIT: In a test case in London, 100 women are suing pharmaceutical companies Schering Healthcare, Organon Laboratories and Wyeth for failing to inform them of the risks of the third generation birth control pill. The BBC reports that, according to court documents, the pills “caused the women to develop blood clots which led to long-term damage to their health, and in around 10 percent of cases proved fatal.”
(Reading: “Pill ’caused long-term damage,'” BBC News, 3/4/02)
pontifical academy
NON-NEGOTIABLE: The Pontifical Academy for Life wrapped up its annual assembly by declaring that the right to life is non-negotiable. “The Universal Declaration of Human Rights gives a clear definition of the right to life,” said Monsignor Michel Schooyans of the University of Leuven, a member of the academy. “However, in the second half of the 20th century, legislation has been approved in favor of abortion and, more recently, of euthanasia, which explicitly violates the right to life.”
(Reading: “Rights can’t be at mercy of majority consensus, says academy,” Zenit News Service, 3/4/02)
UNITY: Bishop Elio Sgreccia, vice president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, says it is time for all people of faith to join forces in the fight against abortion. “According to a certain libertarian culture, Catholics are opposed to abortion because they go back to a religious sentiment, but this is not exactly the truth. The time has come to surmount the clash between non-Catholics and Catholics,” he said. “We hope to ask one question: ‘Is there a morality that is valid for all human beings?’ We are convinced that the answer is to be found in respect for the natural law, which precedes the Catholic religion and is present in man’s heart. The natural moral law is a principle that is valid for all and that presupposes a high conception of man, which must be respected because of his intrinsic dignity, and the need to defend his real good.”
(Reading: “Focusing on natural law in the fight against abortion,” Zenit News Service, 2/26/02)
providers
LOUISIANA: “We were just astounded at the things they told us,” said Mike Johnson, an attorney representing women with malpractice claims against Delta Women’s Clinic in Baton Rouge. According to a Baton Rouge newspaper, the state medical examiners’ board found that abortionist A. James Whitmore, III, “used improperly sterilized equipment, let tissue float in sterilizing solution and reused devices that were supposed to be used only once.” Whitmore’s medical license is on indefinite probation while the state decides if he’s fit to practice.
(Reading: “Medical board investigating former abortion provider,” The [Baton Rouge] Advocate, 3/6/02)
reminder
WORLD FAMILY CONFERENCE: Plans are unfolding for American Life League’s next Celebration of Life World Family Conference, scheduled for July 10-14 in New Orleans. Speakers include former ambassador Alan Keyes, Life Dynamics founder Mark Crutcher and Omaha Archbishop Elden Curtiss.
reflection for prayer
ISAIAH 41:10: Do not be afraid; I am with you. I am your God; let nothing terrify you. I will make you strong and help you; I will protect you and save you.