in this issue:
hot button issues: “ADVISING” THE CATHOLIC CHURCH / PETITION / WORK AT ALL
abortion: CLOSED IN ALABAMA
abstinence: CONFERENCE
activism: FLORIDA
adolescents: CALIFORNIA / NOT WORKING
birth control: HILLARY / NEXT GENERATION
catholic bishops: AMICUS CURIAE
personhood: RIGHT TO LIFE ACT / WISCONSIN
planned parenthood: WOULD YOU LIKE BATH OILS WITH THOSE PILLS?
population control: BIRTH RATES PLUMMET
ru-486: SAY WHAT?
reflection for prayer: EPHESIANS 4:25-27
hot button issues
“ADVISING” THE CATHOLIC CHURCH: Planned Parenthood wants the Catholic Church to change its view of condoms so the spread of AIDS might be checked. American Life League’s Judie Brown responds, “I assure you that this hoped-for scenario is never going to occur.”
(Reading: “The Church and condom sense,” Planned Parenthood, 5/17/06; “Martini mixes up truth; too many bishops neither shaken nor stirred,” American Life League, 5/25/06)
PETITION: Stop the flow of your tax dollars to Planned Parenthood! Planned Parenthood received more than $265 million from federal, state and local government sources in its most recently reported fiscal year. Please sign American Life League’s online petition and forward the link to others.
WORK AT ALL: American Life League currently has an opening for an editorial associate at ALL’s national headquarters in Virginia. Details are posted online.
abortion
CLOSED IN ALABAMA: The state health department has closed Birmingham’s Summit Medical Center, following reports that the facility performed abortions without a physician present. Dr. Don Williamson, the state health officer, said, “There were multiple violations of rules over multiple days.” In one case, a woman was told she was six weeks pregnant and was given Mifeprex (RU-486) without a doctor’s supervision. She later gave birth to a stillborn, 6-pound 4-ounce child.
(Reading: “Abortion clinic violations detailed,” Birmingham News, 5/20/06)
abstinence
CONFERENCE: Grant writing, donor development and up-to-date medical facts are the major issues to be covered at the Abstinence Clearinghouse annual leadership conference, June 6-9 in Kansas City. Details and registration information are available online.
(Reading: “Entertain the possibilities,” Abstinence Clearinghouse)
activism
FLORIDA: West Palm Beach commissioners have revised laws designed to keep pro-lifers away from abortion facilities. The new restrictions prohibit blocking traffic, approaching cars on the street or using amplified sound near “health care facilities.” The revisions do not include a 20-foot buffer zone, a provision of a previous law that a federal judge invalidated in April.
(Reading: “West Palm tones down law aimed at abortion opponents at clinics,” Palm Beach Post, 5/23/06)
adolescents
CALIFORNIA: Backers of a parental notification referendum say they’ve collected more than one million signatures in their current petition drive. The proposal would require parents to be told before a minor child can have an abortion. A similar measure failed last year. Planned Parenthood of California is gearing up to fight the initiative.
(Reading: “Publisher pushes abortion initiative,” Sacramento Bee, 5/20/06)
NOT WORKING: Researchers reporting in the British Medical Journal surveyed Mexican teens whose school curricula included sex education classes. The authors observe, “Our study adds to the growing body of evidence that current HIV prevention efforts based in school do not alter sexual risk behaviour, and suggests that current interventions educate effectively but may not change sexual risk behaviour.”
(Reading: “Safe sex messages in schools don’t change behaviour,” Medical News Today, 5/20/06)
birth control
HILLARY: In announcing plans for a bill that would force state Medicaid programs to pay for birth control, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) told reporters, “If you’re concerned about the increasing abortion rate, you have to be in favor of contraception and family planning.” Clinton said she is attempting to counter what she called the Bush administration’s “anti-family planning agenda.”
(Reading: “Clinton, Lowey call for contraception support,” White Plains [N.Y.] Journal News, 5/16/06)
NEXT GENERATION: Many newspapers across the country ran an Associated Press story that all but predicts the demise of the menstrual period. New birth control regimens are being promoted that will feature “continuous use” pills, avoiding the monthly bleedings that one ob/gyn said are not “real periods anyway.” Another gynecologist added, “There’s no reason you need a period.”
COMMENT: The story made no mention of the fact that hormonal birth control pills do not always stop fertilization, and can affect the wall of the uterus, preventing implantation and leading to the deaths of newly-created human beings in the days immediately following fertilization.
(Reading: “Menstruation is fast becoming optional,” Associated Press, 5/21/06)
catholic bishops
AMICUS CURIAE: The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, along with other religious groups, has filed a brief asking the Supreme Court to throw out legal challenges to the federal partial-birth abortion law.
COMMENT: Don’t forget that this law does not ban partial-birth abortion; it permits it to be performed when the mother’s life is purportedly threatened. This law will not stop any abortions.
(Reading: “U.S. bishops urge Supreme Court to uphold federal ban on partial-birth abortion,” Catholic News Agency, 5/24/06)
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!
WISCONSIN: Pro-Life Wisconsin is launching a petition drive calling for the protection of preborn children in their state constitution. The current Wisconsin constitution applies rights to only those people who are born. The petition for Wisconsin residents is available online.
(Reading: “PLW kicks off petition drive to protect preborn children in the Wisconsin Constitution,” Pro-Life Wisconsin Monday Update, 5/22/06)
planned parenthood
WOULD YOU LIKE BATH OILS WITH THOSE PILLS? Planned Parenthood is going upscale with a new location in Woodbury, Minnesota, a suburb of St. Paul. According to an Associated Press report, “lotions, essential oils and decorative carrying cases for pills and condoms will beckon shoppers inside, where they can also get oral contraceptives, pregnancy tests and screening for HIV, chlamydia and gonorrhea — all in about 20 minutes.” This particular location, in a strip mall between a Mexican restaurant and a Wells Fargo office, will not do abortions.
(Reading: “No abortions performed at quick clinics,” Associated Press, 5/22/06)
population control
BIRTH RATES PLUMMET: Newsweek columnist Robert Samuelson looks at population projections for industrialized nations, along with the social and economic consequences. The article admits, “There’s no more population ‘explosion.'”
COMMENT: Curiously, however, the article neglects to mention the role of abortion in the population shrinkage.
(Reading: “The end of motherhood?” Newsweek, 5/29/06)
ru-486
SAY WHAT? In written testimony provided to a Congressional hearing, Vicki Saporta of the National Abortion Federation said, “Women deserve access to the best health care options available, including access to mifepristone [RU-486], which has been proven to be a safe and effective way to end an early pregnancy.” The hearing, chaired by Rep. Mark Souder (R-Ind.), was called to explore the deaths of eight women who died following RU-486 abortions.
(Reading: “Two views of the abortion pill on Capitol Hill,” Cybercast News Service, 5/18/06)
reflection for prayer
EPHESIANS 4:25-27: Putting away falsehood, speak the truth, each one to his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun set on your anger, and do not leave room for the devil.