in this issue:
hot button issues: EMILY’S LIST
abortion: DOWN’S SYNDROME
catholic action: CHARLESTON / FARGO / SACRAMENTO
dark side: ARCC / NARAL / PLANNED PARENTHOOD
morning-after abortion pill: REMINDER
personhood: RIGHT TO LIFE ACT
philippines: ABORTIFACIENTS
ru-486: AUSTRALIA
stem cell research: ETHICAL?
wisdom: POPE BENEDICT XVI
reflection for prayer: RESOLUTION
hot button issue
EMILY’S LIST: American Life League protested the 20th anniversary luncheon of the pro-abortion political action group Emily’s List, which honored five pro-abortion officeholders who claim to be Catholic.
(Reading: “Bishops, please do something about Emily’s List of pro-abortion Catholics,” American Life League news release, 10/17/05)
abortion
DOWN SYNDROME: Writer Patricia Bauer, the mother of a child with Down syndrome, asks the question, “Why then do we as a society view abortion as justified and unremarkable in the case of another class of people: children with disabilities?” She adds, “I don’t know how many pregnancies are terminated because of prenatal diagnoses of Down syndrome, but some studies estimate 80 to 90 percent.”
(Reading: “The abortion debate no one wants to have,” Washington Post, 10/18/05)
catholic action
CHARLESTON: The Diocese of Charleston, S.C., and a local Catholic high school have cut ties with the Susan G. Komen Foundation’s fundraiser. Both the diocese and the school noted that the organization, which promotes breast cancer research, gives money to Planned Parenthood.
(Reading: “Catholic diocese pulls support from Race for the Cure,” Associated Press, 10/18/05)
FARGO: “Some people want to have the Eucharist without conversion; yet that is not the way of the Lord,” said Bishop Samuel Aquila of Fargo, N.D., who added that some people receive Communion while in a state of grave sin. “They may miss mass on Sunday, they may be taking money illegitimately, they may be engaging in sexual relations outside of marriage, they may vocally support abortion, euthanasia, homosexual activity and homosexual unions, they may fail in the just treatment of their neighbor by gossip or prejudice, or they may commit some other serious sin and go to Communion,” he said.
(Reading: “Approaching Eucharist without conversion is ‘crisis of love,’ says Bishop Aquila,” Catholic News Agency, 10/14/05)
SACRAMENTO: Sacramento Bishop William Weigand has dismissed a teacher from her job at an all-girls Catholic high school — a teacher who was spotted escorting women into a Planned Parenthood facility. The bishop said, “public participation in the procurement of abortions is morally inappropriate and unacceptable.”
(Reading: “Catholic school teacher fired for volunteering at Planned Parenthood,” KTXL-TV, 10/17/05)
dark side
ARCC: The Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada launched this week, taking over where the former Canadian Abortion Rights Action League left off. ARCC laments the fact that abortions, despite being legal, are harder to obtain because of a “persistent shortage of doctors able or willing to perform abortions.”
(Reading: “No woman should have to pay for an abortion, says new pro-choice coalition,” ARCC news release, 10/17/05)
NARAL: The organization fumes that Ayotte v. Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, a parental notification case that will soon be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court, “poses significant risks for women’s health.”
(Reading: “NARAL Pro-Choice America Network files Legal Brief Opposing Unconstitutional Abortion Law,” NARAL news release, 10/12/05)
PLANNED PARENTHOOD: In commenting on reports that in 1989, Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers said she would support a Human Life Amendment to the constitution, Planned Parenthood said her answer “raises serious doubts about Miers’ commitment to upholding constitutional protections for women’s health and safety.”
(Reading: “Miers backs abortion ban,” Planned Parenthood news release, 10/18/05)
morning-after abortion pill
REMINDER: Please contact the commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and tell him the government must not permit the dangerous morning-after drug Plan B to be sold over the counter. Furthermore, request that this product be removed from the marketplace altogether. E-mail .
(Background: “FDA considers over-the-counter sale of Plan B morning-after pill,” 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 Right to Life Act for details.
COMMENT: Is your member of Congress a co-sponsor? If not, ask!
philippines
ABORTIFACIENTS: Legislation filed in the Philippine Congress would outlaw abortifacients. Sponsor Rene Velarde notes there are constitutional provisions that “protect the life of the mother and the life of the unborn from conception.” Velarde’s bill “proposes to impose penalty for the crime of production, selling, distribution or dispensation of abortifacients and/or drugs and/or devices with potential abortive effect. Moreover, the accessory penalty is raised from mere suspension of the license to practice medicine or midwifery during the period of sentence to perpetual loss of license.”
(Reading: HB 4643, House of Representatives, the Philippines, 9/5/05)
ru-486
AUSTRALIA: The country may reconsider its ban on the abortion pill RU-486. Mal Washer, a physician and member of the Australian parliament, said the ban is illogical in a nation that permits surgical abortion: “It is very hard to justify in any intellectual way that you will accept one form of termination but not another safe method.”
(Reading: “Abortion drug on a rethink,” Sydney Morning Herald, 10/14/05)
stem cell research
ETHICAL? Researchers are skeptical about reports that scientists have been able to obtain human embryonic stem cells without first killing the embryo. Greg Pike of the Southern Cross Bioethics Institute in Australia notes, “Morally it’s not terribly different — in fact there is a way in which it could be viewed as a more sinister approach than using embryos spare from IVF programs or from other sources, because it has that predetermined human action built into it — to subvert a natural process and then legitimize something which would normally be considered immoral.”
(Reading: “Pro-lifers unconvinced about ‘ethical’ embryonic research,” Cybercast News Service, 10/19/05)
wisdom
POPE BENEDICT XVI: Concerning AIDS, the pope said the Catholic Church “has always been at the forefront both in prevention and in treatment of this illness.” He added, “The traditional teaching of the Church has proven to be the only fail-safe way to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS.”
(Reading: “Condom conundrums,” Zenit News Agency, 9/24/05)
reflection for prayer
RESOLUTION: I will joyfully accept one personal cross today. Thank you again Christ for allowing me to have this time with you. Prayer truly is the oxygen of my soul. This time spent with you is the most important part of my day. Please sustain me with your grace and love, and help me to truly focus more on serving others than on myself, more on consoling others than on being consoled. Amen.
(Reading: “Drop by drop, accepted with joy and love,” Regnum Christi, 10/13/05)