in this issue:
hot button issues: DOWNLOADS / MOTHER’S DAY / PETITION / WORK AT ALL
abortion: AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL / HAWAII / SECOND TRIMESTER / SOCIAL SECURITY
condoms: CATHOLIC TEACHING
culture of death: FRANCS CRICK
euthanasia: ANDREA CLARK: PRAISE GOD – FOR NOW
organ trafficking: CHINA
pharmacists: SEATTLE POST INTELLIGENCER
personhood: RIGHT TO LIFE ACT
planned parenthood: JOHNSON & JOHNSON CONNECTION / SAY WHAT? / “SERVING” IMMIGRANTS
schiavo: MICHAEL’S PAC
stem cell research / unethical: CALIFORNIA
stem cell research / ethical: HEART FAILURE
wisdom: BISHOP GERALD BARNES
zinger: FACTS? WHAT FACTS?
reflection for prayer: HUMAN RESPECT
hot button issues:
DOWNLOADS: A new section of the ALL web site is devoted to downloadable versions of American Life League’s newspaper ads, educational brochures and church bulletin inserts. Audio clips of ALL president Judie Brown discussing various pro-life topics are also available, as are video clips from ALL’s youth division and a selection of pro-life computer wallpaper images.
MOTHER’S DAY: The nation’s largest abortion chain is asking supporters to honor their moms by contributing to Planned Parenthood on Mother’s Day. ALL’s Judie Brown responds, “It’s simply horrifying to think that anyone involved in abortion – even Planned Parenthood – could have the audacity to claim any association at all with a day designed to salute a mother’s selfless love for her children.”
(Reading: “You can’t have Mother’s Day without babies,” American Life League news release, 5/4/06)
PETITION: Thousands are joining American Life League’s petition effort designed to cut all tax funding directed 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 the petition online.
WORK AT ALL: American Life League currently has job openings at its national headquarters in Stafford, Virginia for a network administrator and an editorial associate. Details are posted online.
abortion
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL: This organization is pushing for the enforcement of abortion as a human right as part of the organization’s Sexual and Reproductive Rights Policy. It is currently asking its members for comments on the proposed change.
(Reading: “Amnesty International considering promoting abortion ‘rights,'” NewsMax, 4/29/06)
HAWAII: HB 1212 was signed into law on April 27. The bill is a thinly veiled attempt by “health care” providers to avoid liability for failing to report abortions on minors. There were several amendments that attempted to exclude surgery or abortion from the things that a minor could consent to, but they were defeated.
(Reading: “Lingle signs bill changing Hawaii’s abortion laws,” Associated Press, 4/27/06)
SECOND TRIMESTER: “A combination of 200 mg of mifepristone and vaginally administered misoprostol is a safe, effective and noninvasive regimen for termination of pregnancy between 12 and 20 weeks” according to Scottish researchers.
(Reading: “Induction of second trimester abortion (12-20 weeks) with mifepristone and misoprostol: a review of 386 consecutive cases,” Contraception, 4/30/06)
SOCIAL SECURITY: Regardless of what secular “experts” would have us believe, the latest CNN report is sobering. It states, “The trustees of Social Security and Medicare now estimate that the Social Security trust fund will be exhausted in 2040 while the Medicare trust fund will be depleted in 2018, slightly sooner than previously forecast.” As one former CEO wrote last year, “An estimated 17 million of them [aborted children] would be contributing to the economy today, paying taxes, and paying into Social Security; but they will not be there.”
(Reading: “Social security, Medicare to run out sooner,” CNN, 5/1/06; “Abortion hitting social security hard,” World Net Daily, 2/16/05)
condoms
CATHOLIC TEACHING: The Pontifical Council for Health Care has made it very clear that it would be wrong to expect any change in Catholic teaching regarding condom use. “The moral principle of the Church is the same.”
(Reading: “Vatican officials clarify: teaching on condoms unchanged,” Catholic World News, 4/26/06)
culture of death
FRANCIS CRICK: “No newborn infant should be declared human until it has passed certain tests regarding its genetic endowment, and that if it fails these tests, it forfeits its right to life.”
(Reading: “In God’s image: building a culture of life,” Cardinal John O’Connor)
euthanasia
ANDREA CLARK: PRAISE GOD – FOR NOW! Moments after we sent out an emergency issue of Communique on May 2, news reached us that Matthew Lenz, M.D., a physician with privileges at St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital in Houston, Texas, had transferred Andrea Clark’s care into his own hands. Her life will now be spared. But the law that could have permitted her death remains in place, and so any true victory is not yet in sight. Updates are available at Seconhand Smoke, Wesley Smith’s blog.
organ trafficking
CHINA: News reports are suggesting that organ transplantation has become a big business in China, and that the Chinese minister of health is alleged to have said that “95 percent of organs transplanted in China are harvested from executed prisoners.”
(Reading: “China: Organ trafficking hub,” GeneEthique, 4/28/06)
pharmacists
SEATTLE POST INTELLIGENCER: A poll is currently being conducted by the newspaper, which has come out against a pharmacist’s exercise of conscience when it comes to filling prescriptions for abortive chemicals. The newspaper favors state regulation that requires pharmacies to carry such drugs.
ACTION: You can vote online.
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 Right to Life Act for details.
COMMENT: Is your member of Congress a co-sponsor? If not, ask!
planned parenthood
JOHNSON & JOHNSON CONNECTION: Father Tom Euteneuer, president of Human Life International, took a stand at the recent Johnson & Johnson stockholders meeting. He pointed out that J&J’s support for Planned Parenthood was ludicrous in view of the fact that Planned Parenthood’s activities “have caused the deaths of more than 3.8 million American babies.”
(Reading: “The baby company funds the anti-baby company,” Human Life International, 4/28/06)
SAY WHAT? From on the road in South Dakota, ALL’s Jim Sedlak tells us of a television newscast that reported, “Tim Branson, the attorney for Planned Parenthood, said the law is untruthful because it refers to the embryo as a ‘human being.’ Planned Parenthood has pointed to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Roe v. Wade that an embryo is not a person.”
“SERVING” IMMIGRANTS: Planned Parenthood has published a list of locations where it is providing “services” for documented and undocumented immigrants.
COMMENT: Sit down before you click.
(Reading: “Serving emerging communities,” Planned Parenthood, 5/1/06)
schiavo
MICHAEL’S PAC: Endorsing candidates who favor the right to kill severely disabled patients is Michael Schiavo’s latest passion. Congressional candidate Jim Davis is described by Schiavo as a man who “acted out of conviction and showed great courage when he stood up for the rights of all Americans.”
(Reading: “Schiavo endorses candidate,” Associated Press, 4/26/06)
stem cell research / unethical
CALIFORNIA: A state court judge, Bonnie Lewman Sabraw, ruled that the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine, which was established by Proposition 71 to allocate funds, could begin raising money and allocating money for research using human embryonic stem cells.
(Reading: “Stem cell ruling opens door to Stanford scientists’ quest to find new cures,” Stanford School of Medicine news release, 4/21/06)
stem cell research/ ethical
HEART FAILURE: In Bangkok, cardiac MRI tests confirm a dramatic 60 percent increase in patient’s heart function after procedure that combines coronary artery bypass grafting surgery with adult stem cell therapy.
(Reading: “Stem cells with coronary artery bypass grafting – heart failure patient shows astonishing improvement,” TheraVitae news release, 4/27/06)
wisdom
BISHOP GERALD BARNES: The bishop of San Bernardino, California writes: “As Catholics, we are not free to abandon unborn children because they are seen as unwanted or inconvenient; to turn our backs on immigrants because they lack the proper documents; to create and then destroy human lives in a quest for medical advances or profit.”
(Reading: “Statement of Bishop Gerald Barnes on the importance of May 1, the Day of the Worker,” Diocese of San Bernardino, 4/06)
zinger
FACTS? WHAT FACTS? In a recent editorial, abortion supporters argue that “women are far more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications, from automobile accidents or from a fall than they are from using hormonal contraception or having undergone either a medication or surgical abortion. Those who claim that hormonal contraception and abortion are unsafe base this assertion on ideology, not on evidence-based science.”
COMMENT: This statement comes from the very people who argue that a preborn child is not a person.
(Reading: “Reproductive health risks in perspective,” Contraception, 5/06)
reflection for prayer:
HUMAN RESPECT: In a homily on temptations, St. Jean Vianney asked: “Do you know what is the first temptation the devil presents to someone who has begun to serve God better? It is human respect.”
(Reading: “Denying our sins,” Catholic Online, 2005)