Pro-LIFE NEWS

Vol. 14 No.3 - Spring Edition 1997                                     Print Post Approved - 33L385/00042

Contents:

- Partial Birth Abortions
- Editorial
- Pro-Life Line in Action
- New Pro Life Book
- Born of a "Choice" Not Made
- International Week of Prayer &  Fasting for An End to Abortion
- Mother Teresa of Calcutta
- Abortion Statistics
- World View

20% Abortion 80% Infanticide 100% Wrong

Having just surfaced from halting the push to legalise euthanasia in Australia, proliferous are now asked to do yet something more for the prolife cause. We must all join together to stop self-styled partial birth abortion specialist Dr David Grundmann, a "veteran" of 140,000 abortions, from starting a partial birth abortion practice at 411-415 Dorset Road, Croydon. The partial-birth abortion procedure is used after 20 weeks of pregnancy - even to six months.

The difference between partial-birth abortion and homicide is a mere three inches. It is impossible to speak credibly about compassion for the weak while allowing the tragedy of partial-birth abortion. These children, just moments away from their first breath, must be allowed to live. There is only one thing that will stop these children from dying. Our action!

Pro Life Victoria is appealing to all members and supporters to be active in a campaign to stop Dr Grundmann.

The effort we ask of you is not great. It is very simple.

First: Visit your local State Member of Parliament. If unsure of your Member, telephone the Electoral Office on (03) 9651 6201.

Second: Write to:

Medical Practitioners Board of Victoria
Level 311 Palmerston Crescent
South Melbourne 3205

expressing your abhorrence of such killing and asking them to ban such abortions on ethical grounds.

Third: If you haven’t already, write to or telephone:

(03) 9616 8561 or his electoral office (03) 5331 1434.

urging him to use your authority to make sure Dr Grundmann does not set up a late term abortion clinic in Victoria.

PLV’s Secretary, Denise Cameron, conducting workshop
on Partial Birth Abortions at the Australian Federation of
Pregnancy Support Services 10th Biennial Conference in
July at Geelong.

There is nothing more effective in such campaigns than personal visits to local members of Parliament.

Only you, as local constituents and supporters of Pro Life Victoria can do this. The Executive of Pro Life Victoria can do many things, but must rely on you for such important activism. Help in organising delegations and feedback sheets are available by phoning (03) 9818 6186. The response of the Honourable Robert Knowles, State Minister for Health to concerns expressed about Dr Grundmann is that the "registration of a day procedure centre is not dependent on, nor associated with, issues about the practice of medicine which may at some future time be conducted in such premises ... it is about the quality and standard of those premises for carrying out medical procedures." Because of the concerns that pro life letter writers have raised to date, the Minister has referred them to the Medical Practitioners Board. He has asked the Board "to work together as a matter of urgency with other professional groups, including the College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, to address the ethical and clinical practice issues surrounding the abortion procedures described. Any guidelines emanating from this work could be expected to carry weight if future procedures carried out in the proposed facility in Croydon, or any other facility, are the subject of investigation by the Medical Practitioners Board, or the police."

Hence the importance of all pro lifers writing to the Medical Practitioners Board of Victoria.

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It never cease to be amazed at how, when it comes to the wellbeing of their offspring, those actively hostile to the teachings of the Catholic Church on abortion and euthanasia avail themselves of Catholic facilities promoting the very philosophy with which they disagree.

When she came to have her baby, Abortion Provider Jo Wainer’s daughter was born in St Vincent’s where she was safe from abortion and her parents knew her life would be "respected". Labor M.P. Martin Ferguson, who so pragmatically voted for "mercy killing", sends his son to a Catholic School where he will be taught the Fifth Commandment: "Thou Shalt Not Kill" and learn of the example given by the great statesman, St Thomas More, who preferred death rather than deny his faith.

When last heard of, former Trades Hall Secretary, John Halfpenny, was calling for work bans against Werribee Catholic Hospital because it wouldn’t be "providing" abortions. We now learn (Herald -Sun, June 20th) he sends his daughter to a Catholic School. In all probability if I am "spared" long enough, I will read Premier Jeff Kennett checks into St Vincent’s to die where he knows he will be safe from euthanasia!

I’m happy these children are receiving a Catholic education, where from Pope John Paul II’s encyclical Evangelism Vitae they will learn of a culture of life, not a culture of death. They will learn some things, like killlng, are objectively wrong. They will learn to believe in something. And Mr Halfpenny’s little girl will grow up appreciating just how exploitative abortion is of women.

Denise Cameron

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Some time ago Pro Life Victoria provided all members with a list of Radio Station telephone numbers and Talk Back Programs to encourage promotion of the pro life philosophy over the airways. There is a very obvious need to ensure the truth is related on all life issues, and to participate in life debates.

Below is a transcript of "Richard’s" defence of preborn friends on Radio 3LO.

It is a real encouragement to us all to speak up on the airwaves.

John Fame:

Richard from Middle Park, Good Morning.

Richard:

Good Morning, John. A few weeks ago you tried to tell me that voluntary euthanasia did not involve killing. But today I was disappointed also in talking to Dr Woollard regarding the RU 486 drug, you referred to abortion as termination. Now termination is really a euphemism for what really happens in abortion, and that is, sadly, that with abortion a baby is killed. A mother actually takes the life of her own son or daughter. And so, really, a more appropriate word for abortion is extermination, not termination.

John Fame:

Richard, I mean, all you’re doing is provoking people whose views by and large in the community are already fixed. You’re provoking people by using terms that are emotive and designed to upset. Why do you do it?

Richard:

Because it’s the truth. If they really accepted what was happening they wouldn’t do it. And just one other thing which is sad-

John Fame:

But people do do it. And as Dr Woollard said, it doesn’t matter what people think on religious or moral grounds, it is obviously something for which a lot of people in the community see a need. Tens of thousands of years, for as far back as you want to go.

Richard:

I know that. But there is never any justification for people taking the life of another human being. There’s always a better solution than that. But there’s just one other ...

That’s not necessarily my own view at all. And a lot of people obviously don’t share it with you also.

Richard:

Well, can I just say one final point about the medical profession? Up to about 20 years ago, the medical profession took a Hippocratic Oath and part of this oath actually says: ‘And especially 1 will not aid a women to procure an abortion." And now they have dropped this oath because of the embarrassment of the abortion issue. And sadly as a social group the medical profession are now the mass killers of our society. That’s all I want to say.

John Fame:

All right, thanks for your call.

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Pro Life Answers to Pro Choice Arguments by Randy Alcorn with a foreword by Thomas Glesner is a very helpful manual for prolifers. To help readers promote the prolife philosophy we intend printing some selected excerpts on a regular basis.

The polls cited under the previous argument show that an anti-abortion position, at least to a certain extent, is held by a majority of citizens. Many of these citizens are not religious, and those that are belong to a wide variety of religious groups that transcend political parties. As the Washington Times states, "Women and men and people of varying religious faiths and races tend to support the right to life in equal measure.

A study of thirty women who considered their abortions highly stressful yielded this revealing insight: "Though 72% of the subjects reported no identifiable religious beliefs at the time of abortion, 96% regarded abortion as the taking of life or as murder subsequent to their abortion." One does not have to subscribe to a particular religion to have a conscience, or an innate sense that killing the innocent is wrong.

Nat Hentoff is a creator and editor of New York’s ultraliberal Village Voice. He is a self-described "atheist, a lifelong leftist, and a card-carrying member of the American Civil Liberties Union." He detests most of the policies of conservative administrations. He is also an outspoken prolife advocate, who takes constant heat for publicly calling abortion the killing of children.

In the most widely listened to radio talk show in history, host Rush Limbaugh regularly argues against abortion. He appeals not to religious beliefs but to scientific, historical, and common sense realities. And to many listeners - non religious and religious - he makes a lot of sense.

Dr Bernard Nathanson was an atheist when his firsthand involvement in abortion made him realise it was the killing of the innocent. He argued that abortion falls far short of the most profound tenet of human morality, spoken by Jesus Christ: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." Responding to the charge that this was some sectarian religious tenet, Nathanson said:

"On the contrary, it is simply a statement of innate human wisdom. Unless this principle is cherished by a society and widely honoured by its individual members, the end result is anarchy and the violent dissolution of the society. This is why life is always an overriding value in the great ethical systems of world history. If we do not protect innocent, nonaggressive elements in the human community, the alternative is too horrible to contemplate. Looked at this way, the "sanctity of life" is not a theological but a secular concept, which should be perfectly acceptable to my fellow atheists."

Writing in another context, Nathanson stated:

Think that abortion policy ought to not be beholden to a sectarian creed, but that obviously the law can and does encompass moral convictions shared by a variety of religious interests. In the case of abortion, however, we can and must decide on the biological evidence and on fundamental humanitarian grounds without resorting to scriptures, revelations, creeds, hierarchical decrees, or belief in God. Even if God does not exist, the fetus does.

The abortion issue is really a human life issue, a civil rights issue. It is not simply a religious issue, any more than the rights of Jews and blacks is simply a religious issue. Though most governments are secular, there is hardly a nation in the world where abortion was legal prior to World War II. You do not need to be a Christian, nor to subscribe to any religion, to believe that the unborn are children and that it should not be legal to kill them.

· Morality must not be rejected just because it is supported by religion.

William Carey, known as the "father of Christian missions," faced the terrible practice of widow burning in India. He laboured long and hard to make this killing illegal, and finally succeeded. While trying to be sensitive to the Indian culture, Carey didn’t think it inappropriate to bring to bear his Christian morality when the lives of innocent people were at stake.

Every law establishes a certain moral position as a social norm. Every society can and must implement legislation that defines what is right and wrong, and what citizens should and should not do. Whether it is from the Bible or elsewhere, all law must come from somewhere. Most of our laws are rooted in the Judeo-Christian religion.

The Bible says, "You shall not steal." Should we get rid of our laws against stealing because they impose a JudeoChristian morality? Shall we invalidate all moral standards that are founded on religious principles? If we did, what moral standards would be left?

Neither the words "separation of church and state" nor the concept as we now know it are found in the Constitution. The First Amendment’s establishment of religion clause was devised to protect religious liberty, not to banish religion’s influence on society. But even if we adopt the later terminology of a separate church and state, the "church" that was to be separate from the state was a single denomination or sectarian group, not religion in general. The founders of our country did not want one church or denomination to control the state. They definitely did want religion, specifically the Christian religion, to influence the moral principles and laws of the state." America’s colonists came here to have freedom of religion, not freedom from religion. Their intention was that the moral principles founded in religious beliefs should permeate the social order.

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by Tony Snow from The Washington Times - May 12, 1997, reprinted from "The Human Life Review"

The U.S. Senate this week will debate whether to ban partial-birth abortions. There’s not much mystery about what both sides will say. Proponents of the ban will call the procedure murder by mutilation.

Opponents, meanwhile, will preach the sanctity of choice. But as they defend the operation this time, they will have to face one unsettling fact. Her name is Donna Joy Watts.

By all rights, the world should know the girl only as a headstone inscription. When her mother was carrying her six years ago, doctors warned that the baby had little or no brain - and briskly packed the parents, Don and Lori Watts, off to see a "genetics counsellor."

The counsellor promised to terminate the pregnancy quickly and tidily: A doctor would dilate Lori’s cervix, deliver the child feet first, make a neat incision at the base of the skull, suck out the brains and deliver the corpse.

The sickened parents walked away, determined to have their child. Unfortunately, nobody wanted to help them. Like vagabonds, they had to go from obstetrician to obstetrician, until a couple of kindly healers agreed to deliver the baby.

Young Donna Joy Watts entered the world on shaky terms. She was hydrocephalic. Half her brain was missing, including portions that regulate motor skills and such reflex actions as breathing. The remaining tissue was a mess, too. She suffered from partial blindness, seizures and very mild cerebral palsy. Moreover, her sphincter didn’t work, which meant the child couldn’t swallow.

Doctors decided to pump water into veins and wait for her to die. But the Watts family refused to play along. They insisted on operations to drain water from the brain and remove a quarter-sized piece of brain tissue from the outer skull.

That didn’t help the baby eat, however, and the child couldn’t keep formula down. But a hospital error led to a breakthrough. A nurse delivered the wrong meal one evening - rice cereal, baby bananas and formula. Lori mixed the three, cleaned out an available syringe, poured in some of the mixture and began feeding her baby, one drop at a time.

Although the idea runs counter to conventional medical wisdom, it worked. The baby learned to swallow, and for the next year, her mother fed her drop-by-drop - 90 minutes of eating, 90 minutes of rest, 24 hours a day.

Donna Joy grew. At age 18 months, she was moving in a walker and using sign language. But then, as if to prolong the family’s Job like plight, she developed a near-fatal infection that wiped out her memory and left her with the intellect of a 4-month old.

Suddenly, she didn’t communicate; she threw raging tantrums. She didn’t crave her mother’s touch. She swung her fists violently. When she wasn’t screaming and pounding, she retreated into a private world. She lay on her back, responsive to nobody and nothing.

Just as the family was about to give up, another bizarre turn: One night, her mother inadvertently taped a television show, "Quantum Leap." Upon hearing a song, "Somewhere in the Night," the baby rose, enraptured, only to become a hellion again when the music stopped.

Her mother quickly rewound the tape and played the song. Donna let Lori hold her. In following months, the tune and the sight of series star Scott Bakula let the child out of the darkness, proving that at least one good thing could come out of "Quantum Leap.

Fast forward. Today, five-and-a-half-year-old Donna Joy Watts, the baby with half a brain, can run, talk, recite the alphabet, count, play and annoy her siblings. She functions at very close to the average level for a kid her age. And later this week, she will sit in the gallery as the Senate debates a procedure doctors wanted to use to kill her.

The case for partial-birth abortion has collapsed, and it has been exposed as legalised slaughter. Abortion advocates defend it only because they know that any limit on such procedures establishes a precedent for further restrictions in the future.

Lori Watts couldn’t care less. She and her husband, both children of steelworkers, had to overcome the contempt of snobbish doctors and social workers as they painstakingly built their own miracle. They never got any help from feminists, liberal Democrats or the President.

These days, Don works from 4p.m. to midnight in a local corrections facility so he can spend time with his four kids. Lori educates them in the evening while he’s gone. They went bankrupt a couple of years ago and moved into a two bedroom bungalow on a friend’s farm.

As for choice, here’s what Lori has to say: "Choice? They didn’t give me a choice! I had to beg for a choice. Why did I have to go out of my way when they wanted to kill my baby, when they didn’t want to operate or feed her? I didn’t get to choose anything."

This week, the Senate has a chance to declare that infanticide isn’t a choice - it’s a crime.

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A group of American Catholics are holding a week of prayer and fasting, culminating in a Prayer Rally October 12-13 at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Washington, D.C. for an end to abortion.

The list of supporting organisations is impressive and Invited Speakers include Sarah Smith, an Abortion Survivor, Congressman Christopher H. Smith, former abortionist, Dr Bernard Nathanson, and Nellie Gray, long time organiser of the January March for Life. Music will be led by the popular Irish singer" Dana."

Prolifers around the world are invited to participate, whether alone or in a group. For Catholics Daily Masses, Rosaries, Holy Hours and Fastings are advocated.

Victorians may phone the Pro Life Office on (03)98186186 for details of Prayer Vigils here.

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Abortion - the Greatest Destroyer of Peace in the World"

 "Whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers, that you do unto me.
Now enter the house of my Father."

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Abortion Statistics from the National Health & Medical Research Council Discussion Paper:

• Total abortion rate for Australian women approximately one third of women aged 15-44 years.

• 95% of abortions are performed because the pregnancy is unwanted.

• 2% of Northern Territory women have had abortions compared to 20.6% in the rest of the Northern Territory population.

• Between half to two-thirds of women who have unplanned pregnancies are using contraception.

• Compared to other first world countries Australia has a very high abortion rate.

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USA - Pharmacists Refuse Morning-After Pill: With the recent heavy publicity promoting the use of morning-after pills has some very clear complaints from pharmacists who are pro-life. The California Pharmacists Association has adopted a policy which allows pharmacists "to refuse to fill prescriptions based on ethical, moral or religious grounds." In a recent poll of 625 pharmacists 82% stated that they "believe they have the right to refuse to fill a prescription for a drug such as RU 486 that would facilitate abortion."

USA - A history making woman with Down syndrome who received a heart-lung transplant last year has died.

Sandra Jensen, 36, died on Friday at Sutter General Hospital in Sacramento.

Ms Jensen was believed to be the first mentally disabled person in the United States to receive a major transplant, after initially being refused the transplant because doctors didn’t think she was mentally capable to handle her follow-up care.

Ms Jensen fought and won her right to the transplant, which happened on January 23, last year.

Following her successful fight the California Assembly gave unanimous approval to a Bill to prohibit doctors from discriminating against disabled people who need transplants.

"She was strong-spirited and lived her life as a pioneer, inspiring others to never give up hope and opened new doors for other people with Down syndrome and other transplant recipients," her family said in a statement.

Dr William Bronston, a state rehabilitation administrator who helped fight for the transplant, said Ms Jensen was a pioneering women.

"Every day was always precious and lived well by her." he said.

"She was really an inspiration just being. Losing her is a loss for the whole country."

USA - Father Drinan Switches: For over two decades Father Robert Drinan has held that abortion should not be a matter of law. This influential priest, once a congressman, in a welcome, dramatic about-face just days before the key U.S. Senate vote, stated that he now supports the ban on partial-birth abortion.

KENYA - Young people in Nairobi Kenya, recently took to the streets in a silent march to support life and oppose the programs of International Planned Parenthood Federation. Over 2,000 members of the Kenya Catholic Youth for Life from 22 diocese participated. They carried banners bearing antiabortion and anti-contraceptive messages and messages stating that chastity and fidelity are the only sure ways of reducing MDS. At the rally Mrs Angelina Kyonda, Director of Family Life for the Catholic Secretariat in Kenya, stated, "Some European countries are dying. Their population is very low and beyond repair They have preached the anti-child gospel in Europe, and now they are extending it to Africa. We are going to resist with all means except violence

AUSTRALIA - In 1994-5, 77,231 abortions were claimed on Medicare; 67,000 abortions were performed in public hospitals; which equals 144,000 abortions - compared to 266,000 live births. The Australian Federation of Pregnancy Support Services is concerned for the 14,400 (10% of total) women whose post abortion grief is not being recognised.

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