in this issue:
hot button issues: NORTH DAKOTA
abortion: IS IT MURDER? / PENAL SANCTIONS
birth control pill: RISKS
catholic education: FLIP FLOP
cloning: ENOUGH SAID
disability rights: SINGER CHALLENGED
do not resuscitate: PHYSICIANS
in vitro fertilization: POTENTIAL DANGERS
language: FETUS OR BABY?
planned parenthood: HYPERBOLE
web notes: LIBERTARIANS FOR LIFE
reflection for prayer: ROMANS 12:14-16
hot button issues
NORTH DAKOTA: The state house voted 79-13 against the Preborn Child Protection Act, a bill that was designed to outlaw abortion in North Dakota and set the stage for a challenge to Roe v. Wade. Additional information concerning HB1242 is now online, including testimony from Judie Brown and Patrick Delaney of American Life League, as well as a letter from Notre Dame law professor emeritus Charles Rice.
(Reading: “Panel rejects N.D. abortion ban bill,” Fargo Forum, 2/13/03; “Statement on North Dakota’s proposed Preborn Child Protection Act of 2003,” American Life League advisory, 2/12/03; “Preborn Child Protection Act,” HB1242, North Dakota legislature)
abortion
IS IT MURDER? Basil addressed one other important element in the abortion controversy. He says that in most cases, those who procured abortions died themselves. For this reason, he maintains that the woman who aborts her child also makes an “attack upon herself.” Basil concludes that “The destruction of the embryo is an additional crime, a second murder, at all events if we regard it as done with intent.” Jerome also mentions the frequency with which women died during an abortion procedure, but he calls the mother’s death “suicide” and that of the fetus, “child murder.”
(Reading: “The early church fathers and abortion,” American Life League)
PENAL SANCTIONS: “As a consequence of the respect and protection which must be ensured for the unborn child from the moment of conception, the law must provide appropriate penal sanctions for every deliberate violation of the child’s rights.”
(Reading: Catechism of the Catholic Church, Section 2273)
birth control pill
RISKS: A Brazilian study involved 171 women with high blood pressure, 66 of whom were current users of the pill. Researchers concluded that hypertensive women using the birth control pill “present a significant increase in DBP [diastolic blood pressure] and poor blood pressure control, independent of age, weight and antihypertensive drug treatment.”
(Reading: “Oral contraceptives: a risk factor for uncontrolled blood pressure among hypertensive women,” Contraception, 67 (2003) pp. 19-24, not on line)
catholic education
FLIP FLOP: Last week, we reported that Mercy High School of Farmington Hills, Michigan, a Catholic institution, cancelled plans to include in its fundraising auction an opportunity to bid on lunch with Gov. Jennifer Granholm (Communique, 2/14/03). The action came after alumni groups complained that it was improper to honor Granholm, a Catholic with a pro-abortion political stance. However, after one of the school’s trustees resigned in protest, the cancellation was rescinded, and lunch with the governor is back on the auction list. A local Catholic group called on Cardinal Adam Maida to step in and take action, but his office declined to get involved.
(Reading: “Gov. Granholm back in school auction,” Detroit Free Press, 2/17/03; “Catholics call Cardinal Maida to halt honor of pro-abortion politician,” Stop Granholm Church and Truth Project news release, 2/17/03; “Cardinal won’t comment on lunch flap,” Oakland [Michigan] News, 2/19/03)
cloning
ENOUGH SAID: “Cloning is a risky technology that can cause physical defects.”
COMMENT: So why wasn’t human cloning banned a long, long time ago?
(Reading: “Dolly, world’s first cloned mammal, dies,” Reuters, 2/14/03)
disability rights
SINGER CHALLENGED: “The peculiar drama of my life has placed me in a world that by and large thinks it would be better if people like me did not exist,” writes Harriet McBryde Johnson. Her essay is an account of her dealings with Peter Singer, the Princeton University professor who has written that it is not wrong to abort disabled children. Johnson is an attorney in South Carolina. She also has a degenerative condition and uses a wheel chair.
(Reading: “Unspeakable conversations,” New York Times Magazine, 2/16/03)
do not resuscitate
PHYSICIANS: According to 241 survey respondents, physicians are unlikely to provide treatments other than CPR when patients have a “do not resuscitate” order in place. Researchers argue that major decisions about treatment should not be based on DNR orders alone, and recommend in-depth discussions between physicians and their patients or those the patient has assigned to make life or death decisions regarding treatment.
(Reading: “The effect of do-not-resuscitate orders on physician decision-making,” Journal of American Geriatrics Society, 12/02, pp. 2057-2061)
in vitro fertilization
POTENTIAL DANGERS: Physician David BenEzra called upon his colleagues for an open debate on the questions surrounding the potential for various birth problems among those children born as a result of reproductive technologies.
(Reading: “In-vitro fertilization and retinoblastoma,” The Lancet, 1/25/03, pp. 273-274)
language
FETUS OR BABY? The Boston Globe caught a lot of heat from readers after the paper reported, “passenger shot, her fetus dies.” The mother who lost her preborn child was in the ninth month of pregnancy, and readers correctly noted that the human being whose life was ended by this act of violence was a “baby.” The Globe’s ombudsman explained why “fetus” was used, but finally allows that “unborn baby ? can and should be reclaimed for use when it best describes the reality. This story qualifies.”
COMMENT: So once again, the child in the womb is a “baby” only when his mother “chooses”?
(Reading: “Fetus or baby?” Boston Globe, 2/17/03)
planned parenthood
HYPERBOLE: “President Bush and his extremist allies have launched a war on condoms,” begins a Planned Parenthood action alert. “Unless you help, millions of men and women will be at risk as a result of the president’s anti-condom agenda. Condoms save lives.” The action alert offers a link to click on to “send a condom to Africa in the president’s name.”
COMMENT: Condoms have a high failure rate and do not necessarily “save lives.”
(Reading: “Send a condom to Africa in the president’s name,” Planned Parenthood action alert, 2/14/03; “Condom effectiveness,” American Life League, 2002; “Bush AIDS initiative needs improvement,” STOPP International news release, 2/7/03)
web notes
LIBERTARIANS FOR LIFE: Their web site features three new and outstanding articles.
reflection for prayer
ROMANS 12:14-16: Bless those who persecute you: never curse them, bless them. Rejoice with those who rejoice and be sad with those in sorrow. Treat everyone with equal kindness; never be condescending but make real friends with the poor.