in this issue:
hot button issues: MICHIGAN / PETITION / T-SHIRT DAY
abortion: SOUTH DAKOTA
catholic bishops: CONNECTICUT
euthanasia: CALIFORNIA
free speech: CENSORED
personhood: RIGHT TO LIFE ACT
planned parenthood: RICHARDS / SAFE ABORTIONS
pregnancy: MORTALITY
reproductive technology: RISKS
stem cell research / ethical: BONE MARROW
stem cell research / unethical: MISSOURI I / MISSOURI II
zinger: KILLING FOR BETTER LIVING
reflection for prayer: CONSCIENCE
hot button issues
MICHIGAN: Pro-lifers are organizing a petition campaign to put an abortion referendum on the November ballot. The initiative defines personhood as beginning at conception – the union of the sperm and ovum. ALL’s Judie Brown said, “Establishing personhood for the preborn child is the most fundamental step in reversing the death and destruction that the scourge of abortion has left on our country.”
(Reading: “Michigan initiative to define personhood at conception a bold step toward ending abortion,” American Life League news release, 3/14/06)
PETITION: American Life League is leading a major petition effort designed to cut all tax funding directed to Planned Parenthood. In its most recent fiscal year, Planned Parenthood received more than $265 million from federal, state and local government sources. Petitions may be signed online.
T-SHIRT DAY: American Life League is sponsoring National Pro-life T-shirt Day for the fourth year. On April 25, ALL is asking pro-life students to wear a pro-life message to class. All are invited to participate, but public schools are especially invited. The official shirt of ALL’s National Pro-life T-shirt Day is available online for $5 plus shipping and handling. Other details are available at www.NationalProLifeTshirtDay.comwww.NationalProLifeTshirtDay.com.
abortion
SOUTH DAKOTA: Pro-abortion Republican Majority for Choice is “outraged” by the pro-life law in South Dakota. Of note is the fact that this group gives out the “Prescott Bush Award.” Prescott Bush was George W. Bush’s grandfather.
(Reading: “S. Dakota abortion law is an assault,” Philadelphia Inquirer, 3/8/06)
catholic bishops
CONNECTICUT: Connecticut Bishops Henry J. Mansell and William E. Lori have adopted the “Peoria Protocol” in Catholic hospitals under their supervision. The protocol requires doctors to attempt to determine through tests whether or not a rape victim has ovulated prior to giving her the morning after pill. If she has, the doctors will provide the victim with a list of places where she can go to get Plan B, and they will provide transportation for her if needed. The Bishops have said they will oppose any bill that would require Catholic hospitals to administer the pill if a woman is ovulation or if fertilization has occurred.
COMMENT: But apparently they do not mind using Catholic hospital staff and vehicles to take her elsewhere for a chemical abortion. Sounds like cooperation in abortion to me.
(Reading: “Connecticut bishops pursuing stricter interpretation of abortion,” Newsday, 3/12/06)
euthanasia
CALIFORNIA: AB 651 is a bill designed to facilitate “assisted suicide” in the state. For an analysis of the bill and a set of talking points, see Pro-family Townhall.
free speech
CENSORED: In what appears to be a violation of First Amendment rights, a U.S. district court in Missouri issued a temporary restraining order which censored Dr. David Reardon’s web site. The web site contains a petition regarding a proposed amendment to the Missouri state Constitution opposing human-animal crossbreeding, human cloning, transhumanism and human engineering.
(Reading: e-mail from Rebecca Messall to 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 www.RightToLifeAct.org for details.
COMMENT: Is your member of Congress a co-sponsor? If not, ask!
planned parenthood
RICHARDS: The new president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America is former Texas governor Ann Richards’ daughter, Cecile, is profiled in the New York Times.
(Reading: “Anti-abortion advocates? Bring ’em on, Texan says,” New York Times, 3/10/06)
SAFE ABORTION: The British government is assisting International Planned Parenthood with a three million pound donation which will support the “Global Safe Abortion Programme.”
(Reading: “UK steps in to fund safe abortions,” The Lancet, 2/18/06)
pregnancy
MORTALITY? Researchers are claiming that the risk of maternal death increases when the mother is carrying more than one or two children. “Women with multifetal pregnancies have a significantly higher risk of pregnancy-related death than their counterparts with singleton pregnancies; this holds true for all women regardless of age, race, marital status and level of education.”
COMMENT: If this sounds like an argument for more selective reduction abortions, that’s because it is.
(Reading: “Pregnancy-related mortality among women with multifetal pregnancies,” Obstetrics and Gynecology, 3/06, pp. 563-568)
reproductive technology
RISKS: Researchers from the Centers for Disease Control analyzed 94,118 pregnancies, 2.1 percent of which were ectopic. They found that transfer of a fertilized egg into the fallopian tube, an ART procedure known as ZIFT (zygote intrafallopian transfer), increased the risk of ectopic pregnancy by 75%.
(Reading: “Infertility and ectopic pregnancy risk,” Doctor NDTV, 3/8/06; “Ectopic pregnancy risk with assisted reproductive technology procedures,” Obstetrics and Gynecology, 3/06, pp. 595-604)
stem cell research / ethical
BONE MARROW: Researchers have found that neural stem cells from bone marrow can be helpful in tracking and killing malignant brain tumor cells. These findings are preliminary and are based on animal studies.
(Reading: “Marrow-derived stem cells deliver new cytokine to kill brain tumor cells, offer protection,” Cedars-Sinai Medical Center news release, 3/5/06)
stem cell research / unethical
MISSOURI I: The state is embroiled in a debate regarding human embryonic stem cell research. Fox News commentator Father Jonathon Morris has written “The crux of the Missouri question is whether we are willing to recognize life even when it lives in a Petri dish. Whether we attain embryos from the freezers at fertilization clinics or through human cloning, their status does not change. They are human embryos.” The Missouri ballot measure, which would provide funding for human embryonic stem cell research, could be voted on this coming November.
(Reading: “A battle for the American mind: What’s the big deal about stem-cell research?” Fox News, 3/13/06; “Missouri eyes stem cell promotion,” Associated Press, 3/11/06)
MISSOURI II: Professor Dianne Irving exposes the deception of false definitions that are used to mislead people, not only in Missouri but on Capitol Hill as well.
(Reading: “Joke: Fake feminist appointee in Missouri debates,” Life Issues, 3/10/06)
zinger
KILLING FOR BETTER LIVING: “The Chinese authorities would argue that the [one child] policy has contributed to improvements in human rights by lifting more than 200 million people out of poverty and by raising living standards for the majority of the population. In an increasingly interdependent world, where available natural resources per capita are decreasing, the Chinese government should perhaps be applauded for having the courage to take unpopular measures to control population growth.”
COMMENT: Human beings are our most valuable natural resources; apparently that has not gotten through to everyone.
(Reading: “China’s one-child family policy,” New England Journal of Medicine, 2/23/06)
reflection for prayer
CONSCIENCE: The numbing of consciences, their indifference to good and evil, their deviations, are a great threat for man. Indirectly, they are also a great threat for society, because in the last analysis the level of morality of society depends on the human conscience.’ Conscience is the light of the soul, of what is deepest in man’s being; and if this light is put out, man is thrown into darkness and can commit the most dastardly abuses against himself and against others.
(Reading: “In Conversation with God,” Vol. II, p. 73)