in this issue:
abortion / south dakota: POLITICAL GOBBLEDYGOOK / WEB EFFORT
euthanasia: CALIFORNIA
excommunication: CARDINAL ALFONSO LOPEZ TRUJILLO
personhood: RIGHT TO LIFE ACT
planned parenthood: WAL-MART
stem cell research / ethical: BACK SURGERY / BOGO WINES / BRAIN DISORDER / LUPUS
vaccines: HUMAN PAPILLOMA VIRUS
zinger: HILLARY”S STORY
reflection for prayer: STRENGTH
abortion / south dakota
POLITICAL GOBBLEDYGOOK: The South Dakota medical and surgical abortion ban brings out the true colors of some in the pro-life movement who accommodate a little bit of abortion. To Elizabeth Graham, director of Texas Right to Life, “quibbling over rape and incest is ridiculous,” because the small number of those cases. “Texas has a reputation for passing common sense pro-life legislation that people on both sides of the aisle can support,” she said.
COMMENT: Oh, gosh! And here we thought that the goal of the pro-life movement was to end abortion! How stupid of us.
(Reading: “S.D. abortion ban is up to voters now,” Dallas Morning News, 6/30/06)
WEB EFFORT: Pro-lifers defending the ban on surgical and medical abortions have established a web site, Vote Yes for Life, to battle abortion supporters who are trying to have the law thrown out in a special election this November.
euthanasia
CALIFORNIA: After the assisted suicide bill, AB 651, was defeated in the state”s Senate Judiciary Committee, the pro-suicide group Compassion and Choices alleged that Catholic political operatives and Catholic hospitals wielded money and power too great for one state senator, Joe Dunn, who changed his vote at the last minute because “he feared big money in politics.” The California Catholic Conference said, “We want to express our thanks to Senator Joseph Dunn now only for his support on this important issue, but for the thoughtful manner in which he ran the committee hearings and the respect he showed to people on both sides of this deeply personal issue.”
(Reading: “The California Senate Judiciary Committee rejects compassionate choice,” Compassion in Choices news release, 6/27/06; “Executive Director Ned Dolejsi thanks coalition members for hard work in defeating physician-assisted suicide in state legislature,” California Catholic Conference news release, 6/29/06)
excommunication
CARDINAL ALFONSO LOPEZ TRUJILLO: During a recent interview, the president of the Vatican”s Pontifical Council for the Family discussed human embryonic stem cell research, the reality of what it is and why Catholics who support it are excommunicated from the church. He said: “Destroying the embryo is equivalent to abortion.” He also criticized what he described as a movement to impose new human rights. “It”s happening for abortion, which is a crime, and instead it”s becoming a right.”
(Reading: “Excommunication for embryonic stem cell research,” Catholic World News, 6/29/06)
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!
planned parenthood
WAL-MART: Life Decisions International, the pro-life corporate watchdog group, has recently added Wal-Mart to the boycott list. The organization reports that Wal-Mart is supportive of Planned Parenthood.
(Reading: “New boycott targets named,” Life Decisions International news release, 6/28/06)
stem cell research / ethical
BACK SURGERY: A patient”s bone marrow stem cells may be useful in treating spinal injuries that once required the fusing of vertebrae.
(Reading: “Doctor uses stem cells to help heal back surgery patients,” KENS-TV, 7/3/06)
BOGO WINES: Bill Schneeberger, founder of Bogo Wines, hosts an outstanding web site on adult stem cell research. You can read “A toast to adult and cord blood stem cells: Helping patients now and in the future,” as well as information from Dan Pepin, an expert in the field. For each bottle of Bogo wine sold, the company donates $2 to promote adult stem cell research.
BRAIN DISORDER: StemCells, a Palo Alto, California, firm, received approval from the Food and Drug Administration last October to use human neural stem cells to treat infants with Batten disease. Trials using mice have shown some promise, but trials with humans have yet to be scheduled.
(Reading: “Stem cells bring hope for brain disorder,” Nature, 7/3/06)
LUPUS: “For patients with severe lupus, affecting organs like the heart, treatment may not do any good. Now, researchers are using stem cells to treat life-threatening, treatment-resistant lupus. Patients undergo a transplant of blood stem cells originated from their own marrow. The lupus then actually goes into remission. Of the 50 patients involved in the study out of Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, 50 percent were disease-free after five years. Overall, there was an 84-percent five-year survival rate.”
(Reading: “Stem cells fight lupus,” KFSN-TV, 6/28/06)
vaccines
HUMAN PAPILLOMA VIRUS: The Lancet is promoting collaboration between the Programme for Appropriate Technologies in Health and Merck and Glaxo-Kline, the two pharmaceutical companies that manufacture anti-HPV vaccine. The goal is to smooth the way for the vaccine to be delivered in developing countries. PATH recently received $27.7 million from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. PATH”s chairman of the board, Halida Hanum Akhter, became director general of the Family Planning Association of Bangladesh in 2005. Established in 1953, FPAB is one of the oldest Planned Parenthood affiliates in the world. Another PATH board member is chairman of the International Medical Advisory Panel of the International Planned Parenthood Federation. “By working with PATH to identify cultural, as well as economic barriers to vaccine roll-out, these companies have the chance to show that enlightened self-interest is a policy position not reserved for governments alone.”
COMMENT: Or put another way, more money for the pharmaceutical companies and more clients for Planned Parenthood entities the world over.
(Reading: “Rolling out HPV vaccines worldwide,” 6/24/06, The Lancet, p. 2034; “Board of Directors,” PATH, 2006)
zinger
HILLARY”S STORY: CNN, reporting on a speech by New York”s junior senator:
Appearing before a religious conference earlier this week, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-New York) told the audience that as a child attending Sunday school she would baby-sit the children of migrant workers so that their older siblings could join their parents at work.
“I was fortunate that at an early age, through my church, I was given the opportunity to expand my horizons,” Clinton told the 600 adults and teenagers attending the Sojourners “Covenant for a New America” conference.
Columnist James Taranto, reporting on the senator”s childhood:
Mrs. Clinton grew up in Park Ridge, Ill., a tony Chicago suburb that as of 2000, according to census data, was 95.4% white, had a median family income of $87,795, and had a grand total of 174 families (1.7%) below the poverty level. How many migrant workers could there have been for her to baby-sit for?
(Reading: “Hillary Clinton talks religion,” CNN, 6/29/06; “The migrant workers of Park Ridge,” Opinion Journal, 6/30/06)
reflection for prayer
STRENGTH: Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
(Reading: 2 Timothy 2:1)
