in this issue:
hot button issues: KANSAS / MAINE / MAP ROOM
abortion: FATHERHOOD / NURSE AS ABORTIONIST
catholic bishops: NIEDERAUER / SAMPLE / SHERIDAN
catholic colleges: HOLY CROSS
euthanasia: LIVING WILL / TIMELINE
in vitro fertilization: WISE COUNSEL FOR CATHOLIC COUPLES
planned parenthood: COLORADO / CONNECTICUT
zinger: ABORTION TRENDS
reminders: 40 DAYS FOR LIFE / SAVING THOSE DAMNED CATHOLICS / ULTRASOUND VIDEO
reflection for prayer: ST. IGNATIUS OF ANTIOCH
hot button issues
KANSAS: District Attorney Phill Kline has filed 107 criminal charges against a Planned Parenthood affiliate. American Life League legal researcher Andrew Flusche said, “a district judge found probable cause that Planned Parenthood broke the law. These charges should be pursued carefully and reasonably.” He added, “It is time Planned Parenthood is held legally accountable for its actions.”
Reading: “Let the law decide Kansas criminal complaint,” American Life League, 10/18/07 / “Kansas Planned Parenthood clinic charged,” Associated Press, 10/17/07
MAINE: A proposal is on the table for middle school students in Maine’s public schools to have access to prescription birth control pills if the student is in need of them. A report on one of the schools, King Middle School, states that of 134 students who visited the health center during the 2006-07 school year, five students reported being sexually active. This is justification, in the minds of school nurses, for having the ability to provide the pill. ALL legal researcher Andrew Flusche notes that all sexual activity involving persons under 14 is illegal in Maine, so this proposal encourages children to engage in illegal activity.
Reading: “Maine middle school may distribute contraceptives,” American Life League, 10/17/07 / “Prescribe ‘the pill’ at middle school?” Portland Press-Herald, 10/16/07
MAP ROOM: A new feature on the American Life League web site shows the location of every Planned Parenthood facility in the country, along with information about regular protests scheduled at many of those locations.
Reading: “ALL’s map room offers facts, figures, locations,” American Life League, 10/17/07
abortion
FATHERHOOD: A national conference dealing with how abortion impacts the father of the preborn child will be held November 28-29 in San Francisco. See Reclaiming Fatherhood.
NURSE AS ABORTIONIST: Britain’s nurses want the law on abortion changed so that they can perform abortions during the early stages of pregnancy.
Reading: “Nurses ‘should perform abortions,'” The Guardian, 10/14/07
catholic bishops
NIEDERAUER: Phil Lawler comments on Archbishop George Niederauer’s apology: “A priest, and particularly a bishop, has a sacred duty to guard the Blessed Sacrament, to protect our Eucharistic Lord from disrespect. The archbishop’s failure to carry out that duty– and not the attendant public-relations brouhaha– is the true scandal here.”
Reading: “Archbishop Niederauer’s unacceptable apology,” Catholic World News, 10/12/07
SAMPLE: During a Red Mass homily Bishop Alexander Sample of Marquette, Michigan said: “To say ‘Do not impose your religious beliefs on the rest of society’ is ‘one of the most serious and damaging errors of our time.”
Reading: “‘Personal beliefs’ countered in Red Mass homily,” St. Louis Review, 10/12/07
SHERIDAN: In an interview with LifeSiteNews.com, Bishop Michael Sheridan of Colorado Springs stated that he is totally opposed to providing Plan B, the morning after abortion pill, in Catholic hospitals.
Reading: “Colorado Springs bishop says he does not and would not permit Plan B in Catholic hospitals,” Life Site News, 10/10/07
catholic colleges
HOLY CROSS: As pro-lifers continue to ask the president of Holy Cross College in Worcester to cancel all involvement in a teen pregnancy conference involving Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts, we invite you to e-mail him as well.
Contact: “>Father Michael C. McFarland, S.J.
euthanasia
LIVING WILL: In a remarkable article, Charlotte Allen, who recently survived breast cancer, explains her experiences with the “living will” and her reasoning for declining to sign such a document. Her concluding comment is worth repeating: “Go ahead and sign a living will if you want. Have your doctor pull out your feeding tube or inject you with cyanide or do whatever fulfills your idea of death with dignity. But count me out. I don’t want to ‘die well.’ I just want to die in peace.”
Reading: “Back off! I’m not dead yet,” Washington Post, 10/14/07
TIMELINE: Life Tree of North Carolina has developed a historical timeline of the growth in the pro-euthanasia movement over the past two decades.
in vitro fertilization
WISE COUNSEL FOR CATHOLIC COUPLES: Father Alfred Cioffi, STD, PhD, writes: “Ultimately, a couple’s acceptance of their infertility can be a great act of humility, obedience, faith, hope, and charity. As such, it provides the potential for tremendous growth in mutual love, as they realize that all they have to keep them together, at the human level, is their love for each other. It is the mutual recognition that God is in control, and the acceptance of his Divine Will in our lives, since people of faith are called to recognize that He always wants what is best for us. In a world where we are more and more intent on doing our own will – even if it costs thirty thousand dollars per IVF trial – accepting the Divine Will is an exceedingly powerful witness and a tremendous source of grace.”
Reading: “The Church and assisted procreation,” Life Issues, 10/07
planned parenthood
COLORADO: Pro-life activists have established a web site, Keep Peace in Stapleton, to assist in their efforts to keep Planned Parenthood out of Stapleton, Colorado.
CONNECTICUT: In case the criminal charges leveled against Adam Gault did not come to your attention, please note that on August 1, Gault was charged with sexual assault in addition to other crimes. The report states, “A man accused in the disappearance of a teenage runaway who was found locked in a hidden room in his home was a match for DNA collected from the girl’s aborted fetus.” The abortion occurred at Planned Parenthood in West Hartford. On October 3, Gault was charged with an additional kidnapping that occurred in 1998.
Reading: “Assault charge added in runaway case,” Boston Globe, 8/1/07 / “Gault charged with kidnapping in 1998 case,” WFSB-TV, 10/3/07
zinger
ABORTION TRENDS: The Lancet has published a series of articles in the October 13 edition dealing with various aspects of abortion. Of interest is the statement “Overall abortion rates are similar in the developing and developed world, but unsafe abortion is concentrated in developing countries. Ensuring that the need for contraception is met and that all abortions are safe will reduce maternal mortality substantially and protect maternal health.”
COMMENT: “Unsafe” is the word that should describe every abortion since the result is always a dead child. “Maternal mortality” cannot be properly calculated due to the unwillingness of abortionists to be honest about the number of mothers who die as a direct result of abortion complications. To “protect maternal health” should mean protecting the spiritual, psychological and physical health of every mother which would mean never killing her preborn child. Medical studies designed to advance abortion are all gobbledygook.
Reading: “Induced abortion: estimated rates and trends worldwide,” The Lancet, 10/13/07
reminders
40 DAYS FOR LIFE: The campaign continues through November 4 as grassroots pro-lifers in more than 80 communities are participating in the first-ever national 40 Days for Life. It combines prayer and fasting, a round-the-clock vigil outside an abortion facility and community outreach.
SAVING THOSE DAMNED CATHOLICS: Of Judie Brown’s latest book, New York Post columnist Ray Kerrison notes, “Judie Brown’s work fills a void screaming for attention — the persistent relentless assault on Catholic orthodoxy by dissidents attempting to reshape the church in their image. She spells it out and names the names without violating Christian charity. She deserves a wide hearing.”
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
ST. IGNATIUS OF ANTIOCH: “Let us rather be eager to imitate the Lord, striving to be the first in bearing wrongs, in suffering, loss, in being despised, so that no weed of the evil one may be found among you; but abide in Jesus Christ in perfect purity and temperance of body and soul.”
Reading: “Abide in Jesus Christ,” Ignatius of Antioch