in this issue:
activism: YOUTH MISSION
birth control implant: IMPLANON
birth control pill: BLOOD CLOTS / GALLSTONES
imposed death: OREGON
infanticide: VIRGINIA
in vitro fertilization: AUSTRALIA / PROTEST
litigation: NEW JERSEY / NORTH DAKOTA
rest in peace: JUSTICE BYRON WHITE
ru-486: WARNING LETTER
title x: KENTUCKY
reminder: WORLD FAMILY CONFERENCE
reflection for prayer: ISAIAH 41:10
activism
YOUTH MISSION: Crossroads is looking for college-age students (between 18 and 30 years old) to participate in its eighth annual pilgrimage for life. One walk begins in San Francisco and ends in Toronto. A second walk begins in St. Petersburg, Fla., and will conclude at the American Life League World Family Conference in New Orleans. After the conference, Crossroads will make a bus pilgrimage from New Orleans to World Youth Day in Toronto. Both walks begin in mid-May. Spaces are filling up fast, so call now. To get more information, call 540-659-4171 and ask for or , or visit Crossroads online. This journey is offered up to God for the souls of the babies.
birth control implant
IMPLANON: Doctors in West Australia have put Raelene Lomman through two surgeries, five ultrasounds and three CT scans, but they still can’t find the contraceptive implant inserted in her arm last summer. Two similar cases have also been reported recently in the same state. Family Planning West Australia could only comment “when used correctly, Implanon was a safe and effective method of birth control.”
(Reading: “Doctors fail to find woman’s implant,” The West Australian, 4/12/02)
birth control pill
BLOOD CLOTS: A British teen has died from complications attributed to the birth control pill. A massive blood clot killed Claire Stanley, who had been taking a ” contraceptive pill favoured by young girls because it improves the complexion.”
(Reading: “Teenager died after taking ‘favoured’ contraceptive pill,” Ananova, 4/12/02)
GALLSTONES: Research presented to the British Society of Gastroenterology reports that women who take hormone replacement therapy for two years or more are at greater risk for developing gallstones. Doctors say the common birth control pill may produce the same effect. The Sunday Post reports, “More and more young women are having operations to remove their gall bladders — and the pill could be to blame.”
(Reading: “Pill linked to gall bladder problems in young women,” The [Scotland] Sunday Post, 4/7/02)
imposed death
OREGON: A federal judge ruled that Attorney General Ashcroft cannot use the controlled substances act to prohibit assisted suicide in Oregon, a state where voters approved the use of lethal drugs for terminally ill patients who wish to end their lives. The judge ruled the law is not a federal matter. Appeal plans are uncertain, but Ashcroft’s assistant observed, “assisting suicide is not medicine.”
(Reading: “Judge upholds Oregon assisted suicide,” Associated Press, 4/18/02)
infanticide
VIRGINIA: The state senate failed in its effort to override Gov. Mark Warner’s veto of a partial-birth infanticide bill. In his veto message, Warner said the bill did not contain a sufficient “health of the mother” exception. The bill, sponsored by Del. Robert Marshall, defined the procedure as “medically induced infanticide.” Del. Richard Black called it the “murder of a newborn child on the day of his birth.” Warner vetoed the bill despite previous public comments that he favored a ban on “partial-birth abortion.”
(Reading: “Virginia lawmakers sustain veto of abortion bill,” Associated Press, 4/17/02)
in vitro fertilization
AUSTRALIA: A couple will be allowed to create several human embryos through in vitro fertilization, and then choose one for implantation based on genetic characteristics. Blood from the placenta may be able to save an older sister’s life. Ethics professor John Morgan says the decision “raises the question of selective breeding.”
(Reading: “Australian couple given approval to create baby to save their ill child,” Associated Press, 4/16/02)
PROTEST: American Life League plans an April 22 protest at the Genetics and IVF Institute in Fairfax, Va. The institute is hosting a lecture on pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, a process that can lead to the destruction of human embryos suspected of having genetic conditions such as Down syndrome, cystic fibrosis and sickle cell disease.
(Reading: “Former embryos protest eugenics lecture,” American Life League news release, 4/17/02)
litigation
NEW JERSEY: A woman is suing an abortionist for the wrongful death of her preborn child. Attorney Harold Cassidy says the doctor failed to tell the woman that the abortion would terminate a human life. He said, “Even if no one asked the doctor, he would have a duty to disclose this. You can’t assume she knows that. In modern medicine, doctors treat pregnant women as two separate patients — the mother and child.”
(Reading: “Wrongful death suit used against abortion doctor,” The [Newark] Star-Ledger, 4/12/02)
NORTH DAKOTA: Attorneys will appeal a state court judge’s ruling in a false advertising case against an abortion clinic. Red River Women’s Clinic distributes brochures that assert “there is no evidence” that abortion increases breast cancer risks. The judge ruled there is no false advertising, though he admitted that plaintiff Amy Mattson Kjolsrud’s attorneys provided extensive documentation to support their claim. The clinic said there was no evidence linking abortion and breast cancer, an assertion that Life Legal Defense Foundation called absurd.
(Reading: “Judge’s ruling in Fargo abortion-breast cancer case a miscarriage of justice, setback for all women,” Life Legal Defense Foundation news release, 4/12/02)
rest in peace
JUSTICE BYRON WHITE: In noting his passing, we quote from Justice White’s dissent in Roe v. Wade: “I find nothing in the language or history of the Constitution to support the court’s judgment. The court simply fashions and announces a new constitutional right for pregnant mothers and, with scarcely any reason or authority for its action, invests that right with sufficient substance to override most existing state abortion statutes…. As an exercise of raw judicial power, the court perhaps has authority to do what it does today; but, in my view, its judgment is an improvident and extravagant exercise of the power of judicial review that the Constitution extends to this court.”
(Reading: Roe v. Wade, U.S. Supreme Court, 1/22/73)
ru-486
WARNING LETTER: Danco Laboratories, which makes RU-486 abortion pills, has sent doctors a letter telling them that six women who used the pills developed serious illnesses. Two of those women died. A Danco spokesman downplayed the report as representing “a very small number of events.”
(Reading: “Physicians sent abortion pill alert,” Washington Post, 4/18/02)
title x
KENTUCKY: According to the Cincinnati Enquirer, a health department serving four Northern Kentucky counties may drop out of the federal Title X program “because of concerns that contraceptives such as birth control pills and IUDs could constitute abortion.” The health department board is scheduled to review scientific material and receive public comment at a hearing on May 9. The board is accepting written comments through May 20. Comments may be addressed to: Northern Kentucky Health Department, 610 Medical Village Drive, Edgewood, KY 41017.
(Reading: “Board may end family planning,” Cincinnati Enquirer, 4/14/02)
reminder
WORLD FAMILY CONFERENCE: American Life League’s next Celebration of Life World Family Conference is scheduled for July 10-14 in New Orleans. Speakers include Fr. Tom Euteneuer, Joe Scheidler, Bernard Nathanson and Judie Brown. Conference outlines and registration information may be found online.
reflection for prayer
ISAIAH 41:10: Do not be afraid, for I am with you. Do not be alarmed, for I am your God. I give you strength, truly I help you, truly I hold you firm with my saving right hand.