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1. Nova Scotia approaching a winter time in demographics.
Date: Fri, 19 May 2006 11:54:07 -0400
http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=a846c7d0-695a-43e9-bc61-bbb6805bfe5d
2. Demand doubles for morning-after pill
Health care costs down as drug more accessible: research
Tom Blackwell
National Post
Friday, May 19, 2006
Demand for the morning-after pill has doubled in the year since the drug was
made available in anada without a prescription, sales figures indicate.
Shipments of Plan B -- designed to prevent pregnancy after unprotected sex -- soared after the fedral government ruled the product could be purchased directly from a pharmacist, without a doctor's approval, says the IMS Health research firm. And there is evidence that easier availability of the pill is leading to significant savings for the eath care system, says a University of British Columbia scientist studying the drug's use. "Reduced costs for abortion, for physician visits ... It's substantial," said Dr. Judith Soon of the UBC's faculty of pharmacy sciences. She did not provide specific details of the cost savings because her study has not yet been published.
Dr. Soon said she is now looking at whether broader use of emergency contraceptives in B.C. has led to a decrease in the abortion rate in the province.
Anti-abortion crusaders, however, say they are appalled by the boom in Plan B sales. They insist it aborts pregnancy, contradicting scientists who agree the drug blocks conception, and is not an abortion pill.
Sexual-health advocates complain, meanwhile, that some pharmacies will not dispense the pills, while others ask personal questions that critics argue are often unnecessary.
Melanie Thomas, a 24-year-old graduate student at the University of Calgary, said the campus drugstore refused to sell the pills to her for possible emergency use, suggesting she go on regular birth control. "That was startling, to say the least," she said. "The attitude was paternalistic."
The morning-after pill, sold under the brand name Plan B for $35 to $50 a treatment, is an enhanced dose of the hormone progestin, used in some regular birth-control medication. Dispensed as two separate tablets, it prevents pregnancy 89% of the time if taken within 72 hours of unprotected sex.
Health Canada decided in March of last year that it could be bought over the counter from pharmacists to ensure women get their pills in time. Although European nations, as well as British Columbia, Quebec and Saskatchewan, had already taken a similar stance, it remains a controversial issue in some jurisdictions. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, ignoring staff recommendations, ruled last year that a prescription would still be necessary in the United States.
In Canada, the manufacturer, Duramed Pharmaceuticals, supplied 23,000 morning-after pills to retail pharmacies in January, 2005, and 20,000 in February. The numbers climbed steadily after the rule change in March, averaging 41,000 a month in the past year, according to IMS.
That translated into wholesale sales of $4.1-million in the 12 months after the new policy came into force, twice the sum for 2004.
The figures are good news to Kelli Dilworth of the Canadian Federation for Sexual Health, formerly called Planned Parenthood Canada. "This is such an important issue for women in Canada," she said. "Emergency contraception is safe and effective and so important to women's health and autonomy."
But there have been reports of pharmacists in rural areas refusing to sell the pills on principle, forcing women to travel long distances, Ms. Dilworth said.
Controversy has also swirled around some pharmacists who ask questions about the type of contraception the customer uses, how recently they had sex and even their names. Pharmacists argue, with the support of privacy commissioners in some provinces, that they need such information to ensure the pill is appropriate for the particular woman.
While the hope is that wider use of the morning-after pill will cut back on Canada's abortion rate, national statistics to measure any such effect will not be available for a year or more.
The Morgentaler Clinic in Toronto has not seen a reduction in demand for its services since Plan B was made available over the counter, said Sharon Broughton, the clinic manager.
Depending on where a woman is in her menstrual cycle, the drug keeps the egg from leaving the ovary, prevents the egg from meeting the sperm or blocks a fertilized egg from attaching to the uterus. Even the U.S. Health and Human Services Department states unequivocally that it is not an abortion pill.
But Canada's largest pro-life group maintains that Plan B is morally offensive. Mary-Ellen Douglas, a spokeswoman for the Campaign Life Coalition, argues that the uniting of the egg and sperm represents conception, and the drug destroys the "newly conceived baby."
As well, women are being exposed to potential side effects, which can include nausea and vomiting, without seeing a doctor first, she warned.
tblackwell@nationalpost.com
© National Post 2006
PRO-LIFE MPS SPEAK OUT
Today’s Family News
May 19, 2006
In a strong show of support for the pro-life cause, more than a dozen Liberal and Conservative MPs plus several Senators joined the annual March for Life last week on Parliament Hill.
And at least one of the pro-life MPs who was at the gathering is not ruling out some initiative, such as introducing a private member’s bill, as a way to try to reignite the debate in Canada over abortion
“There are always options for members of Parliament to put forward good initiatives on a range of subjects,” said Conservative Maurice Vellacott, the Globe and Mail reported.
Vellacott believes there is a “growing concern,” especially among women, over the fact that for 15 years now abortion in Canada has been unregulated.
“These are women that have actually had abortions and they feel they really had no choice, they were not properly informed,” he said. “There is a growing awareness of unwanted abortions in the country, wherein . . . a lot of the abortions that I gather women have had in the country are not so much by their own volition insofar as that they feel pressured by other circumstances.”
But if Vellacott or any other MP were to attempt to bring the matter before Parliament, they would be doing so without the backing of the government.
“We have no intention of raising the abortion issue,” a source in the Prime Minister’s Office, who did not wish to be identified, told Canadian Press.
“It’s just an odd thing,” Liberal MP Tom Wappel told CTV. “You can talk about seals, you can talk about whales, you can talk about the environment, you can talk about anything, but you can’t talk about unborn children being killed. I find it fascinating.”
But bill or no bill, pro-life MPs are not giving up the fight.
“We have issues that we believe are important and we believe it’s important that Canadians are informed,” Liberal MP Paul Steckle told the Globe and Mail.
One issue highlighted at a news conference before the rally was the linkage between abortion and breast cancer. Guest speaker New Jersey surgeon Dr. Angela Lanfranchi blamed the ready access to abortion in part for the fact that the incidence of breast cancer has risen 40 per cent in the last 30 years.
“It’s the women of the Roe v. Wade generation that account for most of this increase,” she said. “Dramatic lifestyle changes brought about by the sexual revolution and the women’s liberation movement are largely responsible for the rampant breast cancer we see today.”
According to LifeSiteNews.com, close to 6,000 people turned out for the rally – contradicting the Globe and Mail, which claimed only “several hundred” attended.
Campaign Life Coalition national president Jim Hughes said he was especially gratified at the presence of so many young people.
“It recharged my batteries,” he said, “seeing all those happy, upbeat young people there. It was wonderful to be around them since they can see there’ll be a change in their lifetime.”
ADULTS LEFT OUT OF KIDS’ DIGITAL WORLD
Today’s Family News
May 19, 2006
Pre-teens in B.C.’s Lower Mainland are so consumed by digital multi-tasking that they have little time to interact with adults, according to a new study reported Wednesday in the Vancouver Sun.
“They’re totally hooked up,” lead researcher Kimberly Schonert-Reichl, an associate professor of education at the University of British Columbia, told the Sun.
“They’re sitting at the computer, they have their homework books open at their right side, they have the iPod hooked up. Then they have their cellphone, the TV is playing off in the distance, they’re doing their homework, browsing the Internet, playing online games and doing instant messaging.”
Funded by the United Way of the Lower Mainland, the study examined the activities of 1,800 children aged 10 to 13 from the time school ends at 3 p.m. until 6 p.m. It is the first study of its kind in Canada.
Of the children surveyed, the study found among other things that 76 per cent watched some TV, 38 per cent played online computer games, 33 per cent played video games, 41 per cent sent text messages, 21 per cent used e-mail, 21 per cent worked on the computer, 51 per cent listened to music and 32 per cent talked on the phone.
By contrast, only eight per cent were involved in structured activities under adult supervision, such as the seven per cent who had music lessons. Only 13 per cent took part in sports games or practices at their schools – yet 40 per cent played sports for fun.
And in those three hours, while 40 per cent spent time with friends, only 22 per cent had a conversation with a parent or relative. Fifteen per cent said they were at home alone.
Yet when given a choice, most students said they would prefer to be more active.
“Not one kid wanted to watch more TV,” said Schonert-Reichl. “Almost 67 per cent said they wanted to do some sort of physical activity. They want to do some team sports, individual sports or unstructured sports.”
A follow-up study will look at the psychological well-being and school success of children in the same age group who are “wired up” compared to those in structured activities.
BRITISH LORDS BLOCK EUTHANASIA BILL
Today’s Family News
May 19, 2006
A private member’s bill that would have allowed British physicians to assist terminally ill patients to commit suicide will be delayed, at least for now, Reuters reported.
In what the Daily Telegraph termed “an impassioned seven-hour debate,” the
House of Lords voted 148 to 100 to pass an amendment to delay a vote for six
months. That effectively prevents the bill from being passed during the current
parliamentary session.
The Assisted Dying for the Terminally Ill Bill would permit doctors to prescribe
lethal doses of drugs to patients of sound mind who are suffering unbearably,
whose needs cannot be met by palliative care and who have less than six months
to live. It is based on Oregon’s controversial assisted suicide law.
“As a caring society,” said human rights lawyer Lord Joffe, the bill’s sponsor, “we cannot sit back and complacently accept that terminally ill patients suffering unbearably should just continue to suffer for the good of society as a whole.”
Yet many doctors, religious leaders and advocates for the physically disabled are opposed, fearing that it would open the door to voluntary euthanasia. Care Not Killing, representing more than 30 groups opposed to the bill, said they had gathered more than 100,000 signatures on a petition demanding an end to attempts to change the law banning assisted suicide.
Although both sides in the debate recognize that this fight is far from over, euthanasia opponents nonetheless applauded the Lords’ actions.
“We congratulate the members of the House of Lords who were successful in defeating this dangerous bill,” said Julia Millington of the ProLife Alliance in a statement. “This result reflects the concerns of many in the U.K., in particular the medical profession and disability groups who are overwhelmingly opposed to the legalization of assisted suicide and voluntary euthanasia.”
A recent poll done of members of the Royal College of Physicians found 73 per cent were against any change in the law to allow assisted suicide by doctors or euthanasia. The Royal College of Psychiatrists also said it was “deeply worried about the possible unintended effects” of the bill. Similarly, the Christian Medical Fellowship warned that its passage “would open the floodgates to euthanasia in this country. . . .”
Also against the bill were Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams; Archbishop of Westminster Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor; and Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth Sir Jonathan Sacks.
“Such a bill cannot guarantee that a right to die would not, for society's most vulnerable, become a duty to die,” they wrote in The Times.
Clarification Notice
The Today’s Family News article “Aborted fetal tissue behind many vaccines” from May 10, 2006, has been corrected and clarified to ensure that this difficult subject is given as accurate reporting as possible. Please view the online version of the story available here.
The primary clarification is that Ottawa family physician Dr. Rene Leiva is encouraging the public to get organized and lobby the provincial governments to provide publicly-funded ethical alternatives for vaccines. If the government were to refuse to listen, then legal action should be considered. Legal action is not the main goal.
Also, vaccination programs in Canada are not compulsory. Canadian law allows people to refuse vaccinations for moral or religious grounds and as a matter of conscience. However, as mentioned in the TFN story, Dr. Leiva believes that it is still important that parents vaccinate their children because even if that means using a contaminated vaccine, that is still preferable to exposing them to the increased risk of catching a serious disease. It is the responsibility of government officials to provide ethical alternatives for vaccines. To view the TFN story, click here.
CWA Celebrates Huge Pro-Family Victory Against Indecency
WASHINGTON, May 19 /Christian Newswire/ -- Concerned Women for America (CWA) celebrates a huge pro-family victory after the unanimous passage of Sen. Brownback’s (R- Kansas) S. 193, The Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act. CWA has lobbied long and hard for the passage of this legislation which will increase fines for television and radio stations who broadcast indecent and offensive material.
“Now, the FCC has real power to step in and impede the network’s seeming race to the bottom,” said Lanier Swann, CWA’s Director of Government Relations. “The American people have taken back their public airwaves through the passage of S. 193, and we applaud them for that. This is a tremendous triumph for the American family and the many people who have worked diligently to see this bill’s passage. We thank Sen. Brownback for introducing this legislation and applaud Sen. Majority Leader Frist for taking the lead and pushing for a speedy, unanimous vote. We also thank our many grassroots individuals who have put their heart and soul into calling, emailing, and lobbying senators on this valuable legislation. This is truly your victory.
“For concerned citizens who have ever called their representative in Congress and felt that their voices were not being heard, the passage of S. 193 truly validates their efforts.
“Broadcasters must be held accountable for streaming smutty material into our homes. Their disregard for the well-being of our families is evident in their lack of discretion in what they choose to air. Maybe now that they’re going to have to shell out a few more dollars they’ll show a little more consideration and class.
Swann concluded, “This is a huge step in the right direction—but there is still more work to be done. Indecency fines must continue to increase so that broadcasters will realize that American families will not accept crude and insulting programming transmitted through our TV’s and radios.”
Click to read more on The Broadcast Decency Bill Passage in the Senate.
Concerned Women for America is the nation’s largest public policy women’s organization.
Christian Newswire
Assisted Suicide: The Wrong Solution for Society, by Wesley J. Smith
Within the next few months, we will know whether California will join Oregon and legalize physician-assisted suicide (PAS) for the terminally ill by passing AB 651. The CBC believes that permitting doctors to perform PAS on dying people would be wrong and a form of abandonment. As the New York Task Force on Life and the Law wrote in its seminal 1994 report When Death Is Sought: Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia in the Medical Context, "the vast majority of individuals who are terminally ill or facing severe pain or disability are not suicidal. Moreover, terminally ill patients who do desire suicide or euthanasia often suffer from a treatable mental disorder, most commonly depression. When these patients receive appropriate treatment for depression, they usually abandon the wish to commit suicide." Thus, the proper and truly compassionate approach to suicidal desire?whatever its cause?is prevention, not facilitation
Beyond this basic point, legalizing assisted suicide for the dying would quickly expand to include many other categories of despairing people. This flows with the unremitting force of logic from the two fundamental intellectual principles?autonomy and the propriety of death as an answer to human suffering?that underlie PAS advocacy. John Finnis, the 2006 winner of the CBC's Paul Ramsey Award summed it up well when testifying in the House of Lords against the recently defeated "Joffe Bill" that would have legalized assisted suicide in the United Kingdom:
If autonomy is the principle or the main concern, why is the lawful killing restricted to terminal illness and unbearable suffering? If suffering is the principle or concern, why is the lawful killing restricted to terminal illness?
Finnis' point is that regardless of whatever restrictions might be placed initially into a legalization law, once the two principle premises of assisted suicide advocacy became accepted by a broad swath of the medical professions and the public; there is little chance that those eligible for permitted suicide would long remain limited to the dying.
We need only look to the experience of the Netherlands to see the social forces unleashed by legalizing the euthanasia/assisted suicide. Since the Netherlands first permitted euthanasia in 1973, the parameters of medicalized killing in that country have expanded steadily to include not just those with terminal illnesses, but also people with chronic conditions, disabilities, and the debilitations of age. Moreover, repeated Dutch government sponsored studies have found that doctors kill approximately 1,000 patients each year who have not asked to be killed. Euthanasia has also entered the pediatric wards where eugenic infanticide has become common. According to two studies published in the British medical journal The Lancet, approximately 8% of all Dutch infant deaths result from lethal injections.
Assisting the suicides of the depressed was approved explicitly by the Dutch Supreme Court in the case of psychiatrist Boutdewijn Chabot, who facilitated the suicide of his patient Hilly Boscher in 1991. Boscher wanted to die because her two sons were dead. Chabot never attempted to treat her. After interviewing her to determine her sincerity and motivation, he assisted Boscher's suicide. Tellingly, the Dutch Supreme Court approved, ruling that it does not matter whether a patient?s desire to die is caused by physical or emotional suffering.
The experience of the Netherlands illustrates why the CBC is so committed to
opposing assisted suicide. Not only has euthanasia clearly become a system of
"legalized murder," but even worse, the Dutch people --who would once
have been appalled at their doctors killing disabled babies and assisting the
suicides of depressed patients-- have become so desensitized to the wickedness
in their midst that majorities now support their country's radical death policy.
Award winning author Wesley J. Smith is a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute,
an attorney for the International Task Force on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide,
and a special consultant to the CBC. He will be testifying in favor of instituting
federal policies against assisted suicide before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Subcommittee
on the Constitution, Civil Rights, & Property Rights later this month.
Donate to CBC: with any donation we will send you a copy of Wesley J. Smith's book "Forced Exit."
Greetings from LifeIssues.net (www.lifeissues.net)
Dear Friends for Life,
This Saturday I will travel to China for a series of lectures at a Life Conference. Over a 1000 young workers are expected to attend; consequently, the next Newsletter will be about 3-4 days late. Kindly pray for the success of the Conference. Thank you.
A major study on Abortion and Mental Disorders has been published in New Zealand.
Researchers there tracked 500 women from birth to 25 years of age. They anticipated
that they would be able to confirm that any problems found after abortion would
be traceable to prior mental health problems. Preliminary data showed that women
pregnant before age 25 were more likely to have experienced family dis-function
and adjustment problems, to have left home young and to have entered a cohabiting
relationship. However, when these and other factors were taken into account,
it was found that women who had had abortions were still significantly more
likely to experience mental health problems and pointed directly to the fact
that abortion was the cause of their subsequent mental health problems. It found
that young women who have abortions later experience higher rates of suicide,
depression, substance abuse, anxiety and other mental problems. Its author,
Professor David Fergusson stated, "I
remain pro-choice. I am not religious, I am an atheist and a rationalist. The
findings surprised me, but the results are very robust, they persist across
a series of disorders and a series of ages. Abortion is a traumatic life event.
It involves loss, grief and difficulties. The trauma may in fact predispose
people to mental illness." This is a landmark study which will probably
have a profound influence worldwide. It is long term. It is prospective. It
is well designed and it eliminates confounding factors. It should go a long
away toward laying to rest the continuous argument by pro-abortion sources that
abortion is not harmful to mental health.
Psychology at its worst: The American Psychological Association in 1969 adopted a strong pro-abortion position. Recently faced with a series of research reports detailing damage to women psychologically and physically, they were asked about their policy. A spokesperson for them explained that they still have their pro-abortion position, but that it is not based on scientific proof of any mental health benefits that would arise from abortion. Rather their position is "a civil rights view". However, this is a mental health organization, so when it takes a position on such an issue, listeners fully assume that the position is based on their professional psychological judgment. For a civil rights organization to base their public policy on a civil rights opinion is certainly a valid position, but for a professional psychological association to base their opinion on a civil rights issue is simply dishonest.
God Bless
Jerry Novotny, omi
.
QUOTE: "Christianity has never been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult and left untried." -- G.K. Chesterton
.
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Lifeissues.net NEWSLETTER #273
May 14, 2006
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(TABLE OF CONTENTS):
1. Chilean Bishops Say Human Progress Dependent on Respect for Life, Family and Education
2. Doubts over India's 'teeming millions' advantage
3. Fourth baby boom to hit China
4. Social Acceptance of Contraception Leads Catholics to Disregard Church Teaching, Says U.S. Bisho
5. Cancer dad joins fight against euthanasia bill saying: 'I'm glad that I decided to live'
6. Euthanasia Cases Increase in the Netherlands for Third Consecutive Year
7. Stem Cells Might Treat Genetic Kidney Disease
8. Bishop: "I, for one, will cease my financial support for Amnesty International"
9. Watchdog backs more embryo checks
10. Cast Me Not Off in Old Age
11. Why Embryonic Stem Cell Research? It's About Human Engineering, Not Ending Disease
12. The Human Embryo as an Object of Research
******************************************************* .
("NEW" ARTICLES POSTED RECENTLY at http://www.lifeissues.net)
--Steven Mosher: http://www.lifeissues.net/writer.php?ID=mos
--Eshan Dias: http://www.lifeissues.net/writer.php?ID=dia
--Ronald Rolheiser: http://www.lifeissues.net/writer.php?ID=ron
--Frank Pavone: http://www.lifeissues.net/writer.php?ID=pav
--Antonio P. Pueyo: http://www.lifeissues.net/writer.php?ID=pue
--Frank Enderle: http://www.lifeissues.net/writer.php?ID=end
--John B. Shea: http://www.lifeissues.net/writer.php?writerID=195
--Anthony Zimmerman: http://www.lifeissues.net/writer.php?ID=zim
***********
[Website: American Life League] 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 at http://www.StopPlannedParenthoodTaxFunding.com.
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ITEM #1. Chilean Bishops Say Human Progress Dependent on Respect for Life, Family and Education
The Chilean Catholic bishops' conference has said that human progress is dependent on the protection of life from conception to natural death, the recognition of the family founded on marriage and the right of parents to educate their children. In a message entitled New Life in Christ, issued on 2nd May, the bishops reaffirmed their solidarity with the pope who identified the same principles as vital for human development earlier this year.
View full text at LifeSiteNews.com:
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/may/06050405.html
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ITEM #2. Doubts over India's 'teeming millions' advantage
India's booming population should be seen as an economic advantage, rather than a burden, according to experts. The Indian government has been trying to reduce the size of the population from its current 1.1 billion by encouraging birth control. Economists have said that the increase of the working-age group (15-59) will bring great advantages to India's economy. It has been predicted that India could catch up with China's economy by 2030 when the results of the latter country's one-child policy are expected to show themselves in an ageing population. C P Chandrasekhar, an economist of Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, said, "The window of opportunity offered by a population bulge has clearly opened for India.
View full text at Asia Times:
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/HE05Df01.html
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ITEM #3. Fourth baby boom to hit China
There will be a mini-baby boom in China before 2010, according to Chinese population experts. The Xinhua state-run news agency said children born after the 1984 policy, allowing rural families to have a second child if the first was a girl, have now reached child-bearing age and will start to have children. This is expected to be the country's second baby boom since the one-child policy was implemented in 1973. Zhang Weiqing, minister in charge of the National Population and Family Planning Commission has stressed that family planning laws will be enforced to stabilise the birth rate
View entire article at China Knowledge:
http://www.chinaknowledge.com/news-detail.aspx?id=2921
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ITEM #4. Social Acceptance of Contraception Leads Catholics to Disregard Church Teaching, Says U.S. Bishop
(LifeSiteNews.com) - The social acceptance of contraception and abortion has influenced Catholics to abandon the teaching of the Church, said Oregon Bishop Robert Vasa in an article published by the Catholic Sentinel today.
Rejecting the Church's teaching on contraception has a profound impact on our ability to love God, he emphasized, saying, "The truth is that it is simply not possible to say on one hand, 'I do love the Lord with my whole heart, mind and soul' and at the same time to say, 'My decisions about how to deal with the most marvellous God-given gift of fertility has nothing to do with God.'"
"[T]hese sex-related sins have achieved a high degree of societal acceptability. This societal acceptability has given the impression to Catholics that God really has nothing of value to say about these life issues.
Bishop Vasa spoke out against Catholic leadership for failing to teach clearly the essential importance of obedience to the Church's teaching on contraception.
"The one question which stands...as a condemnation to all teachers and preachers within the Church is simply, 'Why haven't we been told this clearly and consistently?'"
"The answer is as difficult as the question. I suspect that if we took some liberties with the Scripture we could envision Jesus saying: 'You cannot love God and contraception at the same time. You will either love one and hate the other or be committed to one and despise the other.'"
"If God is really saying, "If you love Me then abide by my commandments including My Church's teaching about the sinfulness of contraception then many in the Church are face with the same conflict...We cannot separate the concrete realities of our lives from the love of God."
He ends by saying it is not possible for Catholics to avoid the clear choice presented by the Church if they wish to remain faithful to Christ, saying:
"It is not an easy thing to present this very personal and emotional subject in such direct black and white terminology but the truth is that Jesus and His Church either include contraception in the list of prohibited practices or they do not. There may be huge numbers of Catholics who reject this teaching but I do not know of any who deny that it is what the Church clearly and consistently teaches."
Read the complete article:
http://www.sentinel.org/articles/2006-18/14661.html
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ITEM #5. Cancer dad joins fight against euthanasia bill saying: 'I'm glad that I decided to live'
Doctors have launched a new battle against euthanasia ahead of a crucial vote in parliament, arguing that seriously ill patients who beg to end their lives often go on to change their minds. Peers will vote on Friday on a private member's bill that would allow a terminally ill adult to ask a doctor to help them die, so long as they were judged to be suffering unbearably.
Doctors opposed to what is termed physician-assisted suicide argue it would lead to pressure on vulnerable people not to be a burden to their carers, and they are rallying patients who have suffered serious degenerative illness in support of their argument.
View full text at The Observer:
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/constitution/story/0,,1769438,00.html
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ITEM #6. Euthanasia Cases Increase in the Netherlands for Third Consecutive Year
The number of assisted suicide cases in the Netherlands has increased for the third consecutive year, the Dutch government has reported. The Regional Oversight Boards for Euthanasia indicated there were 1,933 euthanasia deaths in 2005, up from 1,886 in 2004 and 1,815 in 2003.
However, the agency also said that only about half of all likely euthanasia deaths are reported to the federal government.
The nation's law allows for mentally competent patients to say they want to end their lives. They must be terminally ill and two doctors must sign off on the decision before giving the patients the lethal drugs.
The Dutch agency that reported the new figures indicated doctors did not follow guidelines in three cases and those were referred to judicial authorities for prosecution.
Some pro-life residents of the country wear specialized bracelets telling doctors to provide them with lifesaving medical treatment if they are injured and unable to make their own medical decisions.
View full article at LifeNews.com:
http://www.lifenews.com/bio1495.html
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ITEM #7. Stem Cells Might Treat Genetic Kidney Disease
U.S. scientists say they've used bone marrow-derived stem cells to reverse genetic kidney disease in mice.
Reporting in this week's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the team said the stem cells were able to regenerate damaged renal cells in a mouse model of Alport syndrome, the second most common genetic cause of kidney failure in humans.
Symptoms of Alport syndrome usually appear in childhood, and the disease typically results in end-stage renal failure by the time a patient reaches the teens, 20s or 30s.
The study offers the first example of how stem cells may prove useful in repairing defects and restoring organ function and also provides a potential new strategy for treating Alport syndrome.
"This is one of 31 human diseases that occur because of genetic defects in the body's extracellular matrix and basement membrane proteins," study senior author Raghu Kalluri, chief of the division of matrix biology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, explained in a prepared statement.
View full article at Forbes:
http://www.forbes.com/forbeslife/health/feeds/hscout/2006/04/28/hscout532356.html
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ITEM #8. Bishop: "I, for one, will cease my financial support for Amnesty International"
(LifeSiteNews.com) - Catholic and Evangelical leaders are speaking out against proposals within the famous human rights organization Amnesty International to enter into abortion advocacy. Outspoken human rights advocate and Calgary Bishop Fred Henry told LifeSiteNews.com, "The proposal of Amnesty International to enter into abortion advocacy is an ill-conceived and gross betrayal of their mission to campaign for human rights."
After LifeSiteNews.com broke the story about Amnesty's consultation with members in Canada to pursue abortion as a human right (http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/apr/06042511.html) eight newspapers in Canada covered it (http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/apr/06042706.html) causing a stir in Amnesty's national ranks.
LifeSiteNews.com reported Friday that Amnesty's UK branch has already decided to approve abortion advocacy and the Canadian branch is to decide by May 20. (http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/may/06050504.html)
"It is impossible that one could have a 'right' to do something at odds with human nature and the dignity of the human person," added Bishop Henry.
Bishop Henry explained that Amnesty's proposed move is contrary to its own mandate. "AI's vision is of a world in which every person enjoys all of the human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights standards. They seem to have lost sight of Article 3. - 'Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.'"
Rather than abortion advocacy he suggests they defend the rights of the unborn. "Since part of their mission is to undertake research and action focussed on preventing and ending grave abuses of rights, a more logical move would have been to direct their research efforts to explore the unambiguous medical status of the unborn child instead of advocating a further betrayal of vulnerable children," he said.
Bishop Henry concluded saying, "I, for one, will cease my financial support for Amnesty International."
Janet Epp Buckingham of the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada lamented the proposed new direction for Amnesty and warned that it may cost the organization its support from the Christian community. "It's disappointing news, I think it could have a negative impact on the important work they do for prisoners of conscience and I believe it will have an impact on support by Evangelical Christians for Amnesty particularly if this becomes a global trend," she told LifeSiteNews.com.
Sylvain Salvas, spokesman for the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, concurred. Salvas told LifeSiteNews.com, "We don't support any project that favours abortion, that's for sure."
Aid to the Church in Need, an international Catholic human rights agency, expressed disappointment over Amnesty's proposal. Father Joaquin Alliende, ACN's international ecclesiastical assistant, told the Catholic News Service Friday: "With great regret we have learned that Amnesty International has proposed advancing abortion 'rights' around the world as a new mission for their organization."
Fr. Alliende explained: "AI has earned a high reputation for its intensive efforts to gain the release of innocent prisoners on conscience. ACN, a charity that is also often a 'voice of the voiceless,' highly appreciates this moral commitment of AI." Fr. Alliende added, "Now by proposing a pro-abortion initiative AI is abandoning its own noble ethical principles, thereby shaking the very foundations on which it is built; for the simple reason that unborn life in a mother's womb is the very weakest of all threatened and persecuted human beings. Thus the day this initiative (is) launched will become a day of mourning for all those who are unconditionally committed to true humanism."
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ITEM #9. Cast Me Not Off in Old Age
There is no solution to the problem of debility and death, but there are better and worse ways of thinking about them.
Death and dying are once again subjects of intense public attention.
During his confirmation hearings, Chief Justice John Roberts was grilled about his views on removing life-sustaining treatments from debilitated patients and warned by various liberal Senators not to interfere with the "right to die." In California and Vermont, state legislators are working to legalize assisted suicide, while the Bush administration is trying to restrict the practice by prohibiting doctors from using federally-controlled narcotics to end their patients' lives. All this comes in the aftermath of the bitter fight over Terri Schiavo, a profoundly disabled woman whose husband removed the feeding tube that kept her alive, but only after years of legal battles with Schiavo's parents and myriad political efforts to stop him.
View full text at CERC:
http://catholiceducation.org/articles/euthanasia/eu0039.htm
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ITEM #10. Number of kids declines for 25th year
The number of children in Japan has been falling for 25 years straight, highlighting the country's aging population and declining birthrate, an annual government survey showed Thursday.
On April 1, the number of people age 14 or younger totaled about 17,470,000, down 180,000 from a year earlier, falling for the 25th consecutive year since 1982, said the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry, which used prefectural government data to compile its numbers.
The poll is conducted every year for release around Children's Day on May 5.
Children 14 and under now make up 13.7 percent the population, down from 13.8 percent a year ago, hitting a record low and declining for the 32nd year in a row. Meanwhile, people aged over 65 account for a record-high 20.4 percent.
View full text at The Japan Times:
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20060505a3.html
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ITEM #11. Why Embryonic Stem Cell Research? It's About Human Engineering, Not Ending Disease
(LifeSiteNews.com) - Dr. David Reardon, Ph.D., best known for his voluminous research on the after-effects of abortion on women, has launched a new venture to pre-emptively ban human engineering which he contends is the root of the quest for embryonic stem cell research.
Many have wondered at the insistence on funding for and pursuit of embryonic stem cell research given the fact that there is not even one embryonic stem cell therapy currently in use while adult stem cell therapies are used every day in the treatment of nearly a hundred different diseases.
Reardon, a biomedical ethicist whose studies have been published in such prestigious medical journals as the British Medical Journal and the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, told LifeSiteNews.com in an interview that the key to understanding the dilemma is the quest for a 'superhuman' race and to create a race of sub-humans to do menial or dangerous tasks. While embryonic stem cell researchers prefer to talk about the goal of ending disease, their ultimate goal is to create "better people," says Dr. Reardon.
While the claims may sound preposterous, Dr. Reardon, a consummate researcher, has done his homework and amassed a startling series of quotes from leading scientists which prove his point.
For example, James Watson, who won the Nobel Prize in 1962 for describing DNA structures, has proclaimed stupidity a disease and wants the freedom to design "better people" who lack the hypothetical "stupidity" gene. In a 2003 televised interview Watson, now president of the Cold Spring Harbour Laboratory, New York said, "If you are really stupid, I would call that a disease ... so I'd like to get rid of that ... People say it would be terrible if we made all girls pretty. I think it would be great."
Additionally, Dr. Joseph Fletcher a Harvard Professor widely recognized as the "patriarch of bioethics", who died in 1991, said, "Chimeras [human-animal crossbreads] or parahumans might legitimately be fashioned to do dangerous or demeaning jobs. As it is now, low-grade work is shoved off on moronic and retarded individuals, the victims of uncontrolled reproduction. Should we not program such workers 'thoughtfully' instead of accidentally, by means of hybridization?"
Gregory Stock, the Director of the Program on Medicine, Technology, and Society at UCLA's School of Public Health and author of the 2002 book "Redesigning Humans: Our Inevitable Genetic Future" has said, "If biological manipulation is indeed a slippery slope, then we are already sliding down that slope now and may as well enjoy the ride."
Furthermore, Dr. Reardon's website devoted to the subject, lists, in addition to more salient quotes, links to organizations devoted to 'transhumanism' or moving forward human evolution through genetic manipulation.
Dr. Reardon has formed a coalition to enact a pre-emptive ban on human engineering and require that the scientists who wish to pursue such research first prove their efficacy with animal experiments and then appeal for approval of further research from voters.
An initiative to amend the Missouri constitution to erect a pre-emptive ban on human engineering, defined as any act that genetically alters human gametes or "nascent human life," has been filed with the Secretary of State's office for the November election.
See Dr. Reardon's website:
http://www.elliotinstitute.org
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ITEM #12. The Human Embryo as an Object of Research
Many Catholic leaders in the pro-life movement who oppose laws which would permit research on human embryos fail to realize that there is a fundamental need to outlaw in vitro fertilization in all its forms if such opposition it to be effective. They refer only to cloning research or to cloning on the in vitro embryo but do not oppose the actual creation of the in vitro embryo itself.
View full text at LifeIssues.net:
http://www.lifeissues.net/writers/she/she_27humanembryo.html
.
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ACTION:
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Dobson Urges Parents To "Rise Up" Against Homosexualization Of Children In Schools
Cites California Senate bill mandating homosexualization of all school curricula
- by Hilary White
SACRAMENTO, April 21, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Dr. James Dobson, head of Focus
on the Family said in his weekly radio broadcast that the California legislature
is devoted to a "far, far leftist" ideology. On April 17, Dobson stated,
"Some of the bills that come out of (the California) legislature are flat-out
off the wall."
The legislature, Dobson said, is controlled "by those who represent a
far leftist philosophy, and the conservatives, mostly Republicans, don't have
the votes to stop it."
The most recent example he noted was characteristic of the movement to the
"extreme" left was the State Senate Judiciary Committee's approval
of a bill mandating the adoption of the homosexual lobby's doctrines for young
children in school curricula.
The bill requires that California public schools teach students in all grades
about the "contributions" that homosexuals, bisexuals and transsexuals
have made to society. Further the bill requires that schools buy textbooks that
highlight these positive contributions. The bill is currently at the committee
stage.
In every subject throughout the day, the bill mandates that the homosexual
subjects be brought up. Children as young as six and seven will be told that
homosexuality, and other alternative sexual "lifestyles" are not only
acceptable, but a genuine social demographic with a definable set of heroes.
This move reflects the efforts made by the homosexual movement to identify
their sexual habits and temptations as those of another unjustly oppressed minority
group and their movement as a legitimate part of the historic civil rights movement.
Indeed, the term "sexual minorities" can be found increasingly in
official documentation in government at all levels for all curricula.
Dobson states, "In every subject, throughout the day, (the teachers) are
going to have to come around to that subject and talk about (the homosexual
lifestyle) in positive terms…There are all kinds of moral implications…and yet,
we've got to tell five year-olds, and six year-olds and seven year-olds that
this is a wonderful, positive thing that's had a great impact on the culture."
"If it moves on through the Assembly and the Senate, it is going to happen
in every public school and in every subject, throughout the State of California.
If the parents of children in California put up with that, then they're farther
gone than I think they are."
The reason the laws of California are moving so far to the left, said Dobson,
was that parents are not objecting. "Parents are not rising up to stop
it. The Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, should be besieged with
by complaints and opposition to this ridiculous idea and so should every member
of the state legislature."
Listen to Christian and family-friendly broadcasts free at: http://www.oneplace.com/
The Voices of Choice Respond to Guttmacher Report
WASHINGTON, May 18 /Christian Newswire/ -- The Silent No More Awareness Campaign responded today to a report recently released by the Guttmacher Institute entitled “Abortion in Women’s Lives.”
“To take this report as truth is to ignore our voices and our experiences,” remarked Jennifer O’Neill, actress, author and celebrity spokesperson for the Campaign, “Anyone concerned about women’s health should start by listening to us, the women who have been devastated by abortion... experience overrides theory.”
“This report is an attempt at damage control as more and more evidence about abortion’s harmful effects becomes known,” said Alevda King, niece of Martin Luther King and participant in the Campaign “To draw charts and issue papers that make broad assertions about the safety of abortion is easy. But we who are silent no more will not be fooled, nor will those who hear our testimonies.”
Janet Morana, Associate Director of Priests for Life and Co-founder of the Campaign also commented, “While the report attempts to deny the harm done to women by abortion, we know from the constant stream of personal testimonies of people contacting the Campaign that the damage is widespread. No studies have adequately measured that damage, but the more we look, the more we find.”
Georgette Forney, President of NOEL and Co-founder of the Campaign added, “I wonder how the report would explain the 2005 women and men that have shared their testimonies at 138 Gatherings in 44 states and 5 countries and the more than 3300 people registered to be silent no more – are we anomalies that don’t deserve acknowledgment?”
Silent No More Awareness is a Campaign whereby Christians make the public aware of the devastation abortion brings to women and men. The campaign seeks to expose and heal the secrecy and silence surrounding the emotional and physical pain of abortion. The Campaign is a project of Priests for Life and NOEL. You are invited to view the videos of testimonies of some of the women of the campaign at www.SilentNoMoreAwareness.org/video.
Secular Franciscan Order (SFO)
Please be patient with me while I complete the Newsletter for the First Quarter of 2006 which should have been completed by mid-December 2005.
Sobey's Receipts Are Valuable
Please don't throw away your Sobey's receipts. Click here and see why!
Amount of receipts collected to date: $485,615.84
The Goods On The DaVinci Code Movie & Book
The DaVinci Code Movie is about ready for its debut. It is a moment of stress for many, and a moment to refute with the truth and education for others. This is a golden opportunity not to deny Christ and His kingdom.
While Dan Brown takes sharp aim at the Roman Catholic Church, he too is denying Christianity and all Christians and their beliefs.
Grizzly Adams Production (GAP), which looks at the deception of Dan Brown,
was good. It refuted his claims with facts from the experts and it went on to
point out the many errors, especially in simply things. I did manage to tape
it.
Focus on the Family has several resources at: http://go.family.org/davinci
and
'Beyond DaVinci" with the 700 Club: Beyond
the Code
In particular for Catholics - Another site to look up is: http://www.ewtn.com and search the document library using (da vinci) as the search code. Pay particular attention to Sandra Miesel a medieval expert. EWTN link includes 100 Questions and Answers about Da Vinci.
For EWTN viewers, Raymond Arroyo will be interviewing Barbarbara Nicolosi, Vicar General of Opus Dei in the US at 9PM on Friday night this week. Visit their web site at Opus Die Website
Many others are available, and I hope these will be helpful. It too is important
to know about and be able to talk about the Gnostic gospels and how they came
about and why they were rejected. - Herm
