in this issue:
catholics: PRO-ABORTION POLITICIANS
catholic health insurance: MAKING IT RIGHT
cloning: DEFECTS ABOUND
“contraception”: RISKS
food and drug administration: INTEGRITY QUESTIONED
hemlock: NEWS UPDATE
in vitro fertilization: EUGENICS TECHNOLOGY
morning after abortion pills: FACTS
personhood: CANADIAN BISHOPS, PETITION TO PRESIDENT BUSH
physician-assisted suicide: DOCTORS’ VIEWS
planned parenthood: NEBRASKA
prenatal care: REFUSED, BASED ON ROE
suicide: SCREENING
web news: AUSTRALIA, FOCUS ON THE FAMILY, IN VITRO FERTILIZATION, PARENTS’ NETWORK
zinger: STEM CELL RESEARCH OPPONENTS: CONSISTENT?
reflection for prayer: THOMAS A KEMPIS
catholics
PRO-ABORTION POLITICIANS: Catholics United for the Faith has issued a position paper on elected officials who support abortion. The paper points out, “despite their apparent knowledge of the Church’s teaching on abortion and the frequent admonitions of the U.S. bishops, there are Catholic lawmakers who believe they can systematically block attempts to protect human life on Friday and worthily receive Holy Communion on Sunday. This duplicity has the ostensible blessing of the Church to the extent this situation is permitted to continue unabated.” The document cites the need for punishment as described in Canon 1371 and affirmed by Pope John Paul II in Ad Tuendam Fidem (To Defend the Faith).
(Reading: “Position Paper of Catholics United for the Faith on Addressing the Problem of Catholic Politicians Who Publicly Advocate Abortion Rights,” Lay Witness, 4/01)
catholic health insurance
MAKING IT RIGHT: “How One Diocese Cleaned Up Health Insurance,” by Bishop Robert F. Vasa, can be reviewed online.
cloning
DEFECTS ABOUND: Researchers at Advanced Cell Technology have revealed concerns about defects in animal clones including enlarged tongues, squashed faces, bad kidneys and so on. As one scientist explained, “Serious problems have happened in all five species cloned so far, and all are mammals, so of course it’s going to happen in humans.”
(Reading: “Cloning ‘Has to Do Better on Animal Welfare,'” Daily Telegraph, 5/17/01; “Human Cloning Bid Stirs Experts’ Anger,” Washington Post, 3/6/01, online with paid subscription)
“contraception”
RISKS: The University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health released a study showing that the use of contraception (hormonal and barrier) does not reduce a woman’s risk of pelvic inflammatory disease.
(Reading: “Pitt Study Finds Contraceptives Offer Women No Protection from Pelvic Inflammatory Disease,” University of Pittsburgh news release, 5/01)
food and drug administration
INTEGRITY QUESTIONED: Richard Horton, in a stinging editorial in The Lancet, argues that the FDA’s integrity has been eroded because of the alleged financial payoff it receives from the drug industry.
(Reading: “Lancet Questions FDA Integrity, Claiming Drug Industry Influence,” Reuters Health, 5/17/01; “Lotronex and the FDA: A Fatal Erosion of Integrity,” The Lancet, 5/19/01, p. 1544, paid subscription only)
hemlock
NEWS UPDATE: Peter Singer, eugenicist of Princeton, has an article in the most recent “Hemlock TimeLines.” Also, Mary Grove writes about “Deliverance by Dehydration,” and the update on Jack Kevorkian comes complete with an address for sending him mail.
(Reading: The Hemlock TimeLines, Spring 2001)
in vitro fertilization
EUGENICS TECHNOLOGY: American researchers are convinced that technology will one day be able to test embryos for genetic flaws through a mechanized process, rendering current methods of pre-implantation genetic diagnosis obsolete. Ethical concerns regarding “genetic diversity” have been raised.
COMMENT: Another reason why in vitro fertilization must be banned.
(Reading: “Promise of Production-line Embryos,” BBC News, 5/23/01)
morning after abortion pills
FACTS: The American Medical News published a definitive letter regarding the recommendation of the AMA to make the MAAPs available over the counter. Concerned that women will not be advised of the mechanism of action of these pills, Stewart Jennings, M.D. of Richmond, Va., writes, “The term ’emergency contraception’ actually may be a misnomer since, by definition, ‘contraception’ is the prevention of conception. Emergency contraception, especially if used 24 to 72 hours after intercourse, may in fact (depending on the timing of ovulation relative to the use of the drug) prevent implantation after conception has occurred. This would be more accurately termed ‘interception’ and may also be considered abortion by those who believe life to begin at conception.”
COMMENT: Anyone with an understanding of Biology 101 knows that a human being begins at conception; these pills will abort the person whose life has already begun.
(Reading: “Purchasers May Not Understand OTC Emergency Contraceptives,” American Medical News, 4/16/01)
personhood
CANADIAN BISHOPS: In a public statement opposing stem cell research, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops points out, “the issue today is whether this most vulnerable human being will be treated and respected as a person. …Catholic teaching, which holds that the embryo is a human being, maintains that the human being should be treated as a protected as a person.”
(Reading: “Response of the Catholic Organization for Life and Family,” Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, 5/23/01)
PETITION TO PRESIDENT BUSH: Life Dynamics, Inc., is sponsoring a “First Step Initiative” petition drive, calling on President Bush to appoint a blue ribbon committee to advise the president on developing a strategy to achieve legal protection for all persons from conception. To learn more, see Life Dynamics, Inc. Deadline for completion: 7/31/01.
physician-assisted suicide
DOCTORS’ VIEWS: A new study reveals that while 23.5% of AMA House of Delegates members support physician-assisted suicide, 44.5% of rank and file physicians support the argument that it should “probably or definitely be legal.”
(Reading: “Physicians: Leave Assisted Suicide to Doctors, Patients,” American Medical News, 6/4/01)
planned parenthood
NEBRASKA: An abortionist who was forced to resign from the University of Nebraska Medical Center because he was performing abortions is now helping Planned Parenthood expand its “gynecological services.”
(Reading: “Ex-med-center Doctor Gets New Job,” Omaha World Herald, 5/25/01; “Abortion Blame Shouldn’t Fall on UNMC,” Omaha World Herald, 3/6/01)
prenatal care
REFUSED, BASED ON ROE: The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a lower court ruling and denied prenatal services to illegal immigrants. “Relying in part on the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Roe v. Wade, the appeals court reasoned that it is legal to deny an unborn child the benefits of prenatal coverage based on the mother’s undocumented status. When the high court established a woman’s right to an abortion in that pivotal case, it also found that a fetus does not have the same rights as a person.”
(Reading: “Court Affirms Ban on Prenatal Care for Illegal Immigrants,” Reuters Health, 5/23/01)
suicide
SCREENING: U. S. Surgeon General David Satcher unveiled a strategy for identifying patients over the age of 65 at risk of committing suicide. The program includes suicide risk screening in primary care and expanding the “mood disorder” identification process.
(Reading: “Surgeon General Unveils Strategy for Preventing Suicides,” American Medical News, 5/21/01)
web news
AUSTRALIA: The NSW Right to Life Association has an excellent web site.
FOCUS ON THE FAMILY: Among the anti-euthanasia materials available on line is the new video, “To Be or Not to Be: The Human Family,” featuring terminally ill, Canadian disability rights activist Mark Pickup.
IN VITRO FERTILIZATION: The Worldwide Fertility Network provides a web site that identifies all centers throughout the world specializing in the failure-plagued practice of in vitro fertilization.
PARENTS NETWORK: “A Child Protect Campaign” is the accurate title for this new site featuring factual information on the pill, “safe sex vs. abstinence” and more.
zinger
STEM CELL RESEARCH OPPONENTS – CONSISTENT? Professor Francis Fukuyama writes of those who believe that destroying a 32-cell blastocyst is morally equivalent to infanticide, clarifying that he personally does not this view, but “those who accept this premise must ask themselves why it is also legal for an in vitro fertilization clinic to destroy these embryos, but impermissible to use them for research. Or to put it another way, if their concern is the deliberate destruction of embryos, why are they not bending every effort to ban in vitro fertilization altogether rather than focusing on stem cells since the former leads to massively greater levels of harm to embryos? Could it be that they are motivated by a utilitarian concern that voters would never abide banning in vitro fertilization? And if so, why not concede the utilitarian interest we all have in future stem cell research?”
COMMENT: Well said, Professor. In vitro fertilization must be banned!
(Reading: “Separating Good Biotech from Bad,” Wall Street Journal, 5/23/01; available on the web only with subscription)
reflection for prayer
THOMAS A KEMPIS: Imitation of Christ, Book 3, Chapter 7, Section 5, on adversity and tribulation:
Such a trial is oftentimes more profitable than if thou wert always to have prosperity according to thy will.
For a man’s merits are not to be estimated by his having many visions or consolations, nor by his knowledge of the Scriptures, nor by his being placed in a more elevated station.
But by his being grounded in true humility and replenished with divine charity; by his seeking always purely and entirely the honor of God; by his esteeming himself as nothing and sincerely despising himself, and being better pleased to be despised and humbled by others than to be the object of their esteem.