in this issue:
catholic education: CALIFORNIA
euthanasia: LIVING TO THE END
human cloning: MISSOURI
in memoriam: WELLINGTON MARA
morning-after abortion pill: REMINDER
personhood: RIGHT TO LIFE ACT
planned parenthood: KATRINA / WORLD POPULATION
politics: OREGON
practitioners: NEW JERSEY
rhetoric: NARAL
ru-486: CALIFORNIA
stem cell research / ethical: CANADA
stem cell research / unethical: CALIFORNIA
web news: CHOOSE THE CHILD
reflection for prayer: AGGRESSIVE
catholic education
CALIFORNIA: The Sacramento Bee identifies Wynette Sills as the parent whose complaint convinced Bishop William Weigand to order the dismissal of Loretto High School teacher Marie Bain, who was photographed while serving as a clinic escort at a Planned Parenthood facility.
COMMENT: Please pray for the Sills family, which has been subject to intense pressure in the wake of the teacher’s dismissal.
(Reading: “Anti-abortion mother got teacher ousted,” Sacramento Bee, 10/22/05)
euthanasia
LIVING TO THE END: Much of Gilbert Meilaender’s work is dedicated to the subject of respecting persons. His latest article focuses on those who are not dead, but who are presumed to be better off dead. He writes, “Trying to orchestrate the circumstances of death has the look of one last attempt to be what we are not … the author of the story of our life or the life of another.”
(Reading: “Living life’s end,” First Things, 5/05)
human cloning
MISSOURI: Voters are urged to watch out for the Missouri Stem Cell Research and Cures Initiative. Deacon Larry Weber, speaking for the Missouri Catholic Conference, called the effort “a very crafty amendment that buries in the fine print how the cloning industry will access public funds to use in destroying human life.” Sam Lee of Campaign Life Missouri noted, “This initiative would guarantee a constitutional right to clone human beings. It will allow for the wholesale cloning of human embryos at taxpayers’ expense.”
(Reading: “Amendment would protect cloning, embryonic research,” Catholic Key, 10/21/05)
in memoriam
WELLINGTON MARA: The owner of the New York Giants football team, who passed away this week, is remembered as a pro-life inspiration as well as a sportsman and gentleman. He had served on American Life League’s board of advisors, and had outspokenly condemned abortion. Mara once told ALL’s Judie Brown that the people he met socially didn’t consider abortion a topic for polite conversation. But he kept right on talking.
morning-after abortion pill
REMINDER: Please contact the commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and tell him the government must not permit the dangerous morning-after drug Plan B to be sold over the counter. Furthermore, request that this product be removed from the marketplace altogether. E-mail .
(Background: “FDA considers over-the-counter sale of Plan B morning-after pill,” American Life League)
personhood
RIGHT TO LIFE ACT: This bill (HR 552) states, “The terms ‘human person’ and ‘human being’ include each and every member of the species homo sapiens at all stages of life, including, but not limited to, the moment of fertilization, cloning, or other moment at which an individual member of the human species comes into being.” See Right to Life Act for details.
COMMENT: Is your member of Congress a co-sponsor? If not, ask!
planned parenthood
KATRINA: A letter from the organization states, “Planned Parenthood of Connecticut stands ready to offer reproductive health services free of charge to any individuals fleeing the tragedy in New Orleans.” The letter adds, “some may consider terminating unintended pregnancies given the overwhelmingly difficult and unpredictable circumstances they find themselves in now.”
(Reading: letter from Planned Parenthood of Connecticut, Inc., 9/05)
WORLD POPULATION: In analyzing a new United Nations report, Planned Parenthood concludes that the cycle of poverty cannot be broken without giving women “the right to control their bodies.” According to Planned Parenthood, “When women cannot decide freely when and whether to have a child … they are left with multiple unintended pregnancies, which prevent them from working outside the home, trapping them in poverty.” The report adds, “A severe lack of access to family planning leads to 76 million unintended pregnancies each year in the developing world alone.”
(Reading: “World population report,” Planned Parenthood, 10/26/05)
politics
OREGON: The organization Life Support is determined to stop taxpayer-funded abortion in Oregon. The group says the funding legislation has the approval of lawmakers who claim to be pro-life. Life Support director David Brownlow said, “We sincerely hope that our efforts to expose these ‘pro-life’ hypocrites will lead to their removal from office.”
(Reading: “Life Support announces CARE campaign to expose phony ‘pro-life’ legislators,” Life Support news release, 10/25/05)
practitioners
NEW JERSEY: The Legal Center for Defense of Life now has court approval to sue an abortion facility for attorney’s fees. The center is asking the courts to award attorneys’ fees to penalize the abortion business for filing a frivolous lawsuit. The abortion center in question is Metropolitan Medical Services, which the legal center describes as “notorious for performing 1,500 partial-birth abortions each year.”
(Reading: “Pro-life law firm defeats notorious abortion clinic,” Legal Center for Defense of Life news release, 10/24/05)
rhetoric
NARAL: The organization’s Nancy Keenan reacted to Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers’ withdrawal with a typical cut-and-paste NARAL sound bite: “The withdrawal of this nomination exposes the right wing’s real agenda. They won’t be satisfied unless the president puts forth a nominee who is an avowed opponent of Roe v. Wade and who will shift the court in a direction that threatens fundamental freedoms and liberties Americans cherish.”
(Reading: “Miers’ withdrawal exposes right wing’s true agenda,” NARAL news release, 10/27/05)
ru-486
CALIFORNIA: An Orange County man is suing Danco Laboratories, the Population Council and a Planned Parenthood affiliate in connection with the 2003 death of his wife, who died six days after beginning the RU-486 abortion regimen. The suit says Hoa Thuy Tran was not warned of the drug’s potential risks.
(Reading: “Suit links death to ‘abortion pill,'” Orange County Register, 10/7/05)
stem cell research / ethical
CANADA: University of Toronto researchers have developed a new method for recovering stem cells from umbilical cord blood. The new technique enables them to harvest more stem cells, which could lead to an expansion of ethical stem cell therapy.
(Reading: “Getting more stem cells out of cord blood,” HealthDay News, 10/21/05)
stem cell research / unethical
CALIFORNIA: Stanford University researchers have FDA approval to transplant fetal stem cells into the brains of six children with Batten disease, a degenerative condition that leads to death. The cells are not human embryonic stem cells, but researchers acknowledge some have been obtained from aborted babies. Stanford’s internal review board must also approve the procedures.
(Reading: “FDA approves brain stem cell transplant,” Associated Press, 10/21/05)
web news
CHOOSE THE CHILD: Natasia Kissinger’s new web site is dedicated to helping people “realize and be aware of the little things they can do to make a difference.”
reflection for prayer
AGGRESSIVE: It’s not a very politically correct word, is it? “Aggressive!” It sort of makes you shudder. Usually when someone is accused of being aggressive there is a reference to violence. Yet, “aggressive” can be another way of saying “insistent,” or “uncompromising.” Strangely enough, those who accuse Christians for being aggressive are oftentimes the very ones who are aggressive in their own stances, for example in a stance of moral relativism or secularism. We, as Christians need to be insistent, as St Paul says, “in and out of season.” We are also to be uncompromising, saying “yes” when we mean “yes” and “no” when we mean “no.” On Judgment Day Christ will evaluate our lives to see if we were aggressive, if we were insistent in preaching his name and putting the Gospel into practice. We hope and pray that Christ can say, “Come good, faithful and aggressive servant, you were insistent in spreading my kingdom and uncompromising with the message I entrusted to you. Come and enjoy your reward!”
(Reading: “Not your average love,” Regnum Christi, 10/20/05)