in this issue:
terri schiavo: LATEST / NEW APPROACH
abortion/breast cancer: CASE SETTLED
birth control: THE PILL AND SMOKING
chicken little: NAF / NARAL / NOW / PLANNED PARENTHOOD
cloning humans: DNA SWAPPING
depo-provera: OSTEOPOROSIS
down syndrome: DECLINE IN BIRTHS
euthanasia: BELGIUM / NETHERLANDS
gift idea: CATHOLIC CALENDAR OF INDULGENCES
web: ONLINE HELP
zinger: WHAT IS REAL?
terri schiavo
LATEST: Doctors are trying to determine if any permanent damage resulted in the six days that Terri Schiavo was deprived of nutrition and hydration. Initial reports seem favorable. However, her husband, Michael Schiavo, vows to continue his court battle to gain permission to withdraw Terri’s feeding tube.
(Reading: “No kidney damage seen as Schiavo feeding continues,” Tampa Tribune, 10/24/03)
NEW APPROACH: Please see the Terri Schiavo update from Children of God for Life. Federal civil rights complaints have been filed with Attorney General John Ashcroft. In addition, Virginia state delegate Robert Marshall is proposing federal intervention in an effort to save Terri’s life. This same page features links to letters Marshall has written to President Bush and to the House Judiciary Committee. There are additional action steps that may be taken in order to assist. As always, please check “Terri’s Fight,” the family’s web site. And please keep praying!
abortion/breast cancer
CASE SETTLED: A Pennsylvania woman has accepted an undisclosed settlement in her lawsuit against an abortionist. The plaintiff alleged the abortionist failed to warn her about abortion’s physical and emotional risks. Karen Malec of the Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer said, “This settlement will teach the medical establishment that it can no longer profit by keeping women in the dark about the breast cancer risk.”
(Reading: “First U.S. abortion/breast cancer suit settled,” Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer news release, 10/21/03)
birth control
THE PILL AND SMOKING: Ellen Grant, Elizabeth Price and C. Michael Steel criticize a medical study that noted “no mortality from any cause, except cervical cancer, in women who used oral contraceptives.” In their letter to the editor of The Lancet, they find fault with the methodology of the study, and conclude, “Though probably more socially convenient to believe that smoking is more lethal than taking oral contraceptives, this study does not prove this pattern.”
(Reading: “Oral contraceptive and smoking mortality,” The Lancet, 10/11/02, p. 1241)
chicken little (reactions to passage of the partial-birth abortion bill)
NAF: Vicki Saporta of the National Abortion Federation: “We will take this fight from the Capitol to the courtroom to safeguard the lives and health of women. Doctors shouldn’t have to choose between providing the best possible care to their patients or going to jail. The ban passed today is bad medicine and bad public policy.”
(Reading: “NAF lawsuit to quickly follow final Congressional passage of ban on safe abortion procedures,” National Abortion Federation news release, 10/21/03)
NARAL: From Kate Michelman: “Women’s right to privacy is being sacrificed to politics by the United States government? President Bush has vowed to sign this deceptive legislation, which will make him the first President ever to outlaw safe medical procedures.”
(Reading: “Senate votes to criminalize safe medical procedures,” NARAL news release, 10/21/03)
NOW: Kim Gandy of the National Organization for Women complains, “Feminists and other supporters of reproductive rights won’t stand for any attempt to send us back to pre-Roe days when countless women died from illegal abortions.”
(Reading: “Feminists condemn Senate passage of deceptive abortion ban, urge activists to march on Washington,” National Organization for Women news release, 10/21/03)
PLANNED PARENTHOOD: The organization’s Gloria Feldt notes, “The so-called Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003 will bring an end to providing the best and safest health care for women. This dangerous ban prevents women, in consultation with their families and trusted doctors, from making decisions about their own health. This legislation is the culmination of a deceptive campaign to endanger women’s lives and mislead the public for political gain.”
(Reading: “PPFA vows lawsuit to block reckless, unconstitutional ban,” Planned Parenthood news release, 10/21/03)
cloning humans
DNA SWAPPING: According to various new reports, researchers have succeeded in impregnating a woman using technology similar to that which is used in cloning animals. The researchers claim the procedure involves removing the nucleus of a donor egg and placing genes from the mother and father into the empty egg: “The egg donor did contribute some genetic material, namely the mitochondria, which provides energy,” according to Health Day.
(Reading: “New fertility technique raises eyebrows,” Health Day, 10/14/03; “Fertility breakthrough raises tough questions about link to cloning,” Wall Street Journal, 10/13/03)
depo-provera
OSTEOPOROSIS: The abortifacient injectible Depo-Provera has been linked to a decrease in bone density that can lead to osteoporosis after menopause.
COMMENT: Contraceptives prevent conception; abortifacients can cause abortion. Depo-provera is an abortifacient, not a contraceptive.
(Reading: “Bone fear over contraceptive,” 10/19/03, BBC news)
down syndrome
DECLINE IN BIRTHS: According to recent studies, “86 percent of couples whose babies were diagnosed with Down syndrome terminated their pregnancies after the problem was detected.”
COMMENT: Translation: they aborted their babies.
(Reading: “Decline in down syndrome tied to abortion,” Family News in Focus, 10/10/03)
euthanasia
BELGIUM / NETHERLANDS: Both countries have laws that permit euthanasia. “Both laws define euthanasia as the act, undertaken by a third party, which intentionally ends the life of a person at his or her request, and in both countries euthanasia can only be effected by a doctor. Furthermore, both laws accept the evidence that euthanasia is an important medical practice.”
(Reading: “The euthanasia law in Belgium and the Netherlands,” The Lancet, 10/11/03)
gift idea
CATHOLIC CALENDAR OF INDULGENCES: Bridegroom Press has published an excellent 2004 calendar that provides a history of indulgences, and a key for each month that invites further reflection and prayer.
web
ONLINE HELP: Pro-life pioneer Madeline Pecora Nugent has placed her self-help booklet, “Having your baby when others say no!” online.
zinger
WHAT IS REAL? “The real issue in the abortion debate today is not when life begins, but is it morally meaningful life? Well, I don’t know.” Thus said obstetrician/gynecologist William Harrison of Fayetteville, Arkansas.
(Reading: “A new look at life,” Readers Digest, 10/03, p. 101)
reflection for prayer
ST. GREGORY THE GREAT: “The simplicity of the just man is laughed to scorn.” (Job 12:4) It is the wisdom of this world to conceal the heart with stratagems, to veil one’s thoughts with words, to make what is false appears true and what is true appear false. On the other hand it is the wisdom of the just never to pretend thoughts, to love the truth as it is and to avoid what is false, to do what is right without reward and to be more willing to put up with evil than to perpetrate it, not to seek revenge for wrong, and to consider as gain any insult for truth’s sake. But this guilelessness is laughed to scorn, for the virtue of innocence is held as foolishness by the wise of this world. Anything that is done out of innocence, they doubtless consider to be stupidity, and whatever truth approves of, in practice is called folly by their worldly wisdom.”
(Reading: “Moral Reflections on Job,” Liturgy of the Hours, Vol. 3, 282)