hot button issues: MICHAEL SCHIAVO / PEOPLE OF THE YEAR? / STOPP / TELESEMINAR
birth control: DEPO-PROVERA / LYBREL
congress: CORD BLOOD BANK
personhood: RIGHT TO LIFE ACT
pragmatism: DEMOCRATS
stem cell research / unethical: FRAUD
supreme court: ANTI-ALITO EFFORT / APPROVE ALITO
web news: PRO-LIFE CHECK GUY
reflection for prayer: IMITATE CHRIST
hot button issues:
MICHAEL SCHIAVO: American Life League president Judie Brown comments on Michael Schiavo’s establishment of TerriPAC: “Michael Schiavo is turning to the political realm to make sure that spouses like himself can exercise another aspect of this twisted idea of personal freedom: the “right” to eliminate an inconvenient family member when illness or debilitation strikes.”
(Reading: “Schiavo, truth and the American way,” American Life League commentary, 12/15/05)
PEOPLE OF THE YEAR? American Life League’s Amber Dolle looks at Time magazine’s proclamation of Bill and Melinda Gates as people of the year: “Bill and Melinda’s foundation has given millions to some of the most anti-woman, anti-child, anti-family organizations in existence.”
(Reading: “Bill and Melinda Gates: People of the year?” American Life League commentary, 12/21/05)
STOPP: American Life League’s STOPP International is in the midst of its yearly analysis of Planned Parenthood’s annual reports. Valuable information is contained in two recent issues of the Wednesday STOPP Report: 12/7/05and 12/14/05. To receive this valuable weekly resource by e-mail, send an “>e-mail message with “subscribe” in the subject line.
TELESEMINAR: An audio recording of American Life League’s first-ever training teleseminar featuring Judie Brown, “How to Effectively Communicate the Pro-Life Message,” is available online.
birth control
DEPO-PROVERA: The Pfizer pharmaceutical firm has been hit with a $700 million class action suit, filed by women who claim that using the birth control drug Depo-Provera led to severe bone loss. Depo-Provera is abortifacient. According to LifeSite News, “Depo-Provera has been at the forefront of foreign-funded birth control programs in the developing world.”
(Reading: “Class action suit says Depo-Provera birth control drug causes osteoporosis,” LifeSite News, 12/21/05)
LYBREL: The newest chemical in the anti-baby arsenal is Lybrel, a Wyeth-Ayerst product designed to be taken daily with no hormone-free intervals. The drug totally suppresses ovulation, thus eliminating menstruation. However, as one writer recently pointed out, “No long term studies have been conducted on the impact that menstrual suppression may have on fertility.”
(Reading: “Low-dose COC effective in studies,” ObGyn News, 11/15/05; “Curing the ‘curse’ of womanhood,” Northern Life, 12/13/05)
congress
CORD BLOOD BANK: Congress has approved a bill that provides $79 million to establish a national data bank so that doctors can efficiently find matches for their patients.
(Reading: “Congress agrees to set up cord blood bank,” Associated Press, 12/16/05)
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 RightToLifeAct.org for details.
COMMENT: Is your member of Congress a co-sponsor? If not, ask!
pragmatism
DEMOCRATS: On the subject of abortion, some in the Democratic Party are beginning to sound like some in the pro-life movement. Note this recent report: “No one’s suggesting that the party abandon its pro-choice roots. With George W. Bush expected to nominate as many as three presumably pro-life Supreme Court justices this term, advocates worry that the right to an abortion is more imperiled than it’s been in decades. But as a step toward ultimately preserving that basic right, some Democrats now favor embracing common-sense restrictions on it. One possible initiative: a bill banning third-trimester abortions with broad exceptions for the life and health of the mother.”
(Reading: “Anxiety over abortion,” Newsweek, 12/20/05)
stem cell research / unethical
FRAUD: Many articles have been written exploring the problematic nature of the now infamous Korean scientist Hwang Woo-suk’s apparent bogus research.
(Reading: “Hwang’s 2004 paper may be fabrication,” Korea Times, 12/19/05)
(Analysis: “How can either ‘nuclear transfer’ or ‘twinning’ produce Hwang’s patient-specific’ stem cells?” Dianne Irving, PhD, 12/17/05)
supreme court
ANTI-ALITO EFFORT: Opposition to the confirmation of Judge Samuel Alito is being funded by the foundations of such corporate entities as Wal-Mart, Ford and Fannie Mae.
(Reading: “Corporate foundations bankroll anti-Alito coalition,” Human Events, 12/15/05)
APPROVE ALITO: American Life League’s new web site, ApproveAlito.com, encourages citizens to sign a petition urging senators to approve the appointment of Judge Samuel Alito. An analysis of Alito is available online.
web news
PRO-LIFE CHECK GUY: See this new site for the latest designs in pro-life checks.
reflection for prayer
IMITATE CHRIST: How can it be otherwise than strange, if Christ bore such things for your sake, and you cannot endure even words? He is spit upon, and do you deck yourself with garments and rings, and if you gain not a good report from all, think life unbearable? He is insulted, bears mockings and scornful blows upon the cheek; and do you wish everywhere to be honored and not bear the reproaching of Christ? Do you not hear Paul saying: “Be imitators of me as I also am of Christ.”
(Reading: St. John Chrysostom, quoted in “Retreat with the Lord,” p. 168)