in this issue:
hot button issue: DISSENT
abortion: MIFEPRISTONE + MISOPROSTOL
activism: CALIFORNIA / COLLEGE STUDENTS / DAVE’S DIGEST
adolescents: TEEN PREGNANCY
birth control: DEPO-PROVERA / LATINO POPULATION
culture of death: REPRODUCTIVE CHOICE
euthanasia: BRITISH MEDICAL COUNCIL / CHARLOTTE WILL DIE / FOUNDATION FUNDING
fake science: ACOG
human embryonic stem cell research: HUMAN BEING
lifeline: A THOUGHT
politics: CATHOLIC LAWYERS BAN VOTING GUIDES / SILENCE OF BISHOPS
population: CHINA
prenatal diagnosis: DOWN SYNDROME
zinger: INFORMED CONSENT
reflection for prayer: ST. BERNARD
hot button issue
DISSENT: The Milwaukee Archdiocesan Priests Alliance has written to Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, asking that bishops refrain from telling priests to withhold Holy Communion from known pro-abortion public figures, adding, “We do not think it is wise to ask us to make on the spot judgments about the worthiness of any recipient.” The Milwaukee Catholic Herald reported on the letter without comment. American Life League is asking why Milwaukee Archbishop Timothy Dolan has been silent on the issue.
(Reading: Letter to Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, Milwaukee Archdiocesan Priests Alliance, 10/15/04; “Priests alliance addresses Communion controversy,” 10/21/04; “Milwaukee priests misrepresent Catholic faith,” American Life League news release, 10/22/04)
abortion
MIFEPRISTONE + MISOPROSTOL: Some 931 women participated in a study that included a follow up visit and an ultrasound to determine whether or not the human embryo had died. The researchers referred to this as “pregnancy expulsion” and passing the “gestational sac.” The drugs were effective 99.1% of the time.
(Reading: “Ability of the clinician and patient to predict the outcome of mifepristone and misoprostol medical abortion,” Contraception, 70 (2004) 313-317)
activism
CALIFIORNIA: Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a pro-abortion “Catholic,” has endorsed Proposition 71, which would provide billions for human embryonic stem cell research. Please ask the California bishops to speak out forcefully against this pro-abortion public figure
(Contact: , Executive Director, California Catholic Conference, 1010 11th St., Suite 200, Sacramento, CA 95814; phone: phone: 916-443-4851)
(Reading: “California Gov. Schwarzenegger endorses $3B ballot measure that would fund embryonic stem cell research,” Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report, 10/19/04; “Stumping for stem cells,” Fox News, 10/18/04)
COLLEGE STUDENTS: Pro-life students from 14 of America’s elite universities published an ad that defends the right to life of every human being, particularly the human embryo. The students declared, “it is outrageous to relegate some human beings to the status of ‘human-non-persons.'” New York University refused to run the ad.
(Reading: “Human rights for all,” The Princetonian, 10/19/04)
DAVE’S DIGEST: A pro-life/pro-family semi-monthly digest that will keep you informed on a wide variety of events, without any lengthy verbiage. To subscribe, e-mail .
adolescents
TEEN PREGNANCY: A teen’s likelihood of having an abortion may depend on where she lives. “In the United States population density is not associated with the percentage of teenage females who become pregnant, but it is positively correlated with the percentage of pregnant teens that electively terminate their pregnancy. In areas of low population density teens who become pregnant may prefer birth to pregnancy termination.”
(Reading: “Population density and teen pregnancy,” Obstetrics and Gynecology, 104:4:741-744)
birth control
DEPO-PROVERA: Researchers examining two large studies including 1700 women claim Depo-Provera is very effective in preventing pregnancy and is well tolerated by the women who use it. Pregnancy is defined as beginning at implantation, not at fertilization/conception. Depo-Provera is abortifacient.
(Reading: “Contraceptive efficacy and safety of DMPA-SC,” Contraception, 70 (2004) 269-275)
LATINA POPULATION: Researchers studying Latina teens found that the fear of complications from ingesting birth control was among a variety of reasons why these young women resisted using the pill. The group is, according to researchers, at higher risk of pregnancy and are generally among lower income levels.
(Reading: “Concerns about contraceptive side effects among young Latinas: a focus-group approach,” Contraception, 70 (2004) 299-305)
culture of death
REPRODUCTIVE CHOICE: Listed among things women want is a definition of reproductive choice states, “A woman’s right to choose abortion is only one aspect of control over reproductive choice.”
(Reading: “The tolling of the bell: women’s heath, women’s rights,” Obstetrics and Gynecology, 104:4:656)
euthanasia
BRITISH MEDICAL COUNCIL: The General Medical Council (a regulatory body for doctors) is currently appealing a high court ruling that claimed current guidance on withholding and withdrawing life prolonging treatment is unlawful. An editorial in the British Medical Journal claims that the ruling could lead doctors to “routinely provide artificial nutrition and hydration — and arguably other life prolonging treatments — for all legally incompetent patients unless either they have previously rejected it by a valid advance directive or its provision would be regarded by all involved as ‘intolerable.'” The writer goes on to define the judge’s ruling as a “draconian restriction of the exercise of doctors’ professional skills.”
COMMENT: “Intolerable” is a word that describes this diatribe against the dignity of the human person; “professional skills” must apply to decision that cause death.
(Reading: “Why the GMC is right to appeal over life prolonging treatment,” British Medical Journal, 10/9/04, pp. 810-811)
CHARLOTTE WILL DIE: Mr. and Mrs. Darren Wyatt of Portsmouth, England fought for their 11-month old daughter’s right to life, even though she is extremely ill. But Charlotte’s doctors said her life was “so intolerable that she should be allowed to die if she stops breathing.” A judge said Charlotte should die “in the arms of those who love her the most.” Doctors believe at the onset of winter, Charlotte will develop an infection and stop breathing.
(Reading: “Severely ill baby ought to be allowed to die, judge tells parents,” The Independent, 10/08/04)
FOUNDATION FUNDING: Rita Marker prepared an excellent analysis of the foundations that fund the “right to die” movement. Though the article is three years old, the material is pertinent to the battle we face today.
(Reading: “Dying for the cause,” Philanthropy Roundtable, 1/01)
fake science
ACOG: The 2004 edition of “Ethics in Obstetrics and Gynecology” contains an article entitled “Preembryo Research.” The authors seek to deconstruct basic human embryology and the internationally recognized nomenclature that identifies the human being at his beginning as a human embryo. The article is fraught with error, and has among its authors a Catholic nun, Sister Carol A. Tauer, PhD. The $75 book may be ordered online.
human embryonic stem cell research
HUMAN BEING: “A human embryo is a human being in the embryonic stage, just as an infant or an adolescent is a human being in the infant or adolescent stage. In fact, every adult was once an embryo, just as he or she was once an adolescent, a child, an infant, and a fetus.”
(Reading: “Ethics of embryonic stem cells,” New England Journal of Medicine, 10/14/04, pp. 1687-1690)
lifeline
A THOUGHT: Suffering from truth decay? Brush up on your Bible.
politics
CATHOLIC LAWYERS BAN VOTING GUIDES: Culture and Cosmos reports that at least two dioceses (San Bernardino, Calif., and LaCrosse, Wis.) will not permit Catholic Answers’ voting guide to be distributed.
(Reading: “Catholic diocesan lawyers continue to ban voting guides,” Culture and Cosmos, 10/19/04)
SILENCE OF BISHOPS: Writer Barbara Kralis asks, “Will the silence of most U.S. Catholic bishops help elect a presidential candidate … who promotes procured abortion and supports same sex marriage?”
(Reading: “Will the silence?,” Renew America, 10/15/04)
population
CHINA: According to news reports, China is reconsidering its one child per family policy, “worried that the strict limits on family size are proving counterproductive and could generate social unrest as well as undermine economic development.”
(Reading: “Social concerns lead Beijing to reconsider family planning policy,” Wall Street Journal, 10/4/04)
prenatal diagnosis
DOWN SYNDROME: Researchers find that the rate of Down syndrome births in the United States have decreased because “of prenatal diagnosis and termination of affected pregnancies.”
(Reading: “Down syndrome births in the United States from 1989 to 2001,” American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 9/04, pp. 1044-1048)
zinger
INFORMED CONSENT: Pitting the value of medical training against the wishes of the family of a deceased person, ethicists query whether or not consent is needed before a human cadaver is used for “practicing medical procedures.”
COMMENT: Whatever happened to treating the bodies of the dead with respect?
(Reading: “Postmortem procedures controversy unresolved,” Medical Ethics Advisor, 10/04, p. 112)
reflection for prayer
ST: BERNARD: I love thee, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer’ (Ps 17:2-3). The most precious and most lovable thing I can imagine is you. Help me, my God! I love you with all the ardor of the nature you have given me. This is much less than I ought to love you, but it is no less than I am able to love you … I can love you more if you increase my ability to live, though I certainly will never love you as you deserve.
(Reading: “In Conversation with God,” vol. 5, p. 286)