NEWSVol. 15 No.3 - Summer Edition 1998/99 Print Post Approved - 33L385/00042
Pro-Life Victoria: Speaking Up for Humanity in the Nineties |
Contents:
- Pro-Life Victoria to
Victorian Parliamentarians
- Letter to all 139
Victorian State Members of Parliament
- Editorial
- Arguments Concerning Life,
Humanity and Personhood
- Project How you Began
- Feelings not Morality
- The Society of Centurions
- World View
Whether or not the State of Victoria sanctions the killing of partially born babies, only
a centimetre or two’s difference between abortion and infanticide, remains
unresolved. The campaign against partial birth abortion specialist Dr David
Grundmann’s Croydon abortuary continues. Guest Speaker at ProLife Victoria’s
Annual General Meeting in November was Mrs Anne O’Dwyer, the local coordinator of the
campaign against Dr Grundmann. A set of foetal models was presented to Mrs O’Dwyer by
ProLife Victoria in recognition of her efforts and for use in the regular witnesses she
organises outside the Dorset Road abortuary. Whether or not this particularly inhumane and
barbaric form of baby killing will be allowed to proceed depends on the prolife movement.
Reiterating our most enduring message, "The pen is mightier than the sword" we urge all prolifers to keep up the letters expressing outrage at partial birth abortions to the Honourable Robert Knowles, Health Minister, and local Legislative Assembly Members. We publish here ProLife Victoria’s latest letter to all 139 State Members of Parliament.
Ready for future challenges. Past ProLife Victoria President Peter Coventry, newly elected President Peter Beriman and Committee Member Mark Colgan at the 1998 Annual General Meeting.
The Minister for Health letters of July and August 1998 informed members of Parliament of a recent advising from the Medical Practitioners Board in relation to partial birth abortions. An interpretation of the tone of the letters would lead one to believe that the procedure was conditionally acceptable. Despite the procedure resulting in the killing of viable babies there seems to be an acceptance for late term abortions to continue, and of all places "in a major (teaching) hospital".
This issue poses a challenge for political leaders, and should not be avoided. It is considered unacceptable that the Medical Practitioners Board, and other professional groups, including the College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists are left in a leadership vacuum by political leaders.
It is our view that it is the issue of partial birth abortion that should be put to death, not babies. Further it is in the hands of parliamentarians to lead the way in this matter. The ethical issue is clear - the right thing to do is to prohibit the killing.
Late term abortions should be banned. It is unacceptable for the issue to be passed down the line to others. The baby obituary list grows as the dilatoriness goes on.
It is for parliamentarians to lead in this matter. Over to you; you will have our support and that of others if you take up you responsibility.
Yours sincerely,
David Millie MBE
for the Committee of Management ProLife Victoria
Also in that Chapel were several physically handicapped people in the company of their carers. The medical condition from which they suffered, caused them to make inappropriate noises and gestures at inappropriate times. It struck me, that of all the people gathered in that Chapel that day to honour Edith Stein, the most "appropriate" were these very people. The ones making inappropriate noises and gestures at inappropriate times.
Edith Stein died in an Auschwitz gas chamber, an ultimate victim of a philosophy which began with the elimination of physically and mentally handicapped, poor eaters, bed wetters, ending up with those with misshapen ears, gypsies and the "racially impure" - Jews.
Edith Stein would have identified so much with those making the inappropriate noises. The poignancy of their presence struck me deeply.
I was also struck by the chilling timing of the celebration of her life. It came on top of the week when Dr Phillip Nitschke revived his euthanasia campaign with a vengeance, announcing his intention to open a euthanasia clinic in Melbourne. I thought of the words of a speaker at a Right to Life Conference a few years ago, psychiatrist Dr Varghese which struck such a chord with me at the time, "Remember, it was doctors and nurses who cheered when the trucks left the asylums for the gas chambers". Could I really have lived long enough to see the philosophical cause of Edith Stein’s and six million other deaths, the "Life devoid of value" mentality develop again in the community? What of such eloquent warnings as that in the preface of The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, "Those who do not remember the past are condemned to relive it"?
We are about to start the last year of the 20th century, a century infamous for two World Wars and unbelievable bloodshed on battlefields, genocides, as we all know too well, in abortuaries the world over. With the sobering experience of this century and the timely inspiration of Edith Stein, let us do our very best for the preservation of all human life in the last year of this millennium, in preparation for a new and fresh millennium.
The prolife movement must begin crying out for a new century free of State sanctioned killing!
Denise Cameron
Editor
An article printed and distributed by the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL) describes as "antichoice" the position that "human life begins at conception". It says the prochoice position is, "Personhood at conception is a religious belief, not a provable biological fact".
1. "It is uncertain when human life begins; that’s a religious question that cannot be answered by science."
la. If there is uncertainty about when human life begins, the benefit of the doubt should go to preserving life.
Suppose there is uncertainty about when human life begins. If a hunter is uncertain whether a movement in the brush is caused by a person, does his uncertainty lead him to fire or not to fire? If you’re driving at night and you think the dark figure ahead on the road may be a child, but it may just be a shadow of a tree, do you drive into it or do you puton the brakes? If we find someone who may be dead or alive, but we’re not sure, what is the best policy? To assume he is alive and try to save him, or to assume he is dead and walk away?
Shouldn’t we give the benefit of the doubt to life? Otherwise we are saying, "This may or may not be a child, therefore it’s all right to destroy it."
lb. Medical textbooks and scientific reference works consistently agree that human life begins at conception.
Many people have been told that there is no medical or scientific consensus as to when human life begins. This is simply untrue. Among those scientists who have no vested interests in the abortion issue, there is an overwhelming consensus that human life begins at conception. (Conception is the moment when the egg is fertilised by the sperm, bringing into existence the zygone, which is a genetically distinct individual.)
Dr Bradley M Patten’s textbook, Human Embryology, states, "It is the penetration of the ovum by a spermatozoan and the resultant mingling of the nuclear material each brings to the union that constitutes the culmination of the process of fertilisation and marks the initiation of the life of a new individual".
ic. Some of the world’s most prominent scientists and physicians testified to a United States Senate committee that human life begins at conception.
In 1981, a United States Senate Judiciary Sub-Committee invited experts to testify on the question of when life begins. All of the quotes from the following experts come directly from the official government record of their testimony.
· Dr Alfred M I3ongioanni, professor of paediatrics and obstetrics at the University of Pennsylvania, stated:
I have learned from my earliest medical education that human life begins at the time of conception I submit that human life is present throughout this entire sequence from conception to adulthood and that any interruption at any point throughout this time constitutes a termination of human life I am no more prepared to say that these early stages [of development in the womb] represent an incomplete human being than I would be to say that the child prior to the dramatic effects of puberty..... is not a human being. This is human life at an early stage
· Dr Jerome Lejeune, professor of genetics at the University of Descartes in Paris, was the discoverer of the chromosome pattern of Down’s syndrome. Dr Lejeune testified to the Judiciary Sub-Committee, "after fertilisation has taken place a new human being has come into being." He stated that this is no longer a matter of taste or opinion," and "not a metaphysical contention, it is plain experimental evidence." He added, "Each individual has a very neat beginning, at conception".
· Professor Hymie Gordon, Mayo Clinic: "By all the criteria of modern molecular biology, life is present
from the movement of conception".
· Professor Micheline Matthews-Roth, Havard University
Medical School: "It is incorrect to say that biological data cannot be decisive ... It is scientifically correct to say that an individual human life begins at conception ... Our laws, one function of which is to help preserve the lives of our people, should be based on accurate scientific data".
· Dr Watson A Bowes, University of Colorado Medical School: "The beginning of a single human life is from a biological point of view a simple and straightforward matter - the beginning is conception. This straightforward biological fact should not be distorted to serve sociological, political, or economic goals".
A prominent physician points out that at these Senate hearings, "Pro-abortionists, though invited to do so, failed to produce even a single expert witness who would specifically testify that life begins at any point other than conception or implementation. Only one witness said no one can tell when life begins".
· "It would be great if more schools received it to enable students to grasp how life begins and that it is a real person with rights who is developing within the uterus." Susan Collis, Coordinator Family Programs, Warragul.
· "Thank you. It is an excellent teaching aid and most generous of you. I wish more teachers would make use of it." R. Harvey, Christian Living Coordinator, Creek Street Christian School, Bendigo.
· "1 think they are a great idea. They say more than words. Thank you for the loan of the models."
Kathy Pearce, Religious Coordinator, OLSH, Bentleigh.
"I think they should be in every school library to refute the lie that an embryo or foetus I is less than a human being." Porter, Librarian, Leongatha Christian School.
"Very real life. Excellent representation of development. Students really react to the real life aspect." Andrea Barr, Science Teacher, Santa Maria College, Northcote.
· "Reminder about the sanctity of life and useful for staff (Catholic and non-Catholic)." Anita Toner, Marian College, Myrtleford.
· "We are grateful and pleased to have it in our school. I have shown it to teachers from other schools who were also interested." Sandra Rounds, Derrinallurn College, Derrinallum.
· "Shows a good indication of foetal development and how small a foetus is. Margaret Counihan, Coordinator Pastoral Care, St Pauls. Altona.
ProLife secretary, Denise Cameron with students admiring a set of foetal models
Mona’s syndicated column appears in many newspapers throughout the USA.
The following was posted on the web site of the Jewish World Review on July 15, 1998.
It was Brian Peterson who placed his newborn son in a plastic bag and then heaved him into a Dumpster 12 feet away There was an audible crack as the body, perhaps the baby’s head, hit the metal trash bin. Peterson the turned on his heel on that freezing November morning in 1996 and returned to the hotel room where Amy Grossberg was waiting. It was she who had ordered Peterson to "get rid of it" after giving birth to a curly-haired baby boy
It might have worked, this first foray into infanticide for the doting couple, had it not been for their ignorance of the basics of childbirth. Neither of them knew enough to deliver the afterbirth - the part you really are supposed to "get rid of’ - and so when Amy went back to college, she began to haemorrhage and was rushed to a hospital. That’s when the question was asked:
"Where’s the baby?"
Last week, as Grossberg
and Peterson were sentenced, we delved deeper into the moral junkyard that characterised these two products of an affluent New jersey suburb. Grossberg had written to her boyfriend of her regret that the pregnancy had interfered with their sex life. "I wish I could have my nice body back," she wined. "As soon as everything gets better, I’ll be my sweet, normal self We’ll be able to uh-uuh lots. I really miss it." About the pregnancy, she wrote, "All I want is for it to go away." (She declined an abortion for fear that her mother would discover it.)
These youngsters are not monsters. They are quite normal. Grossberg was probably trained at school to have lots of self esteem. She was also instructed - not just at school but by the Supreme Court, a pro-choice president and most of elite opinion - that abortion is a morally acceptable solution to an unwanted pregnancy. In Delaware, she could have reported for a partial birth abortion at almost any time up until the birth. In fact, just days before Peterson and Grossberg were sentenced, an Arizona abortionist started to perform that procedure on a foetus he had been told was 23 or 24 weeks old. Only after the procedure began did he realise that the baby was actually
a 6 pound, 2 ounce baby girl at full term. He delivered the child alive - but with a fractured skull and two large lacerations on her face - the results of the aborted abortion.
So there is really no surprise that Amy Grossberg - her "sweet, normal self’ - can have believed that an unwanted baby just seconds after birth is just as disposable as an unwanted foetus at midterm. Melissa Drexler, who gave birth in a toilet at her prom, the mother who left her newborn in a bathroom at Disneyworld, and the others who have left babies to die in the cold or drown in toilets in cities around the nation are acting on the same insight- there is no intrinsic value or sacredness to life. What gives life value is the desire of the mother.
What else are these young women to conclude?
We permit a pregnant
woman to sue if her foetus is harmed by environmental hazards - because she wants the baby. If not, she can kill it.
The judge revealed his own peculiar moral standards by ruling that 24 months for Peterson and 30 months for Grossberg was sufficient punishment for treating a newborn infant like an empty shoe box. He also sentenced the couple to perform 300 hours of community service - including working in clinics for pregnant teenagers and "counselling teenagers on parenthood."
That’s what we need - child killers lecturing on what it means to be a parent!
Even the prosecutors seem to have been confused about the gravity of the case. Praising Peterson for his cooperation with authorities, one prosecutor said, "He was chivalrous, but stupid". So the code of chivalry now includes killing the defenceless - even one’s own baby?
Yes, feelings seem to have trumped absolute values quite thoroughly. The feelings of the mother not the child made in the image and likeness of God, determine the baby’s value, in Janesville, Wisconsin, a 37 year old man was sentenced to 12 years in prison - for killing cats.
They were wanted cats.
This article is reprinted from Human Life Review - Fall I 998 issue. ProLife News has published many articles from this outstanding journal, to which several Australians, namely: Reverend Anthony Fisher, Senator Brian Harradine, Melinda Tankard-Reist and Dr David Van Gend have been contributors on life issues. The latest issue contained the sad news that James P McFadden, Founder, Editor and President died early on the morning of October I 7. His death was sudden but not unexpected, as he had been suffering from cancer for five and a half years.
The Fall 1998 issue was finished by him one week before his death and completed 24 years of publishing.
The Review will continue in his memory and with the deep commitment of the Board including his wife, Maria McFadden.
James Patrick McFadden
September 25, 1930 - October 17, 1998
Rest in Peace
The society of Centurions |
Reprinted from National Right to Life News, September, 1998
I often say that I believe in the "dead-end rule". This is the rule that says that if you go down a dead-end street and don’t see the sign that says it’s a dead end, you will soon learn by personal experience that the road is a dead end.
For decades, the prolife movement has been putting up dead-end signs along the road to abortion. Many choose to ignore those signs; others don’t see them at all But the fact is that individuals who became involved in abortion, and nations which embrace it as a policy, eventually learn by painful experience that abortion is a dead end. Just try naming one societal ill which abortion has solved.There is a special group of people who have come to the dead end and have resolutely begun walking the other way. They call themselves the Society of Centurions. They are former providers of abortion who have abandoned that practice and now embrace the sanctity of life. Their number includes physicians, nurses, paramedical personnel, technicians, receptionists, and security personnel.
The Centurions form an international society, and a United States branch, the "Society of Centurions of America," has recently been formed.
Some Centurions speak publicly of their journey into the abortion industry, and how by grace they were rescued from it. But that is not the focus of the society. The focus, rather, is their own personal healing.
Periodically, Centurions from around the world come together, and under the expert guidance of Dr Philip Ney, a practising child and family psychiatrist, walk the long and painful road toward healing.
Dr Ney has written a fascinating book, The Centurion’s Pathway describing this road. He explains how the wounds of personal abuse often pave the way for a person to abuse others by practising abortion. He also describes how former providers need to personalise each of the children they have destroyed. Some, for example, will name and even make illustrations of each of the children they were responsible for aborting.
My friend Joan Appleton, who was once the head nurse of an abortion facility in Falls Church, Virginia, and now is on the staff of Pro-Life Action Ministries in the Twin Cities, coordinates the Society of Centurions of America. She has recently written an account of her own journey, called, Raising Cecilia. The Centurions’ brochure puts it beautifully: "The Centurion who stood at the foot of the cross of Christ suddenly became horrified at the crucifixion he was ordered to carry out. When Christ died, this Centurion dropped his sword and fell to his knees exclaiming, ‘Surely, this was an innocent man!’ Those of us who have participated in the killing of unborn children are the Centurions of today. We have dropped our swords against the unborn child. Now we must recognise the depth of our guilt and deal with the ramifications. To revitalise our humanity we need to forgive and be forgiven, to reconcile and be healed."
May it be so, Amen!
A group calling themselves "The Information Group on Chosen Reproduction" has publicised the following figures: "Between 200,000 and 800,000 abortions are performed annually. Pro-choice groups, however, put the figure between 500,000 and 1.5 million. Roughly 1,500 women die each year from the procedure." This is the same strategy used in every country. They cite these numbers as if they are officially and accurately gathered. Abortions in Mexico are illegal, therefore, they are not reported - therefore, there are no statistics - and the numbers quoted above are simply somebody’s guess. The same is true for how many women die each year from the procedure.
Recall that the year before abortion was legalised in the United States, pro-abortion forces estimated there were one million illegal abortions, with 5-10,000 women a year dying. In fact, there were only about 100,000 abortions. And the year before the Supreme Court legalised abortion, the total number of women dying in the entire United States from illegal abortions was 39. This same vast discrepancy between their claims and actual deaths has been repeated in every country. As we say in the US, "these folks must be smoking something".
from International Right to Life Federation Newsletter, October/Novemberl998.
United Nations - Pushing Earth Worship?: The pro-family watchdog group, The Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute (CFHRI), reported on a UN Environment Program (UNEP) which recently sponsored a meeting in New York entitled "Religion & Ecology:
Discovering the Common Ground". It reported on the culmination of a series of 10 conferences, held between May ‘96 and July ‘98 at the Harvard University Centre for the Study of World Relations. According to the director, Mary Ellen Tucker, the objective is: "the creative revisioning of mutually enhancing human/earth relations away from the orthodox monotheistic understanding which places man at the centre of God’s creation". One of the hoped for results of the meetings is the adoption of an "earth charter" which reportedly "will be formally unveiled in the year 2000 at the Millennium People’s Forum" and subsequently submitted to the UN General Assembly. The pantheistic thrust of this so-called charter is already plainly evidenced in the last draft which, according to CFHRI, "deifies earth and declares that earth itself is alive". Included as #11 of its 18 inter-related principles is to "secure the right to sexual and reproductive health".
from International Right to Life Federation Newsletter, October/Novemberl998.
South African - Hospitals: Four of M purmalanga’s biggest hospitals, including both state run facilities in that provinces major population centre of Witbank, continue to refuse to perform abortions. The provincial health coordinator stated that his department could not force doctors and nurses to perform abortions if it was contrary to their religious and moral beliefs.
from International Right to Life Federation Newsletter, OctoberlNovemberl998.
USA - RU 486 & Endometriosis: In the of the American Journal of OR & GYN, there is a report of a study of seven women, over a two year period, who had endometriosis. They were treated with low dose RU 486. According to this study, this treatment had no effect on the disease process. This is a very interesting report. While pro-lifers have been consistent in stating the RU 486 has no proven medicinal use, that its only use is to kill a developing baby, one possible use was for endometriosis. If this study is confirmed, even this use will be disproven.
from International Right to Life Federation Newsletter, October/Novemberl998.
USA - Cost Conscious Equals Euthanasia?: In a recent study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, it was reported that doctors who are cost conscious and "practice resource conserving medicine" were 6.4 times more likely than less cost conserving physicians to write lethal prescriptions for patients, if requested. It also found that doctors of minority races were less likely than white physicians to prescribe lethal drugs.
from International Right to Life Federation Newsletter, October/Novemberl998.
© The Official Newsletter of Pro-Life Victoria, Edited by Denise Cameron |