in this issue:
american life league: HOT BUTTON ISSUES
abortion: ARIZONA / LAW / PANIC-STOPPING OF THE PILL
activism: CALIFORNIA / WISCONSIN
birth control pill: BREAST CANCER
brain death: RADIOLOGIC DIAGNOSIS
bush watch: HUMAN EMBRYO
cloning humans: NIGEL CAMERON
euthanasia: CORONERS
futility: PENNSYLVANIA
human embryonic stem cell research: NEW JERSEY
humor: ANONYMOUS
organ donations: STARTLING REVELATIONS
pharmacists for life: CORRECTION
planned parenthood: AWARD / PARENTAL PERMISSION / SEXTIONARY
politics: RNC/LIFE PAC
unfpa: OBAID
vaccines: MERCK
zinger: DUMPSTER STICKER
reflection for prayer: THOMAS A KEMPIS
american life league
HOT BUTTON ISSUES: Senator Trent Lott has promised a vote on the alleged partial-birth abortion bill shortly after the new Congress convenes in January. ALL calls on senators to remove the “life of the mother” exception, which neuters the bill’s effectiveness.
(Reading: “Partial-birth abortion is back, but will Congress really ban it?” American Life League news release, 11/8/02)
abortion
ARIZONA: In October the Arizona Supreme Court ruled that poor women have a right to publicly funded abortions when the procedure is deemed “medically necessary.” Previously Arizona law had permitted the funding of abortion in cases of rape, incest or danger to the life of the mother. The ruling was a victory for abortion mills and abortionists according to news reports.
(Reading: “Ariz. Supreme Court allows abortion funds for poor,” Associated Press, 10/23/02; Simat et al. v. Arizona Health Care, #CV-01-0324-PR, Arizona Supreme Court)
LAW: One of the heroic attorneys in the struggle to obtain personhood for all innocents, Harold J. Cassidy, is profiled in a Bergen County Record article.
(Reading: “‘Baby M’ case launched his career and stirred his passion,” Bergen County Record, 11/7/02)
PANIC-STOPPING OF THE PILL: New Zealand researchers claim that negative press reports about risks associated with the pill caused women to stop using the pill and subsequently become pregnant and abort their baby. Records of 400 women “attending for pregnancy termination assessment” revealed that “panic-stopping or oral contraceptives was implicated in 9.5%.”
(Reading: “Termination of pregnancy following panic-stopping of oral contraceptives,” Contraception, 66 (2002) pp. 163-167)
activism
CALIFORNIA: Due to the amazing work of John O’Neil of Monrovians against Planned Parenthood, STOPP International, Focus on the Family, Life Dynamics, et al., the California attorney general’s office has asserted that physicians are required to report to authorities if an underage female patient is suspected of being impregnated by an adult male.
(Reading: “California doctors must report sex abuse,” WorldNet Daily, 11/7/02; “Life Dynamics report shows PP conceals sex abuse crimes,” Ryan Report, 7/02)
WISCONSIN: Pro-life activist and hero Will Goodman, with the help of the Thomas More Law Center, won a court judgement against an abortion clinic which was required to pay him damages. Goodman said an abortion facility staff member had attacked him.
(Reading: “Abortion facility pays damages to pro-life advocate,” Thomas More Law Center news release, 11/6/02; for background, see Pro-Choice Violence, a web site that records and documents violent acts against pro-life people)
birth control pill
BREAST CANCER: Ellen C. G. Grant, MB, ChB, comments on a recent study designed to allay fears that the pill was associated with breast cancer: “The case-control study by Marchbanks et al. of oral-contraceptive use and breast cancer among women 35-64 years of age is not reassuring because of a fundamental mistake. The authors failed to study women who had never taken any hormones, either oral contraceptives or hormone-replacement therapy, as their base line….The incidence of hormone-dependent cancers has increased in countries where hormones are taken.”
(Reading: “Oral contraceptives and the risk of breast cancer,” New England Journal of Medicine, 10/31/02, pp. 1448-1449)
brain death
RADIOLOGIC DIAGNOSIS: Researchers found that of 58 adults referred to the nuclear medicine department of a hospital for clinical diagnosis of brain death, 62% (36) were found to have complete cessation of cerebral blood flow and were subsequently declared clinically brain dead. In the remaining group of patients, one patient was discharged from the hospital in a persistent vegetative state, and 22 showed evidence of cerebral blood flow.
COMMENT: Ever wonder how many patients are inaccurately diagnosed with “brain death” every day? No wonder current practices in this regard are under scrutiny.
(Reading: “Radiologic diagnosis of brain death,” Journal of the American Medical Association, 11/6/02)
bush watch
HUMAN EMBRYO: The Bush administration recently chartered a federal advisory committee and told that committee to include human embryos in the definition of human subjects. The advisory carries no weight in law; it is not a mandate, but nonetheless, the Bush administration should be commended for the effort.
(Reading: “New status for embryos in research,” Washington Post, 10/30/02, p. A1)
(Action: You can send your comments by e-mail to , or call the White House at 202-456-1111)
cloning humans
NIGEL CAMERON: A commentary on the Bush administration’s efforts at the UN to seek an end to all human cloning appears online.
(Reading: “President Bush keeps faith on cloning,” Break Point, 11/4/02)
euthanasia
CORONERS: A disturbing news report from the Philadelphia suburbs indicates that “county coroners say they can’t check every death of a nursing home patient to be sure it was from natural causes. The result means suspicious cases may never be unearthed.”
(Reading: “Burying the truth,” The Intelligencer, 11/1/02)
futility
PENNSYLVANIA: The ethics committee at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania has approved “unusual new guidelines that include limits on high-tech treatment for patients with severe brain damage. Under the guidelines, intensive care would not routinely be given to patients in a persistent vegetative or minimally conscious state. Only patients who had explicitly requested such care would get it.”
(Reading: “Penn hospital to limit its care in futile cases,” Philadelphia Inquirer, 11/4/02)
human embryonic stem cell research
NEW JERSEY: Senate Bill 1909 prompted a hearing to explore ethical and public policy issues regarding the use of human embryos for research purposes. Testimony was given by BIO (Biotechnology Industry Organization) and the New Jersey Catholic Conference, among others.
(Reading: “Committee weighs merits of expanded stem cell research,” Associated Press, 11/4/02; “Testimony from Michael J. Werner, Esq.,” Biotechnology Industry Organization, 11/4/02; “NJCC to Senate: Stem cell research is a serious moral issue,” The Monitor, 11/6/02)
humor
ANONYMOUS: “For every action there is an equal and opposite government program.”
(Reading: “Quick Quotes,” The Star, 9/02, p 15; for copies write Fr. Rawley Myers, 22 W. Kiowa, Colorado Springs, CO 80903)
organ donations
STARTLING REVELATIONS: A Playboy news release excerpts a few of the dramatic statements in an article published in the magazine’s October issue, such as: “A popular belief in the transplantation community is that brain death is as certain as cardiac death. In fact, brain death is an expedient ‘medical fiction’ invented to enable physicians to declare patients dead in a timely fashion and in a controlled environment.”
(Reading: “Startling revelations about organ donations,” Playboy Enterprises news release, 8/26/02)
pharmacists for life
CORRECTION: (See Communique 11/8/02, “sterilization”) Please note that Pharmacists for Life International’s e-mail address is .
planned parenthood
AWARD: Planned Parenthood Federation of America’s infamous Teenwire web site has won a Freddie Award. The site won in the “adolescent health” category.
COMMENT: It should have been in the sleaze category.
(Reading: “Teenwire.com receives prestigious Freddie award,” Planned Parenthood news release, 11/8/02)
PARENTAL PERMISSION: A contest for poster art commemorating “Roe at 30” is being sponsored by Planned Parenthood. If a student is under age 18, he or she is required to have a parent or legal guardian’s permission to enter the contest.
COMMENT: But if a student wants an abortion, no permission is necessary.
(Reading: “Roe at 30 artwork and poster contest,” Planned Parenthood action alert)
SEXTIONARY: STOPP International’s Jim Sedlak visited the newest addition to the Teenwire web site and comments, “Planned Parenthood continues to add offensive material to is teen web site. The latest addition is a ‘sextionary’ that Planned Parenthood describes as ‘an innovative, new sex education tool.’ When combined with teenwire’s games, puzzles and movies in the ‘Now Playing’ section of the web site, Sextionary is being used to promote Planned Parenthood’s free sex philosophy to our children.”
(Action: To learn more about how to stop Planned Parenthood, visit STOPP)
politics
RNC/LIFE PAC: This political action committee insists that politicians seeking an endorsement must not discriminate against babies conceived through rape or incest, or who have a handicap or a genetic defect. Each candidate agrees to endorse a human life amendment to the Constitution and the extension of Fourteenth Amendment protection to preborn children. Of the 20 congressional candidates endorsed by RNC/Life PAC, 16 were winners and 10 are brand-new members.
COMMENT: Who says politicians of principle cannot win elections?
(Reading: “Pro-life candidates endorsed by RNC/Life PAC elected to Congress on 11/5/02,” Republican National Coalition for Life PAC)
unfpa
OBAID: UNFPA Executive Director Thoraya Obaid “courts controversy” at a recent meeting by stating that the United States “does not support the idea that women can make choices in their lives.”
(Reading: “UNFPA director Obaid courts controversy at women’s meeting,” Catholic Family and Human Rights report, 11/8/02)
vaccines
MERCK: Children of God for Life calls for a boycott of Merck Products when and only when such a boycott will not prevent a patient from receiving the medication he or she needs. Children of God for Life states, “Since vaccines make up less than 5% of their revenues, our analysts have suggested an effective means of forcing a change in fetal tissue vaccines would be to boycott the products that most heavily impact the company’s financials.”
(Reading: “Special alert,” Children of God for Life, 11/6/02)
zinger
DUMPSTER STICKER: A new California “safe haven” law allowing mothers to leave “unwanted” babies at hospitals with no strings attached prompted the city of Santa Cruz to devise the idea of placing a sticker on dumpsters in the city saying: “Don’t throw your baby away.” One resident opined “If we have to tell people not to throw babies in dumpsters … we’re reached the lowest point we can get to as a society.”
(Reading: “Abandoned baby law dilemma,” San Francisco Examiner, 8/20/02; “News of the Weird,” Chicago Reader, 9/27/02)
reflection for prayer
THOMAS A KEMPIS: A man is here today and tomorrow he is vanished. And when he is taken out of sight he is quickly also out of mind. Oh, the dullness and hardness of man’s heart, which only thinks of what is present, and looks not forward to things to come. You ought in every action and thought so to order yourself as if you were immediately to die. If you had a good conscience you would not much fear death. It is better for you to fly sin than to be afraid of death. It you are not prepared today how shall you be tomorrow? Tomorrow is an uncertain day; and how do you know that you shall be alive tomorrow?
(Reading: “Imitation of Christ,” Book 1, Chapter 23, Section 1)