birth control pill
INNOVATION: Gary D. Hodgen, Ph.D., has announced that Eastern Virginia Medical School (EVMS) has entered into collaboration with Barr Laboratories to investigate the potential use of Seasonale, a chemical compound that “could cut a woman’s number of menstrual cycles to four a year.” Hodgen says the clinical trials will be conducted at the Jones Institute for Reproductive Medicine, which is an EVMS research facility. Hodgen claims the biggest concern he has with Seasonale is “whether four annual cycles are sufficient to allow the lining of the uterus to get rid of any tissue that builds up.”
(Reading “A New Concept in Contraceptives,” EVMS Chronicle, 3/99, p. 5)
STROKE: A commentary in the Journal of the American Medical Association concludes an analysis of 175 ischemic stroke cases, 198 hemorraghic stroke cases and 1191 control subjects, concludes “Women who use low-dose OCPs are, in the aggregate, not at increased risk of stroke. Studies are needed to clarify the risk of stroke among users who may be susceptible on the basis of age, smoking, obesity, hypertension, or migraine history.”
(Reading: “Risk of Stroke in Users of Oral Contraceptives,” JAMA, 4/14/99, p. 1255)
chemical abortion
METHOTREXATE+MISOPROSTOL: A study comparing completed abortion using methotrexate alone versus the combination drugs indicates that methotrexate alone delivers a high failure rate. This study also explained that “misoprostol side effects include diarrhea, vomiting, headache, fever and chills. Misoprostol also causes cramping, abdominal pain and bleeding, and thus may increase the total amount of pain and bleeding beyond that of actual abortion.” Further, the study suggests that using ultrasound is a must when doing “medical abortions” because of the failure rate.
(Reading: “Comparing Abortion Induced With Methotrexate and Misoprostol to Methotrexate Alone,” Contraception, 12/99, pp. 7-10)
RU-486+MISOPROSTOL: A study involving 933 women who were less than eight weeks pregnant and who were seeking abortion indicates that providing women with 200mg mifepristone (RU-486) followed by 800mg vaginally-administered misoprostol resulted in a 97 percent success rate. Ultrasound was used to determine abortion outcome. The women involved were required to visit the clinic twice unless surgical intervention was required. Of the 933 mothers involved, 906 experienced complete abortions without a need for surgical intervention.
(Reading: “Low-Dose Mifepristone 200mg and Vaginal Misoprostol for Abortion,” Contraception, 12/99, pp. 1-6)
depo-provera
BONE MINERAL DENSITY A PROBLEM? Researchers with the Hong Kong Family Planning Association have found, in a study of 67 Chinese women, that “the use of DMPA (Depo-provera) in a Chinese group for more than 5 years is associated with bone loss, and a prospective study is needed to confirm these data, which are different from two case-control studies.”
(Reading: “Long-Term Depo-Medroxyprogesterone Acetate and Bone Mineral Density,” Contraception, 12/99, pp. 25-29)
end-of-life care
ADVANCED DIRECTIVES: Investigators studied 5,117 senior citizens (age 65 and older) to determine how many had completed advance directives (Ads). The study found that one third of seniors had an AD on file with their HMO, but only 15 percent had discussed end-of-life care preferences with a physician. The investigators suggested that “physicians and nurses will probably need to be held more accountable for initiating discussion about Ads if a health plan wants to have ADs on file for most of its seniors and high-risk members.”
COMMENT: It is hoped that pressure to sign advance directives will become another avenue for the death peddlers to prematurely end the lives of those who are aging, dying or otherwise cost-intensive.
(Reading: “Advance Directives Are More Likely Among Seniors Asked About End-Of-Life Care Preferences,” Archives of Internal Medicine, 12/99, p. 701)
fetal tissue research
PARKINSON’S DISEASE: Dr. Curt Freed (see communique, 3/26/99) is making headlines again with a study involving 40 patients, 20 of whom received transplants consisting of tissue from aborted babies. The four-year study, which cost taxpayers $5.7 million, was led by Freed, whose research is made possible by the ban on fetal tissue research having been lifted six years ago by President Clinton. Freed is cautiously optimistic, but did say that “until he got government support he was prevented from conducting “a truly high quality study.'”
(Reading: “Hints of Success in Fetal Cell Transplants,” New York Times, 4/22/99; “Fetal cells used to relieve symptoms of Parkinson’s,” National Post (Canada), 4/22/99; “Decisive moment on Parkinson’s fetal-cell transplants,” New York Times, 4/20/99)
human experimentation
VETERANS: The University of Cincinnati’s institutional review board has been ordered to review at least 98 research studies done by the University of Cincinnati and the Veterans Affairs Medical Center involving human subjects. The Office for Protections from Research Risks (OPPR) instructed the board to “keep watch for unforeseen complications involving experimental treatments.” Researchers failed to report that at least eight participants in medical experiments had died. The research coordinator said that the researchers thought none of the deaths was connected to the treatment. The Division of Human Subjects Research at OPRR has reported further abuses of such patients at hospitals in Tampa and Philadelphia, in addition to the ongoing investigations in California. In a statement issued to the public, Congressman Chris Smith pointed out, “In the past, researchers needed the consent of a legal guardian. But under the new rules, researchers may waive this requirement if it is not feasible to contact them, or the window for decision-making is short. Any researcher who does so is supposed to obtain the consent of a family member. But again, the researcher can waive this if not feasible.”
(Reading: “Questions Raised About Studies Using Mentally Ill,” Cincinnati Enquirer, 4/17/99; “VA Hospitals Under Scrutiny,” ABC News, 4/22/99; Congressman Christopher Smith, “Human Experiments: Sliding Backward”; “UC Research Deaths Go Unreported,” Cincinnati Enquirer, 4/28/99)
OREGON: Life at Risk provides an overview of Oregon’s physician-assisted suicide law and how it may have to be expanded. The newsletter reports, “In the most startling development of all, the Oregon attorney general’s office has announced that the state’s law may have to expand to cover direct killing by physicians to protect the ‘rights’ of physically disabled patients. The context for this statement was the recent case of Patrick Matheny, a patient with Lou Gehrig’s disease whose ambivalent quest for an assisted death had been reported for months by the Portland Oregonian…. A central claim used to pass Oregon’s law-that it would not allow doctors to directly kill their patients-may be about to fall.” (Reading: “Oregon’s First Year: Raising New Questions,” Life at Risk, 2-3/99, p. 1)
miracles
TINIEST NEWBORN: The Chicago Tribune reported on April 2 that Angelo David Ruiz, who was born 14 weeks early, went home after spending 3 months in the hospital and weighing less than 500 grams at birth. Baby Hope, who survived a late term abortion in Cincinnati, Ohio on April 23, and was 22 weeks of age, was not so lucky. She survived 3 hours, but then she had no one who really wanted her to live.
(Reading: “Only 14 Ounces at Birth, Baby Finally Goes Home,” Chicago Tribune, 4/2/99, p. 6; “Live Birth During Abortion Process Inflames Passions,” Scripps Howard News Service, 4/21/99)
stem cell research
NATIONAL BIOETHICS ADVISORY COMMISSION: Karen D. Poehailos, M.D., who represented American Life League’s American Bioethics Advisory Commission at the NBAC hearings, writes in the Charlottesville Daily Progress “In my high school biology classes, I learned that the union of the ovum (egg) and sperm produced a zygote. All that was needed for this zygote to develop through the stages to a full-term human baby was time and the correct environment. All the genetic material encoding a unique human being-46 chromosomes-was completely present even at this earliest stage. Years later in my embryology lectures at the University of Virginia Medical School I learned about this development in more painstaking detail-but the basic principle stayed the same.” Dr. Poehailos’ testimony argued that stem cells are available from sources that do not require the destruction of the human being after his life has begun.
(Reading: “Embryonic Research Violates Right to Life of Fellow Human,” Charlottesville Daily Progress, 4/5/99)
wal-mart gets thanks
SAYING NO TO PREVEN: American Life League has commended Wal-Mart for the corporate decision not to sell Preven, the so-called emergency contraceptive that aborts tiny human beings. Wal-mart has acknowledged our e-mail: “Thank you for taking the time to share your comments and show your support to the business decision Wal-Mart made not to sell Preven. We appreciate your comments and thank you for shopping at Wal-Mart.”
(Contact: Send your e-mail of support to “>)
web news
PHARMACISTS: Pro-life pharmacist Karen Brauer has established a web site including a discussion board for pharmacists. The Hoosier Pharmer may be found at: http://w3.one.net/~kbrauer/html%20files.
SEXUAL WISDOM: Visit this site for a look at physician Richard Wetzel’s comprehensive new book.
reflect
“Love is sufficient by itself, it pleases by itself and for its own sake. It is like a merit and itself its own recompense. Love seeks neither cause nor fruit beyond itself. Its fruit is its use. I love because I love; I love that I may love. Love then is a reality. It is the only one of all the movements, feelings and affections of the soul in which the creature is able to respond to its Creator, though not upon equal terms, and to repay like with like.”
-St. Bernard, [A.D.1153] “Retreat with the Lord,” p. 213
pray
Lord, make me an instrument of your love in each relationship that I have that I may always see you in each person with whom I have occasion to speak, to see or to know. Amen.
INNOVATION: Gary D. Hodgen, Ph.D., has announced that Eastern Virginia Medical School (EVMS) has entered into collaboration with Barr Laboratories to investigate the potential use of Seasonale, a chemical compound that “could cut a woman’s number of menstrual cycles to four a year.” Hodgen says the clinical trials will be conducted at the Jones Institute for Reproductive Medicine, which is an EVMS research facility. Hodgen claims the biggest concern he has with Seasonale is “whether four annual cycles are sufficient to allow the lining of the uterus to get rid of any tissue that builds up.”
(Reading “A New Concept in Contraceptives,” EVMS Chronicle, 3/99, p. 5)
STROKE: A commentary in the Journal of the American Medical Association concludes an analysis of 175 ischemic stroke cases, 198 hemorraghic stroke cases and 1191 control subjects, concludes “Women who use low-dose OCPs are, in the aggregate, not at increased risk of stroke. Studies are needed to clarify the risk of stroke among users who may be susceptible on the basis of age, smoking, obesity, hypertension, or migraine history.”
(Reading: “Risk of Stroke in Users of Oral Contraceptives,” JAMA, 4/14/99, p. 1255)
chemical abortion
METHOTREXATE+MISOPROSTOL: A study comparing completed abortion using methotrexate alone versus the combination drugs indicates that methotrexate alone delivers a high failure rate. This study also explained that “misoprostol side effects include diarrhea, vomiting, headache, fever and chills. Misoprostol also causes cramping, abdominal pain and bleeding, and thus may increase the total amount of pain and bleeding beyond that of actual abortion.” Further, the study suggests that using ultrasound is a must when doing “medical abortions” because of the failure rate.
(Reading: “Comparing Abortion Induced With Methotrexate and Misoprostol to Methotrexate Alone,” Contraception, 12/99, pp. 7-10)
RU-486+MISOPROSTOL: A study involving 933 women who were less than eight weeks pregnant and who were seeking abortion indicates that providing women with 200mg mifepristone (RU-486) followed by 800mg vaginally-administered misoprostol resulted in a 97 percent success rate. Ultrasound was used to determine abortion outcome. The women involved were required to visit the clinic twice unless surgical intervention was required. Of the 933 mothers involved, 906 experienced complete abortions without a need for surgical intervention.
(Reading: “Low-Dose Mifepristone 200mg and Vaginal Misoprostol for Abortion,” Contraception, 12/99, pp. 1-6)
depo-provera
BONE MINERAL DENSITY A PROBLEM? Researchers with the Hong Kong Family Planning Association have found, in a study of 67 Chinese women, that “the use of DMPA (Depo-provera) in a Chinese group for more than 5 years is associated with bone loss, and a prospective study is needed to confirm these data, which are different from two case-control studies.”
(Reading: “Long-Term Depo-Medroxyprogesterone Acetate and Bone Mineral Density,” Contraception, 12/99, pp. 25-29)
end-of-life care
ADVANCED DIRECTIVES: Investigators studied 5,117 senior citizens (age 65 and older) to determine how many had completed advance directives (Ads). The study found that one third of seniors had an AD on file with their HMO, but only 15 percent had discussed end-of-life care preferences with a physician. The investigators suggested that “physicians and nurses will probably need to be held more accountable for initiating discussion about Ads if a health plan wants to have ADs on file for most of its seniors and high-risk members.”
COMMENT: It is hoped that pressure to sign advance directives will become another avenue for the death peddlers to prematurely end the lives of those who are aging, dying or otherwise cost-intensive.
(Reading: “Advance Directives Are More Likely Among Seniors Asked About End-Of-Life Care Preferences,” Archives of Internal Medicine, 12/99, p. 701)
fetal tissue research
PARKINSON’S DISEASE: Dr. Curt Freed (see communique, 3/26/99) is making headlines again with a study involving 40 patients, 20 of whom received transplants consisting of tissue from aborted babies. The four-year study, which cost taxpayers $5.7 million, was led by Freed, whose research is made possible by the ban on fetal tissue research having been lifted six years ago by President Clinton. Freed is cautiously optimistic, but did say that “until he got government support he was prevented from conducting “a truly high quality study.'”
(Reading: “Hints of Success in Fetal Cell Transplants,” New York Times, 4/22/99; “Fetal cells used to relieve symptoms of Parkinson’s,” National Post (Canada), 4/22/99; “Decisive moment on Parkinson’s fetal-cell transplants,” New York Times, 4/20/99)
human experimentation
VETERANS: The University of Cincinnati’s institutional review board has been ordered to review at least 98 research studies done by the University of Cincinnati and the Veterans Affairs Medical Center involving human subjects. The Office for Protections from Research Risks (OPPR) instructed the board to “keep watch for unforeseen complications involving experimental treatments.” Researchers failed to report that at least eight participants in medical experiments had died. The research coordinator said that the researchers thought none of the deaths was connected to the treatment. The Division of Human Subjects Research at OPRR has reported further abuses of such patients at hospitals in Tampa and Philadelphia, in addition to the ongoing investigations in California. In a statement issued to the public, Congressman Chris Smith pointed out, “In the past, researchers needed the consent of a legal guardian. But under the new rules, researchers may waive this requirement if it is not feasible to contact them, or the window for decision-making is short. Any researcher who does so is supposed to obtain the consent of a family member. But again, the researcher can waive this if not feasible.”
(Reading: “Questions Raised About Studies Using Mentally Ill,” Cincinnati Enquirer, 4/17/99; “VA Hospitals Under Scrutiny,” ABC News, 4/22/99; Congressman Christopher Smith, “Human Experiments: Sliding Backward”; “UC Research Deaths Go Unreported,” Cincinnati Enquirer, 4/28/99)
OREGON: Life at Risk provides an overview of Oregon’s physician-assisted suicide law and how it may have to be expanded. The newsletter reports, “In the most startling development of all, the Oregon attorney general’s office has announced that the state’s law may have to expand to cover direct killing by physicians to protect the ‘rights’ of physically disabled patients. The context for this statement was the recent case of Patrick Matheny, a patient with Lou Gehrig’s disease whose ambivalent quest for an assisted death had been reported for months by the Portland Oregonian…. A central claim used to pass Oregon’s law-that it would not allow doctors to directly kill their patients-may be about to fall.” (Reading: “Oregon’s First Year: Raising New Questions,” Life at Risk, 2-3/99, p. 1)
miracles
TINIEST NEWBORN: The Chicago Tribune reported on April 2 that Angelo David Ruiz, who was born 14 weeks early, went home after spending 3 months in the hospital and weighing less than 500 grams at birth. Baby Hope, who survived a late term abortion in Cincinnati, Ohio on April 23, and was 22 weeks of age, was not so lucky. She survived 3 hours, but then she had no one who really wanted her to live.
(Reading: “Only 14 Ounces at Birth, Baby Finally Goes Home,” Chicago Tribune, 4/2/99, p. 6; “Live Birth During Abortion Process Inflames Passions,” Scripps Howard News Service, 4/21/99)
stem cell research
NATIONAL BIOETHICS ADVISORY COMMISSION: Karen D. Poehailos, M.D., who represented American Life League’s American Bioethics Advisory Commission at the NBAC hearings, writes in the Charlottesville Daily Progress “In my high school biology classes, I learned that the union of the ovum (egg) and sperm produced a zygote. All that was needed for this zygote to develop through the stages to a full-term human baby was time and the correct environment. All the genetic material encoding a unique human being-46 chromosomes-was completely present even at this earliest stage. Years later in my embryology lectures at the University of Virginia Medical School I learned about this development in more painstaking detail-but the basic principle stayed the same.” Dr. Poehailos’ testimony argued that stem cells are available from sources that do not require the destruction of the human being after his life has begun.
(Reading: “Embryonic Research Violates Right to Life of Fellow Human,” Charlottesville Daily Progress, 4/5/99)
wal-mart gets thanks
SAYING NO TO PREVEN: American Life League has commended Wal-Mart for the corporate decision not to sell Preven, the so-called emergency contraceptive that aborts tiny human beings. Wal-mart has acknowledged our e-mail: “Thank you for taking the time to share your comments and show your support to the business decision Wal-Mart made not to sell Preven. We appreciate your comments and thank you for shopping at Wal-Mart.”
(Contact: Send your e-mail of support to “>)
web news
PHARMACISTS: Pro-life pharmacist Karen Brauer has established a web site including a discussion board for pharmacists. The Hoosier Pharmer may be found at: http://w3.one.net/~kbrauer/html%20files.
SEXUAL WISDOM: Visit this site for a look at physician Richard Wetzel’s comprehensive new book.
reflect
“Love is sufficient by itself, it pleases by itself and for its own sake. It is like a merit and itself its own recompense. Love seeks neither cause nor fruit beyond itself. Its fruit is its use. I love because I love; I love that I may love. Love then is a reality. It is the only one of all the movements, feelings and affections of the soul in which the creature is able to respond to its Creator, though not upon equal terms, and to repay like with like.”
-St. Bernard, [A.D.1153] “Retreat with the Lord,” p. 213
pray
Lord, make me an instrument of your love in each relationship that I have that I may always see you in each person with whom I have occasion to speak, to see or to know. Amen.