in this issue:
abortion: MISCARRIAGE / MOTHER SET FREE / ROE V. WADE AND STARE DECISIS
adolescents: FEAR OF INFERTILITY
birth control pill: CHEWABLE
cloning humans: EGG DONOR RISKS
culture of death: SCIENTIFIC FACT OR MERE BELIEF?
in vitro fertilization: RISKS / SPECIAL ORDER BABY / TEST TUBE BABIES
organ donation: GIFT OR SACRIFICE
pharmacists: MORNING AFTER PILLS
planned parenthood: KOMEN FOUNDATION / TITLE X / VATICAN MUSEUM
stem cell research / unethical: PONDERING DOLLARS
wisdom: DIETRICH BONHOEFFER
reflection for prayer: ST. CLEMENT OF ROME
abortion
MISCARRIAGE: Researcher Noreen Maconochie of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine has authored a study that found a 60 percent increased risk of miscarriage associated with previous abortion.
(Reading: “Miscarriage linked to out of wedlock pregnancies, abortion, artificial procreation,” Life Site News, 12/5/06)
MOTHER SET FREE: All charges have been dismissed against a mother who shot herself in the stomach in an effort to kill her preborn child. The attorneys agree that they could not prosecute her because a law passed in 2004 explicitly excludes mothers and refers to ‘any person … who kills the fetus of another.” Tammy Skinner was scheduled to give birth to the little girl on the day she shot herself and killed her baby.
(Reading: “Suffolk woman who shot herself to induce abortion has all charges dropped,” WAVY-TV, 12/06)
ROE V. WADE AND STARE DECISIS: Dr. John Shea has written an in-depth analysis of why Roe v. Wade set a bad precedent yet continues to be acknowledged as a basis for rejecting personhood.
(Reading: “The challenge of ‘stare decisis,'” Life Issues, 3/12/03)
adolescents
FEAR OF INFERTILITY: Researchers studied the attitudes of 300 pregnant teens and suggest that “when dispensing contraception it would be important to stress that the contraceptive method being used is a temporary means of preventing pregnancy and does not cause long-term infertility.”
COMMENT: Both suggestions are, of course, erroneous.
(Reading: “Fear of inability to conceive in pregnant adolescents,” Obstetrics and Gynecology, 108:6:1411-1416)
birth control pill
CHEWABLE: Warner Chilcott has introduced Femcon Fe, a chewable birth control pill that is the same as the Ovcon 35 pill. Both can kill a preborn child.
(Reading: “Drugmaker makes chewable contraceptive,” Associated Press, 12/7/06)
cloning humans
EGG DONOR RISKS: Women who donate eggs are taking “hormones used to ‘kickstart’ the ovaries.” These hormones “could cause chromosomal damage to more than half of eggs, rendering them useless. The treatments may also affect the womb lining, preventing embryos from implanting … in about five percent of cases, women may suffer a life-threatening complication from fertility drugs…”
(Reading: “IVF can lower chance of pregnancy,” Sunday Telegraph, 12/2/06)
culture of death
SCIENTIFIC FACT OR MERE BELIEF? Australian proponents of human cloning claim that respect for human life should not negate cloning humans. “While there is a range of views regarding the moral status of the embryo and the degree of protection that should be extended to the embryo, most people would agree that human life, in and of itself is deserving respect. But it does not logically follow from this that embryo research and cloning should be banned. That some in the community believe embryos deserve as much protection as adults does not mean the force of law should compel this view.”
(Reading: “Five myths of therapeutic cloning,” Sydney Morning Herald, 11/27/06)
in vitro fertilization
RISKS: It is reported that women who take high doses of fertility drugs as part of IVF treatment may actually be harming their chances of ever having a baby.
(Reading: “IVF can lower chance of pregnancy,” Sunday Telegraph, 12/2/06)
SPECIAL ORDER BABY: Dr. Darshak Sanghavi writes that there are parents who make it a point to employ the technique of preimplantation genetic diagnosis to assure that a particular genetic problem exists in their embryonic children. He points out that while some fear that “PGD could be used willy-nilly to make genetic freaks … the same fears pervaded the issue of in vitro fertilization decades ago.”
COMMENT: Sanghavi fails to point out that IVF is itself a manipulation of man by man, and is thus the root cause of all sorts of horrors.
(Reading: “Wanting babies like themselves, some parents choose genetic defects,” New York Times, 12/5/06)
TEST TUBE BABIES: “Human beings at the embryonic stage do not have an inherent right to life, says a high court justice in the Republic of Ireland.”
(Reading: “Test tube babies have no inherent right to life rules Irish high court,” Life Site News, 11/17/06)
organ donation
GIFT OR SACRIFICE: Addressing the “critical shortage” of vital organs available for transplant, researchers suggest that some families may respond more positively to arguments that a dying loved one’s organs could provide a “gift of life” for someone else. They also address the dying patient’s family members who are repelled by the idea of having organs removed from a loved one who is on oxygen and still breathing.
(Reading: “Gift of life or sacrifice? Key discourses to understanding organ donor families’ decision-making,” Mortality, 5/06)
pharmacists
MORNING AFTER PILLS: Commenting on pharmacists who refuse to dispense the morning after pill, pharmacist John Gans writes, “Actively obstructing patient access to medications or using the pharmacy counter as a pulpit to espouse personal beliefs is not tolerated and is subject to disciplinary action by state licensing boards.” Gans does not support forcing pharmacists to act against their conscience but recommends that they defer to another pharmacist instead.
COMMENT: In other words, if it bothers you to dispense a pill that can kill a preborn baby, just recommend that someone else do it instead. That makes no sense at all.
(Reading: “Refusals by pharmacists to dispense emergency contraception: a critique,” Obstetrics and Gynecology, 108:6:1549)
planned parenthood
KOMEN FOUNDATION: The Aspen, Colorado affiliate of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation donated $14,000 to Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains. Though the money is designated for “exams for the uninsured,” the donation frees up other money for Planned Parenthood’s abortion-related activities.
(Reading: “Komen foundation gives away $500K,” Aspen Times, 12/5/06)
TITLE X: Complaining about the Bush appointee, Dr. Eric Keroack, one editorial writer suggests that “Keroack’s extreme views are out of step with sound science and, more importantly, with American families.”
COMMENT: Or maybe Keroack knows that birth control and abortion are not good for family life.
(Reading: “Ideology once again put before science,” Minneapolis Star-Tribune, 12/2/06)
VATICAN MUSEUM: One of the official patrons of the Vatican museums is an active and public supporter of Planned Parenthood.
(Reading: “Museums’ pro-choice patron: Pilgrims’ progress art benefactor’s other love: Planned Parenthood,” Zenit, 11/16/06)
stem cell research / unethical
PONDERING DOLLARS: A public policy panel, meeting to discuss the problems scientists face when doing research using human embryonic stem cells, is reported to have concluded, “If federal policies are not altered, many scientists anticipate that other nations will surpass the United States in advances from stem cell research.”
(Reading: “Scientists, ethicists ponder challenges in moving stem cell research forward,” Journal of the American Medical Association, 12/6/06, pp. 3542-3453)
wisdom
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER: “Action springs not from thought, but from a readiness for responsibility.”
(Reading: Quotations Book)
reflection for prayer
ST. CLEMENT OF ROME: “The spirit of the Lord is a lantern, searching the hidden places of our inmost being.”
(Reading: “Letter to the Corinthians,” St. Clement of Rome)