in this issue:
hot button issues: CRUSADE TO DEFEND OUR CATHOLIC CHURCH
abortion: BREAST CANCER / HERBAL COCKTAIL / PARTIAL BIRTH INFANTICIDE
activism: PAMPERED CHEF
birth control pill: BREAST CANCER
brain death: EXPERIMENTING ON THE LIVING
bush watch: AIDS LAW / PANDERING TO HOMOSEXUALS
catholic commentary: D.Q. McINERNY, PhD
contraception and abortion: LINKAGE IS CLEAR
in vitro fertilization: FREEZER PEOPLE
morning-after abortion pill: CANADA / VIRGINIA
opposing euthanasia: PRO-LIFE BOOK / PRO LIFE-WEB SITE
persistent vegetative state: NEW YORK
when does life begin: GUTTMACHER KNEW
zinger: WHEN IS A RAT A HUMAN PERSON?
reflection for prayer: PSALM 25
hot button issues
CRUSADE TO DEFEND OUR CATHOLIC CHURCH: In a Washington Dispatch column, ALL’s Joe Starrs writes: “Some people don’t get it. The Catholic Church teaches that abortion is a grave evil. Always has. Always will. Yet some politicians seem to think they can wear the Catholic label when foraging for votes, but then cast off any semblance of following the Faith on this serious matter once they take office. Sorry, folks, it doesn’t work that way.”
(Reading: “It’s time to call a spade a spade,” Washington Dispatch, 5/23/03)
abortion
BREAST CANCER: Joel Brind, PhD, prepared a “minority report” for the recent National Cancer Institute briefing on “early reproductive events and breast cancer.”
(Reading: “Early Reproductive Events and Breast Cancer: A Minority Report,” Joel Brind, PhD, 3/10/03)
HERBAL COCKTAIL: A May 20 news report covered a local Planned Parenthood official who decried the use of herbal concoctions to facilitate abortion. But the same San Antonio reporter found reason to actually focus on which herbs to use to abort. This is a strange way to oppose a type of abortion.
(Reading: “The right herb mixture has varying effects,” KENS-TV, 5/20/03)
PARTIAL BIRTH INFANTICIDE: Abortion proponent Warren Hern says “Partial birth abortion is a propaganda term. It has never been described in the medical literature and no one has ever seen one.” The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology has a statement that reads, in part, “The potential exists that legislation prohibiting specific medical practices, such as intact D&X may outlaw techniques that are critical to the lives and health of American women. The intervention of legislative bodies into medical decision making is inappropriate, ill-advised and dangerous.”
COMMENT: The pro-abortion groundwork continues to be laid in preparation for an argument before the U. S. Supreme Court that the legislation is vague.
(Reading: Medical Ethics Advisor, 6/03, p. 70)
activism
PAMPERED CHEF: Pro-life, pro-family moms are united in an effort to convince Warren Buffett, pro-abortion financier whose Berkshire Hathaway investment firm is the new owner of Pampered Chef, that if he does not cease his support for the culture of death, moms will spend their money elsewhere.
(Reading: “Hometown heroes: Stirring the pot,” Focus on the Family Citizen, 2003)
birth control pill
BREAST CANCER: A recent European study has found that women taking the pill have a 25% increased risk of developing breast cancer compared to non-users. The study referred to in the news report is currently not on line; a detailed analysis of the relationship between the pill and breast cancer is available from the Polycarp Institute.
(Reading: “‘Experts’ play down results of new study examining association between the Pill and breast cancer,” 5/19/03, Drug Information Zone)
brain death
EXPERIMENTING ON THE LIVING: A recent article touts the injection of molecules into brain-dead patients for the purpose of watching their progression. A summary states, “After the subjects were removed from life support, numerous tissue samples were taken to search for the specific sites in the body that the molecules attached to.” The article states, “conducting cutting-edge research on brain-dead patients or those who are terminally ill may be a speedy way to test the safety and effectiveness of potential cures.”
COMMENT: In other words, murder one person for the potential benefit of another.
(Reading: “Science seeks secrets of life in brain-dead,” Chicago Tribune, 5/15/03, fee required for online access)
bush watch
AIDS LAW: “While the legislation (HR 1298 / S. 1009) does provide some funding for abstinence-until-marriage programs, it also promotes condom use,” said Ed Szymkowiak, national director of STOPP International, an American Life League project. “In addition, it does not prohibit AIDS money from going to international groups that use non-U.S. funds to perform or promote abortion.”
(Reading: “Global AIDS/HIV funding bill,” STOPP International statement, 5/28/03)
PANDERING TO HOMOSEXUALS: In a hard-hitting column Chuck Baldwin writes “conservatives need to get over their sophomoric infatuation with G. W. Bush and start telling the truth about his dismal record regarding the homosexual agenda.”
COMMENT: We would add that they should start telling the truth about his lack of sincere commitment to the preborn as well. Lip service is not enough!
(Reading: “Bush promoting homosexual agenda: do conservatives care?” Covenant News, 5/23/03)
catholic commentary
D.Q. McINERNY, PhD: “We have been living through a period of patterned misattention and pronounced negligence of duty on the part of those in the Church who have been entrusted, in St. Thomas’ words, ‘with the care of the community.’ The sordid activities that have been revealed in recent months did not well up out of nowhere. The ground was prepared for them. The scene was set for them, and, in a certain respect, the scenario for the dark drama was actually written out beforehand. These actions were the all but inevitable effects of a whole complex of causes which have been operative within the Church for many years. We have been witnessing a monumental failure, on the part of those in authority, to preserve, protect and defend the integrity of the faith, especially in its moral teachings.
“It is perfectly understandable that a Catholic should be profoundly shocked and scandalized by recent events in the Church in this country. But no Catholic who has the least glimmering of what has been happening in the Church over the past few decades, particularly in our colleges and seminaries, could honestly claim to be much surprised at what has transpired. You reap what you sow, and much very bad seed has been sown in the Church in the years since the Second Vatican Council. And now we reap the whirlwind.”
(Reading: “The greater scandal,” Faithful Voice)
contraception and abortion
LINKAGE IS CLEAR: Father Julian Porteous, rector of the Sydney Archdiocese’s Seminary of the Good Shepherd, during a theological videoconference organized by the Congregation for Clergy, gave an address worthy of note.
(Reading: “Contraception and Abortion,” Congregation for Clergy, 2/28/03)
in vitro fertilization
FREEZER PEOPLE: Researchers estimate that of the 400,000 human embryos currently “stored” in the United States, 2.8% are available for research, “limiting possible conversion into embryonic stem cell lines.
COMMENT: “Conversion” is a new word for murder.
(Reading: “Cryopreserved embryos in the United States and their availability for research,” Fertility and Sterility, 5/03, pp. 1063-1069, members only)
morning-after abortion pill
CANADA: John Hof of Campaign Life Coalition is inviting pro-lifers in Canada to join in a demonstration at the Canadian Pharmacy Association convention. The attendees are set to address the morning after abortion pills.
CONTACT: for details.
VIRGINIA: The Christian Medical and Dental Association is on record supporting the efforts of Virginia legislator Robert G. Marshall (see Communique, 5/23/03).
COMMENT: We caution you, however, to note that Mr. Imbody, the writer, defines a human being as a “fertilized egg” which is a technically inaccurate statement. The human being is never an egg!
(Reading: “Two different pills,” Christian Medical and Dental Association, 5/4/03)
opposing euthanasia
PRO-LIFE BOOK: A book that is long overdue, “Power over Pain” by Eric M. Chevlen, MD, and Wesley J. Smith, is now available.
PRO-LIFE WEB SITE: The Nightingale Alliance has put together an excellent web site focused on quick and principled information to many troubling questions facing families with a loved one who is gravely ill.
persistent vegetative state
NEW YORK: Manhattan judge Doris Ling-Cohan ruled that the mother of a three year-old child, who was described as being in a persistent vegetative state, or PVS, was the proper person to make the decision to deny further treatment to the girl. The child’s life support was ended and she died on April 17. New York Assemblyman Richard Gottfried (D) is proposing a bill that would establish procedures in the law for making such decisions, a bill that has been previously opposed by the New York State Catholic Conference. Gottfried calls this most recent court decision “extraordinarily important” and “groundbreaking.” He said “I think it makes a compelling case for what the law needs to say.”
(Reading: “Judge rules parents can decide to end child’s life support,” Associated Press, 5/17/03; “Ruling supports parents’ rights to decide on child’s life support,” New York Times, 5/17/03)
(Background: Gottfried’s position can be found in “Family decision-making,” Family Decisions, 12/94)
when does life begin?
GUTTMACHER KNEW: Alan Guttmacher, MD, was a president of Planned Parenthood. In his 1933 book Life in the Making, he wrote: “We of today know that man is born of sexual union; that he starts life as an embryo within the body of the female; and that the embryo is formed from the fusion of two single cells, the ovum and the sperm. This all seems so simple and evident to us that it is difficult to picture a time when it was not part of the common knowledge.”
(Reading: “A libertarian atheist answers pro-choice Catholics,” Libertarians for Life, 1/03)
zinger
WHEN IS A RAT A HUMAN PERSON? Debra Saunders writes that PETA leader Ingrid Newkirk told the New Yorker, “when asked about using animals for medical research, ‘a rat is a pig is a dog is a boy.'”
(Reading: “The trivialization of compassion,” Debra Saunders, 5/25/03)
reflection for prayer
PSALM 25:2-3: I rely on you, do not let me be shamed, do not let my enemies gloat over me! No, those who hope in you are never shamed, Shame awaits disappointed traitors.