in this issue:
bulletin: TERRI SCHIAVO
hot button issues: PAPAL ANNIVERSARY / RECESS APPOINTMENTS
abortion: JOHNS HOPKINS
activism: MARCH FOR LIFE
birth control pill: REDUCING MENSTRUATION / RISKS
contraceptive mentality: PRO-LIFE ACHILLES HEEL
end-of-life care: PAIN CONTROL
morning-after abortion pills: PLAN-B
politics: POPE JOHN PAUL II
targeting: DOWN SYNDROME
reflection for prayer: ST. GREGORY NANZIANZEN
bulletin
TERRI SCHIAVO: The feeding tube that has kept a disabled 39-year-old Florida woman alive for 13 years was disconnected Wednesday afternoon. Gov. Jeb Bush has taken a heightened interest in the case, telling reporters following a meeting with Schiavo’s parents, “If there is a way to stop this from happening, we’ll try to find it.” Without nutrition, Schiavo is expected to die of starvation within 7-14 days.
COMMENT: Please continue praying for Terri and her family.
(Reading: “Fight fades to vigil,” Tampa Tribune, 10/16/03)
(Background: “Terri’s Fight“)
hot button issues
PAPAL ANNIVERSARY: In marking John Paul II’s 25 years as pope, American Life League’s Judie Brown noted, “We view the work we are doing to challenge the status quo regarding pro-abortion Catholic public figures as doing our part to bring the message of that encyclical [Evangelium Vitae] to the American people.”
(Reading: Pope John Paul II’s 25 years of holy stewardshipAmerican Life League news release, 10/16/03)
RECESS APPOINTMENTS: American Life League is urging President Bush to use the recess appointment process to name pro-life judges to the federal judiciary. Pro-abortion senators have stymied Bush’s attempt to fill vacant judgeships.
(Reading: President Bush: Use recess appointments to break blockade on pro-life judicial nomineesAmerican Life League news release, 10/14/03; “Group calls for recess appointments,” Family News in Focus, 10/14/03)
abortion
JOHNS HOPKINS: Researchers claim that a “low-tech, hand-held vacuum aspiration device works as well as a more expensive electrical unit for ending second-trimester pregnancies.”
(Reading: “Manual, low-tech method for 2nd trimester abortions found safe and effective,” Johns Hopkins news release, 9/30/03; “2nd trimester abortion help,” Health 24, 10/4/03)
activism
MARCH FOR LIFE: The 31st annual March for Life is scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 22 in Washington, D.C. For information call 202-543-3377, fax 202-543-8202.
birth control pill
REDUCING MENSTRUATION: A study on the economics of using trimonthly cycles of the pill to reduce menstruation finds that approving such methods would present a cost savings to society “as long as its price remained below a 9% premium to standard OCP prices. The degree to which trimonthly OCP reduces hygiene product use also significantly influenced the cost difference between the two regimens [monthly versus trimonthly].
(Reading: “Economics of reducing menstruation with trimonthly-cycle oral contraceptive therapy: comparison with standard cycle regimens,” Obstetrics and Gynecology, 10/03)
RISKS: Dr. Diana Petitti writes at length regarding the risk factors the pill presents to women who have a history of stroke, ischemic heart disease, venous thromboembolism, carry the factor V Leiden gene mutation or who smoke (especially if more than 15 cigarettes per day). She recommends that women who choose to use the pill should have their blood pressure checked before using the pill and periodically after. Further, pill formulations containing less than 50 mg of ethinyl estradiol and those containing desogestrel or gestodene present an increase in risk factors.
(Reading: “Combination estrogen-progestin oral contraceptives,” New England Journal of Medicine, 10/9/03)
contraceptive mentality
PRO-LIFE ACHILLES HEEL: Dominic Pedulla, MD, of the Edith Stein Foundation comments:
In nature’s plan, the woman is “chosen” from all others to receive love from a man, and then the child conceived is the living incarnation, symbol, and visible reminder (not unlike the living Eucharistic “anamnesis” of Luke 22:19) that she was a uniquely treasured and esteemed gift. Just as we can only love because Jesus has first loved us (cf. 1 Jn. 4:19), similarly the woman can only properly love the child conceived if that child is the living symbol of a genuine love she first received from the child’s father.
Contraceptive “love” is a betrayal; a degradation, a form of sexual depersonalization of the woman, not consciously admitted however. The shame from this is so great that (quite literally according to the medical and psychological literature), she in many cases would take her own life rather than see that trauma exposed. Similarly, she will abort her child because, in the absence of any real path to repersonalization for herself, she will have recourse to the depersonalizing of her own child. That way, her own shame can be “eradicated”; i.e., in the unconscious mind of the abortion-inclined woman, the shame dies with the child.
This tells us not only why abortion occurs, but also how little this all has to do with the purely abstract question of a child’s right to life, at least at the moment a woman discovers she has a pregnancy she does not want. Moreover, it tells us why some “prolifers” assiduously avoid tackling contraception. Perhaps they want to save babies, but perhaps many only want to do so until the moment of steep personal cost comes, until the moment they begin to look foolish. Unfortunately, that moment is also the moment of truth in the minds of women, the core issue that will eventually win back the minds and hearts of women to our side. Until that moment comes, the baby will always be the cancer they fear more than any other.
end-of-life care
PAIN CONTROL: Proponents of the Pain Care Policy Act of 2003, a bill currently before Congress, recently announced the “Decade of Pain Control and Research.” To learn more, see the American Pain Society’s web site. To review HR 1863, go to Library of Congress and search by bill number. The bill is currently sitting in committee.
morning-after abortion pills
PLAN-B: Barr Laboratories, a pharmaceutical firm big into chemical abortion products, has just purchased Women’s Capital Corporation, and in the process acquired Plan-B, a morning after abortion pill regimen. Barr further plans to press for over-the-counter provision of the pills.
(Reading: “Barr Laboratories acquires emergency contraceptive Plan B,” Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report, 10/6/03; “D.C. maker of ‘morning after’ pill acquired,” Washington Business Journal, 9/29/03)
(Background: “The morning-after pill,” American Life League)
politics
POPE JOHN PAUL II: “A climate of moral relativism is incompatible with democracy.”
(Reading: “Consciences must be formed to discern objective moral law,” Pope John Paul II address to bishops of the United States, 7/1/98)
targeting
DOWN SYNDROME: Researchers studying first-trimester screening for Down Syndrome report a variety of questions regarding the usefulness of the process when compared to second trimester screening. In an accompanying editorial, the author states “offering second-trimester screening should continue to be the standard of care.”
(Reading: “First-trimester screening for Trisomies 21 and 18,” New England Journal of Medicine, 10/9/03; “Screening for Down’s Syndrome ? too many choices?” New England Journal of Medicine, 10/9/03)
reflection for prayer
ST. GREGORY NANZIANZEN: We must sacrifice ourselves to God, each day and in everything we do, accepting all that happens to us for the sake of the Word, imitating His passion by our sufferings and honoring His blood by shedding our own. We must be ready to be crucified.