in this issue:
bush watch: FEDERAL REGULATIONS STALL, PETITION
morning after abortion pills: ACOG
organ transplantation: DEATH WATCH
personhood: DEFINITIONS
stem cell research: PETITION
web news: CANADA’S ANTI-EUTHANASIA SITE, SCIENCE AND CONFLICT OF INTEREST
reflection for prayer: ECCLESIASTICUS 18:8-14
bush watch
FEDERAL REGULATIONS STALL: DHHS Secretary Tommy Thompson has delayed possible changes in federal regulations (see Communique, 5/14/01 and 5/18/01) so that 180 days of comment can be received on redefining the born baby as a “neonate” rather than “fetus,” and so that there can be “clarification to the language that governs funding decisions for research on infants of uncertain viability.”
(Reading: statement by Tommy G. Thompson, 5/17/01, HHS News)
PETITION: Life Dynamics, Inc., is promulgating “The First Step Initiative,” a petition that asks President Bush to appoint a blue ribbon committee to advise the president on a “pragmatic” strategy for “promptly returning legal protection to every unborn child from the moment of conception.”
(Reading: “First Step Initiative,” Life Dynamics, Inc.)
morning after abortion pills
ACOG: The president of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, has provided ACOG members with a suggested letter to send “to your local pharmacies asking them to carry Preven and Plan B” in order to provide easy access to patients. The suggested letter states: “In order to reduce the risk of pregnancy, ECs may be taken.”
COMMENT: The letter’s statement ignores the fact that the pills will abort if a human being has begun at conception.
(Reading: ACOG Key Contact Listserv, 5/21/01, available to members only; “National Ob/gyn Leadership Last Bastion of Male Chauvinism,” ALL news release, 5/3/01; for clinical background on morning after abortion pills, see Morning After Pill)
organ transplantation
DEATH WATCH: Studying the procedures followed to determine whether or not a patient is dead prior to taking organs, Dr. Michael DeVita writes, “For all patients, whether resuscitation is achieved, a 2-minute death watch following loss of circulation and cessation of resuscitation efforts is sufficient and reasonably supported by the data as long as there is adequate monitoring. While it has not been specifically assessed, the 2-minute time span probably fits with the layperson’s conception of how death ought to be determined, and, as noted by the Institute of Medicine, public acceptance is an important consideration.”
COMMENT: Death by consensus?
(Reading: “The Death Watch: Certifying Death Using Cardiac Criteria,” Progress in Transplantation, 11(1): 58-66, 2001, register on Medscape prior to use)
personhood
DEFINITIONS: Medical ethicist and vice president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, Bishop Elio Sgreccia, comments, “Those who support ‘therapeutic cloning” use the reasoning that an embryo in its first phases, up until 15 days, is not a human person yet. They say it is a human being. This difference between a being and a person is nominalistic. No human person ever became such without first having been a human being. The embryo of a human is the first phase of an individual human that develops all its potential when it is adult. From the first day, it has all the possibilities inside. What we are talking about here is adapting the significance of a linguistic and biological concept to utilitarian and experimental ends.”
(Reading: “Utilitarianism Without Mercy,” Catholic World Report, 05/01, p. 55, no web site)
stem cell research
PETITION: To sign a petition protesting federal funding of destructive embryo research for the purpose of acquiring stem cells, see Coalition of Americans for Research Ethics.
COMMENT: This petition seeks a ban on federal funding, which is imperative. This particular document, however, does not specifically address the issue of privately-funded (and equally destructive and immoral) human embryo research. American Life League opposes all destructive embryo research and experimentation, regardless of the funding source, and urges Congress to do the same.
web news
CANADA’S ANTI-EUTHANASIA SITE: Compassionate Healthcare Network provides updates on a variety of questions pertinent to everyone in the pro-life effort worldwide.
SCIENCE AND CONFLICT OF INTEREST: The Center for Science in the Public Interest has established a web site to track links between corporations and scientists.
reflection for prayer
ECLESIASTICUS 18:8-14:
What is a human being, what purpose does he serve?
What is good and what is bad for him?
The length of his life: a hundred years at most.
Like a drop of water from the sea, or a grain of sand,
such are these few years compared with eternity.
This is why the Lord is patient with them
and pours out his mercy on them.
He sees and recognizes how wretched their end is,
and so he makes His forgiveness the greater.
Human compassion extends to neighbors,
but the Lord’s compassion extends to everyone;
rebuking, correcting and teaching,
bringing them back as a shepherd brings his flock.
He has compassion on those who accept correction,
and who fervently search for his judgments