in this issue:
hot button issues: ACHILLES HEEL / 40 DAYS FOR LIFE
abortion: CEREBRAL PALSY / GLOBAL SAFE
pharmacists: POPE BENEDICT XVI
planned parenthood: MARXIST THOUGHT ONLINE
politics: EVANGELICALS AND ABORTION
school-based clinics: COLORADO / MAINE
zinger: STARVE THEM TO DEATH
reminders: SAVING THOSE DAMNED CATHOLICS / ULTRASOUND VIDEO
reflection for prayer: HOPE
hot button issues
ACHILLES HEEL: American Life League’s Judie Brown notes, “The majority of Catholics actually have no problem with abortion, and when they see pro-abortion public figures that are also Catholic getting away with scandalous behavior such as receiving Christ in Holy Communion, their inability to see the wrongness of the act of abortion becomes exacerbated.”
Link: “Catholicism’s Achilles heel,” American Life League, 10/19/07
40 DAYS FOR LIFE: The campaign concludes the Sunday, November 4, as grassroots pro-lifers in more than 80 communities have participated in the first-ever national 40 Days for Life. The project combined prayer and fasting, a round-the-clock vigil outside an abortion facility and community outreach.
abortion
CEREBRAL PALSY: A study in the Journal of Reproductive Health “concludes that 32 percent of ‘very preterm” US births, that is before 32 weeks gestation, are due to the mother having had a prior abortion.”
Link: “Study: Previous abortions linked with pre-term birth and cerebral palsy,” Life Site News, 10/26/07
GLOBAL SAFE: As the Global Safe Abortion International Conference convenes in Britain, Dr. Peter Saunders, the general secretary of the Christian Medical Fellowship, said: “The title of this conference may be ‘Global Safe’ but there’s nothing safe about it when you consider the impact it could have on hundreds of thousands of lives who may be aborted as a result. Let’s be clear, this conference is all about promoting abortion, rather than caring for the real needs of women.”
Link: “Marie Stopes accused of failing to meet real needs of women in developing countries,” Christian Medical Fellowship, 10/29/07
pharmacists
POPE BENEDICT XVI: During his address to Catholic pharmacists, the Holy Father said: “We cannot anesthetize consciences as regards, for example, the effect of certain molecules that have the goal of preventing the implantation of the embryo or shortening a person’s life.” He called on Catholic pharmacists to “face the question of conscientious objection,” rather than “collaborate directly or indirectly in supplying products that have clearly immoral purposes.”
Link: “Pope calls for conscientious objection by pharmacists,” Catholic World News, 10/29/07
planned parenthood
MARXIST THOUGHT ONLINE: The online magazine that recently featured a screaming rant by Planned Parenthood’s president, Cecile Richards, also happens to describe itself as Marxist.
COMMENT: Perhaps that is why they are interested in statements such as “Planned Parenthood is the most trusted name in women’s health care.”
Link: “They’re going after Planned Parenthood,” Political Affairs, 10/26/07
politics
EVANGELICALS AND ABORTION: A recent New York Times magazine article examines the founders of the “evangelical right” versus a newer breed of evangelical pastor. One of those founders, Rev. Gene Carlson of Wichita, Kansas told the reporter he “still considers abortion evil. He called the anti-abortion protests ‘prophetic,’ in the sense of the Old Testament prophets who warned of God’s wrath. But Carlson was blunt about the results, ‘It didn’t really change abortion.'” He said further, “When you mix politics and religion, you get politics.” Another younger pastor opines, “I don’t believe the problem of abortion will be solved by overturning Roe v. Wade. It won’t. To me, it is a Gospel issue.”
COMMENT: Two things are wrong here. Abortion is an act of murder, it is not an issue. Abortion is not a problem to be solved; it is a crime to be punished and that is why the laws must change. Personhood is not in the article.
Link: “The evangelical crackup,” New York Times, 10/28/07
school-based health clinics
COLORADO: Denver schools are proposing distribution of birth control at certain school clinics. Colorado Right to Life’s Bob Enyart objected, noting, “A Denver public school is a good place to send your daughter to become sexually active. Now, the task force wants to make it more efficient: condoms to the boys, abortion pills to your daughter, get her ready for the next guy to use her. It’s called godless education.”
Link: ““>DPS proposes giving birth control to students,” KCNC-TV, 10/30/07
MAINE: Portland’s clinics have not been reporting “illegal sexual activity involving minors,” but now promise to do so, according to reports. The reports suggest, according to a lawyer with the Maine Medical Association, that requiring such reports to be filed “might have a chilling effect on young people seeking health care.”
Link: “School health centers didn’t report underage sex,” Portland Press-Herald, 10/26/07
zinger
STARVE THEM TO DEATH: A Catholic Dominican priest and bioethicist, Kevin O’Rourke, is reported to have told an audience that the “person in a vegetative state does not suffer from starvation in the way someone deprived of food and water does.” He claimed that most people involved in health care agree with him. O’Rourke further claimed that starvation does not kill the patient; the “fatal condition” does.
COMMENT: Totally wrong, Father O’Rourke. Terri Schiavo, for example, was not terminal but she died; she died of starvation.
Link: “Catholic bioethicist talks about end-of-life issues,” LaCrosse Tribune, 10/26/07
reminders
SAVING THOSE DAMNED CATHOLICS: Of Judie Brown’s latest book, former Congressman Bob Dornan writes, “With wit, insight and fearless presentation of the facts, Saving Those Damned Catholics shreds the ‘seamless garment’ most Catholic Bishops use to cloak their sinfully silent consent to legalized abortion. Saving Those Damned Catholics will inspire you with the fortitude and the will to tackle this eternally urgent mission.”
TO ORDER: “Saving Those Damned Catholics” is available from ALL in hardcover or paperback. Call 866-LET-LIVE or purchase online.
ULTRASOUND VIDEO: “Baby Steps: Live from the womb, 16 stages of pre-birth development,” features dramatic 4-D ultrasound images of preborn babies from 8 to 34 weeks. This amazing new video from American Life League is impressing many in the pregnancy center movement, who say is certain to save lives.
TO ORDER: The “Baby Steps” DVD is available from ALL for $9.95 plus shipping and handling. Call 866-LET-LIVE toll-free, or purchase online.
reflection for prayer
HOPE: In Romans 8:24-25, we read: “For in hope we were saved. Now hope that sees for itself is not hope. For who hopes for what one sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait with endurance.” A reflection on this quote reads: “Like the growth of a mustard seed, sometimes in God’s kingdom things take a long time. Ask God for an increase of hope.”
Link: “Going through the motions of hope?” One Bread, One Body, 10/30/07