in this issue:
hot button issues: PRO-LIFE STRATEGY
abortion: ALASKA / OPINION POLL / RU-486
catholic bishops: OF CHRIST AND CAESAR
catholic nurses: OHIO
miracle: TWINSEPARABLE
morning-after abortion pill: HORMONAL BOMB
vaccines: GARDASIL
zinger: PRO-LIFE POLLING
reminders: SAVING THOSE DAMNED CATHOLICS / ULTRASOUND
reflection for prayer: WISDOM
hot button issues
PRO-LIFE STRATEGY: ALL’s Judie Brown notes, “Would Americans approve of continued murders if they were assured that the government was not paying for them? Of course not! So what is so very different about the murder of the innocent preborn children? Why is the scenario for saving them so pragmatic? Where is the outrage?”
Link: “Strategy for success evades pro-lifers,” American Life League, 11/2/07
abortion
ALASKA: In a 3-2 ruling on a suit instigated by Planned Parenthood, the state’s supreme court has overturned Alaska’s parental consent law. The ruling said the law infringed upon a minor’s right to privacy. Alaska’s governor called the decision “outrageous.”
Link: “Alaska supreme court calls parental consent law unconstitutional,” Associated Press, 11/3/07
OPINION POLL: A recent poll by Bloomberg and the Los Angeles Times found that 40 percent of those questioned say abortion should be made illegal except in cases of rape, incest and to save the mother’s life and 10 percent say it should be illegal with no exceptions.
Link: “Americans differ on legality of abortion,” Angus Reid Global Monitor, 10/29/07
RU-486: A recent editorial comments on the four deaths that occurred when toxic shock syndrome associated with Clostridium Sordellii after medical abortion went untreated. Of interest is the comment, “Clostridial toxic shock syndromes complicating abortion are associated with a high mortality. Early recognition is difficult, if not impossible, and current treatment modalities are ineffective.”
Reading: “Abortion and clostridial toxic shock syndrome,” Obstetrics and Gynecology, 2007:110-970-71
catholic bishops
OF CHRIST AND CAESAR: Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput offers his thoughts on separation of church and state: “In the long run, we serve our country best by remembering that we’re citizens of heaven first. We’re better Americans by being more truly Catholic — and the reason why, is that unless we live our Catholic faith authentically, with our whole heart and our whole strength, we have nothing worthwhile to bring to the public debates that will determine the course of our nation.
Link: “Church and state today: What belongs to Caesar, and what doesn’t,” Archdiocese of Denver, 10/26/07
catholic nurses
OHIO: Sex education was not listed as part of Maria Sulewski’s job description when she became a school nurse in Sandusky, Ohio. So when she was instructed to conduct a presentation “supporting birth control, safe sex” to fifth and sixth-grade students, she refused. Subsequently, she sued the Erie County health district, the health commissioner and two supervisors. She has been vindicated and restored to her original position.
Link: “Catholic school nurse settles lawsuit against employer over sex-ed order,” Life Site News, 11/2/07
miracle
TWINSEPERABLE: When doctors told Mark and Rebecca Jones that their twins were in jeopardy because one of them was very weak, the parents chose to permit the doctors to abort the smaller one, but the child had other plans. Both twins, Gabriel and Ieuan, are doing quite well!
Link: “We’re twinseparable! Happy with his brother, the boy who refused to die,” Daily Mail, 11/3/07
morning-after abortion pill
HORMONAL BOMB: The president of the Catholic Union of Italian Pharmacists, Pietro Uroda, following up on Pope Benedict XVI’s statement on the morning-after pill, said: “We do not believe this product is a drug, because it cures nothing. It is a pharmaceutical product that is for killing an eventual [?] embryo. If it does not kill, it can cause other harm.” He further described the pill as a “hormonal bomb.”
COMMENT: We hope that Uroda’s use of the word “eventual” was simply a linguistic error in the translation from Italian to English because the embryo is already present.
Link: “Catholic expert says morning-after pill is ‘hormonal time bomb,'” Catholic News Agency, 11/2/07
vaccines
GARDASIL: Based on newly released research, Merck will ask the FDA for permission to market its HPV vaccine, Gardasil, to women between 24 and 45.
COMMENT: Note the headline of the referenced item. Despite the media’s insistence, Gardasil is not a “cancer vaccine.”
Link: “Merck to expand use of cervical cancer vaccine,” Associated Press, 11/5/07
zinger
PRO-LIFE POLLING: A recent Priests for Life poll asks: “If the Republican party nominated a presidential candidate who favored legal abortion but promised to nominate Supreme Court justices like Justice Roberts, would you vote for that person in order to help defeat the candidate who would only appoint justices who made it clear they would uphold Roe v. Wade?” 976 respondents said yes while only 657 said no.
COMMENT: Sounds like a bit of the lesser of two evils game. Not a good sign.
Link: “Priests for Life online poll,” Priests for Life, 2007
reminders
SAVING THOSE DAMNED CATHOLICS: Of Judie Brown’s latest book, former Congressman Bob Dornan writes, “With wit, insight and fearless presentation of the facts, Saving Those Damned Catholics shreds the ‘seamless garment’ most Catholic Bishops use to cloak their sinfully silent consent to legalized abortion. Saving Those Damned Catholics will inspire you with the fortitude and the will to tackle this eternally urgent mission.”
TO ORDER: “Saving Those Damned Catholics” is available from ALL in hardcover or paperback. Call 866-LET-LIVE or purchase online.
ULTRASOUND VIDEO: “Baby Steps: Live from the womb, 16 stages of pre-birth development,” features dramatic 4-D ultrasound images of preborn babies from 8 to 34 weeks. This amazing new video from American Life League is impressing many in the pregnancy center movement, who say is certain to save lives.
TO ORDER: The “Baby Steps” DVD is available from ALL for $9.95 plus shipping and handling. Call 866-LET-LIVE toll-free, or purchase online.
reflection for prayer
WISDOM: Thomas a Kempis wrote, “Who is so wise as to have a perfect knowledge of all things? Therefore trust not too much to thine own opinion, but be ready also to hear the opinion of others. Though thine own opinion be good, yet if for the love of God thou foregoest it, and followest that of another, thou shalt the more profit thereby.”
Link: “Imitation of Christ“