Pro-LIFE NEWS

Vol. 16 No.4 - Autumn/Fall Edition 2000                             Print Post Approved - 33L385/00042

Contents:

- Time to get Serious
- Editorial
- Unborn Babies with Spina Bifida Find Hope in Fetal Surgery
- Telephone Tree - Can you Help?
- Life, Death and the US Senate
- Action Box
- World View

January 1, 2000 not only signalled a New Year for us all and a time to make the usual New Year resolutions, it marked a whole new millennium. Inevitably it also provoked reflection on the immediate past millennium. The last century of the millennium has proved hard to contemplate. Two horrific World Wars, an atomic bomb, a Jewish holocaust, matched by the "killing fields" of Cambodia, ethnic cleansing right up to the dawn of the new century. Civil wars in most countries, obscene famines, so often the result of incompetent or sheer malevolent governments. By far the greatest loss of human life has been in the slaughter of unborn children these last thirty years. By New Years Eve 1999, there did seem to be some abatement of the sort of atrocities which had scarred the 20th century, the hostages held on the Air India plane were released in a gesture of goodwill, there did seem to be goodwill between the warring factions in Northern Ireland. There was however, no let up in the war on the unborn. Rather, there has been an escalation. The Adelaide Advertiser February 12 reports: "Australia’s peak health policy think-tank, the National Health and Medical Research Centre’s health advisory committee, is set to advise Federal Health Minister Michael Wooldridge that it’s time abortion practices nationally were moved out of the criminal code where they now are regulated, and moved into mainstream health services.

The NHMRC will re-examine a major information paper on abortion practices in Australia, covering issues of health, safety, equity, and more controversially, making ‘morning after’ contraceptive pills available over the counter as well as the abortion pill RU486.... The information paper at the centre of the debate is a recently updated version of an original NHMRC report compiled by a seven person panel of South Australian academics and health professionals. "University of Adelaide senior lecturer, Dr Margie Ripper who was on the original panel, has updated the report for the NHMRC. Remember Dr Margie Ripper? In the coloured glossy photograph on the front page of The Australian newspaper December 14,1994? Six years later she is still agitating to remove all laws protecting babies in their mothers wombs. "Our State showed very clearly women know that abortion is something they don’t need to be ashamed of and its part of the health system," she claims.

Prolifers need to recognise they have a very formidable opponent in Dr Margie Ripper and heed the alarm bells. It is time to get serious. We need to act practically and methodically. Each and every one of us should today lift the telephone and request an interview with local State MP’s -Lower & Upper House. There are lots of ways we can all contribute to the prolife cause, but our first responsibility is to communicate and keep communicating with our representatives in Parliament.

We cannot expect them to be inspired to know how we feel about abortion. We have a grave responsibility to tell them personally. Whatever else ProLife Victoria does to advance the cause of our unborn brothers and sisters, we will not desist from this strategy.

ProLife On Line - 
Volunteer Vanda Berry checks out
our web page; www.prolife.org.au

In the coming weeks you will receive phone calls asking if you haven’t already formed a delegation of 3 or 4 to your local MP will you do just this? Partial birth abortionist Dr Grundmann has now been operating his Croydon abortuary for 2 years and Dr Philip Nitschke is extending his euthanasia "clinics" unchallenged. It is time for prolifers to get serious. It is time for each and every prolifer to visit their local Member of Parliament and to report on the outcome of the visit. If you are unsure of your local member’s name and address, simply phone and ask. If you need material to help you lobby your MP, this is available from ProLife Victoria. We also provide delegation sheets to assist in feed back from these visits. Members of Parliament need to be seen by their own constituents. They are not interested in seeing members of the Executive of ProLife Victoria. They need to see you. 

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Whilst the rise of the internet is perhaps grabbing the most attention at present, when we look back to the passing of one millennium to another, this may be seen as just one of several advances in communication technology. The scientific advance which we may look back on as a turning point for the human race is the imminent completion of the mapping of the human genome.

Firstly, the mapping of the human genome should make us stand back in awe of the wonders of God. In each of us, the DNA molecule in the progenitor cell contains a definite human genetic constitution. This genetic constitution is incomprehensibly complex. It can be recorded as a sequence of the four nucleotides A, T, C or G occupying each of the three thousand million positions along its metre long helical backbone. To write out this human genetic constitution using the labels A,T,C or G would require an encyclopaedia of about a thousand volumes. Yet each cell of the human body contains this information and from conception, a new single cell human life also contains all this information about an individual human being.

The completion of the mapping of the human genome brings great potential for both good and evil. There is an overwhelming need for scientific research to be directed rather than left to market forces.

In coming years, scientists and advocates of ‘the scientific imperative’ will repeatedly present to the newsmedia, scenarios in which cancer or debilitating diseases can be treated if our society is willing to make just one more concession with regard to ethics, human dignity or the value of human life. Just as the newsmedia is well suited to the hard case scenarios of the euthanasia lobby, journalists will provide a forum for the advocates of unconstrained scientific research.

It is likely that the 21^st century will bring further great advances in many areas of medical science. A range of advances in medical science will be achievable without resort to current proposals involving cloning such as those of the Australian Academy of Science. (Along with many other prolifers, Pro-Life Victoria recently completed a submission to the Federal Parliament’s Inquiry into the scientific, ethical and regulatory aspects of human cloning. We thank all members who also managed personal submissions or letters to this inquiry).

Not only will heart-wrenching scenarios be presented in the newsmedia but it will continually be argued that Australia will otherwise be left behind. The message that human life must be given its intrinsic value and respect is not easily presented to the newsmedia in its preferred sensationalist and emotive form.

Prevalent abortion, ignored by our legal authorities has desensitised many people. This paves the way for many to turn a blind eye once again to human embryo experimentation. The pro-life movement must redouble its efforts to educate and raise awareness of the human embryo and its development. Pro-life Victoria sees the best forum for this education as being within secondary schools. We should seek ways to enhance our efforts in schools and in particular we must take full advantage of the awareness of human development which comes from ultrasound.

The pro-life movement throughout the world has not managed to roll back the liberalisation of abortion laws. Given the trends within our culture and society, tragically, to date this has been beyond us. However, I am convinced that both our education and political efforts have made a difference. If we save one life it is worth it. I hope that our own efforts and the varied efforts of many pro-lifers touch the lives of many people on a continuing basis.

At a political level, euthanasia has been addressed many times by Parliaments around Australia. Only the Northern Territory passed legislation to legalise patient killing and this has been overturned. In all other instances, the pro-life movement has successfully rallied to lobby members of Parliament and insisted that they become informed of the gravity of the issues they are addressing.

We must remain ready to act politically to meet each challenge to the right to life whether it is a push for euthanasia or a push for cloning or further experimentation on human embryos.

Peter Beriman
President

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Baby Samuel Armas’s tiny fingers grasped the doctor’s huge hand - not at birth, or as a result of a premature delivery but, at 21 weeks, as one of the youngest unborn babies ever to undergo surgery to relieve the effects of spina bifida and hydrocephalus, birth defects that can lead to severe disabilities.

Doctors now agree that the earlier repairs can be made on these babies, the less severe the problems will be when the child is born. This realisation has stimulated a search for ways to correct anomalies while the child is in utero, rather than take the more traditional route and wait to make surgical repairs after birth. During the operation at Vanderbilt University Medical Centre in Nashville, Tennessee, to repair a lesion on Samuel’s back, doctors removed Julie Armas’s uterus (with baby Samuel in it) and placed the football-size uterus on top of her abdomen.

According to a report in USA Today, the amniotic fluid was then drained into a warmer, to be replaced after the operation was completed.

Both mother and baby were given anaesthesia. Once the incision was made in the uterus, Dr Joseph Bruner lifted Samuel partially out of the womb.

Paediatric neurosurgeon Dr Noel Tulipan located the lesion on Samuel’s back, closed the sac that protects the spinal cord, and then closed the skin, USA Today reported. Samuel was then placed in Julie’s uterus and the amniotic fluid replaced.

Amazingly, in just about an hour after the surgery began, young Samuel was back inside his mother’s body, to remain for as long as possible to increase chances for a safe delivery.

Samuel Alexander Armas is due to be born any day now. He has remained in his mother’s womb for over three months following his extraordinary operation in early September.

His parents, Julie and Alex, permitted pictures of their baby’s operation, and a remarkable photograph of Samuel holding Dr Bruner’s hand was published in USA Today and is reprinted on this page. After their photo was discussed on the nationwide Dr Laura radio show, Mrs Armas wrote to Dr Laura Schlessinger explaining why they welcomed the newspaper article and photograph.

"No matter what Samuel’s outcome is, we know that God has allowed him to impact others with a photograph of his tiny, unborn hand," she wrote. "The statement that your listener included in his letter, that this photo has ‘solidified his belief in the sanctity of life’ was exactly what we hoped to accomplish."

Bruner, Tulipan, and their colleagues at Vanderbilt have performed over 70 fetal surgery procedures on babies with spina bifida. Spina bifida occurs when the spinal column fails to fuse properly, leaving a lesion (or opening) that is highly susceptible to infection. Often, hydrocephalus, a blockage in the brain that causes a build-up of spinal fluid, accompanies spina bifida.

For many unborn babies, a diagnosis of spina bifida will result in death by abortion. For those babies fortunate enough to be allowed to live, surgery is often performed after birth.

But unfortunately, the months spent in utero with the spina bifida untreated can result in leg paralysis, brain damage, or other problems. Hydrocephalus usually requires a shunt to drain the excess fluid and can even result in death.

The Armas baby’s experience illustrates a new approach: fetal surgery. Physicians attempt to minimise the effects of spina bifida by closing the lesion in the spinal column, sparing the spinal chord from exposure to amniotic fluid and contact with the uterine wall.

The Vanderbilt doctors published the results of 39 spina bifida surgeries in the November issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. They concluded that the operation decreased the need for shunts and reduced the incidence of hindbrain herniation, but increased the likelihood of premature delivery. As the children grow, the doctors will be able to determine if the surgery prevented other effects of spina bifida, such as leg paralysis.

Doctors at Vanderbilt University Medical Centre repaired a lesion on Samuel Armas’s back. You can see Samuel’s arm extending out of his mother’s uterus.

Sarah Marie Switzer was another Vanderbilt patient, one who had spina bifida surgery at 23 weeks, gestation. Born on August 22 at four and a half pounds, two months after her operation and nine weeks premature, she showed no sign of pressure on her brain, was kicking her legs, and seemed alert and happy, according to Life magazine. There was some indication that Sarah’s head was growing faster than normal, so she may eventually need a shunt, and her feet seemed weak, indicating that she may need the help of braces to walk.

Her parents, Trish and Mike Switzer of Hollywood, Maryland, decided to have the operation after they discovered the spina bifida in a routine 18 week ultrasound, Life reported. They searched the Internet and discovered Bruner’s web site at www.fetalsurgeons.com, which includes information about the work being done at Vanderbilt. They travelled to Nashville for the surgery when Sarah was 23 weeks old.

Although it will be some time before doctors can assess how the spina bifida affected Sarah, Trish Switzer told Life that she is glad they chose to have the operation. "Its impossible to say what the surgery did or what it didn’t do," she said. "We didn’t have a miracle, no, but at least we tried. We tried to make things different."

The power of pictures was illustrated once again when the Switzers allowed Life to photograph the surgery. This amazing series of photographs is featured in the December 1999 issue of the magazine.

Samuel’s parents, Julie and Alex Armas of Georgia, took a similar route to the operation at Vanderbilt, after discovering evidence of spina bifida in an ultrasound at 14 weeks, according to USA Today. They also found Bruner’s Internet site, and asked their physician to help them get in touch with the Vanderbilt doctor.

The Armases never considered abortion. Mrs Armas explained their pro-life convictions in her letter to Dr Laura.

"We have always believed life begins at conception, and we never wavered, not even when it was actually our decision to make and not mere words that we say,’ she wrote. "My husbands first words after we received the news were, Well, we wanted a baby and this is the one God has chosen to give us.’

Before surgery is performed, parents are counselled by Vanderbilt staff and given all facts needed to make an informed decision. They are shown the neonatal ward that houses premature infants and told about the likelihood of early delivery after fetal surgery, which could give their baby even more obstacles to overcome.

The Armases relied on their faith in God along with their trust in the doctors when making the difficult decision to have the experimental surgery.

"We think God works through people, advances, and technology,’ Alex Armas told USA Today. "Why not take advantage of the surgery now instead of later?"

As they await their baby’s birth, Samuel’s parents are convinced that they made the right decision.

"This was the first big trial we’ve ever been through," Mr Armas told USA Today. "We’ve never had an opportunity to exercise our faith in the past. Its like the Lord said, ‘Here this is. I want to see how you handle it.’

"We get so wrapped up in the surgery and the spina bifida and all of the details," added Julie Armas. "Sometimes we just have to step back and think, ‘We’re finally going to have a baby."’ 

The child’s parents have written this progress report: "Samuel arrived on Thursday, December 2 at 6.25pm at Northside Hospital weighing 5lbs 11 oz and 20½ inches long. He was born at 36 weeks but came into the world screaming his head off! He did not have to spend any time in a neonatal unit and came home with us on Monday December 6. After viewing an ultrasound of his brain, Samuel’s neurosurgeon was very optimistic as he does not have any hydrocephalus and the brain malformation has resolved. He is moving  his legs very well from the hips and some from the knees. He was frank breech (folded in half) in the womb and the orthopaedist feels that he has a good chance for walking. He will begin physical therapy next week in order to work out some of the stiffness in his legs that was a result of his being folded in half in the womb. He is also nursing very well.

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For some time now ProLife Victoria has been trying to improve its lines of communication and action alerts. We have now drawn up a telephone tree system whereby each "branch of the tree contacts another "branch" thereby spreading the message.

To be part of the telephone tree involves very little. Not much more than perhaps 3 telephone calls to 3 people who in turn will telephone 3 more prolifers. A typical example is when we need letters to Access Age, 50/50, newspapers, calls to radio and television stations to refute anti-life comments and stories. We can use the telephone tree to publicise important meetings, forums or witnesses, We simply need to pass on the word more efficiently and so be more effective prolife advocates. Some members have already indicated their willingness to be a part of the tree. Over the coming weeks you may receive a call. Don’t take fright! Please first pass on the message to the 3 or more names delegated to you and so help to "make things happen" in the prolife movement.

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Once again, a majority of the US Senate has voted to ban partial-birth abortion, which its defenders prefer to call "intact dilation and extraction". Multisyllabic, latinate words are always preferable when a speaker doesn’t want to be too specific about what he’s advocating.

Whatever the procedure is called, it involves partially delivering the baby, feetfirst, keeping its head in the birth canal, and suctioning out its brains before the entire, now dead baby - excuse me, fetus - is removed. Is this still abortion, or is it infanticide? It’s about half the other - or maybe three quarters one, one quarter the other.

These are the fine distinctions now regularly debated on the floor of the Senate. Subjects that once naturally inspired a shudder, and aroused every maternal and paternal instinct, are now smothered in latinate verbiage and set out to cool. Welcome to technologically sophisticated, spiritually retarded America 1999. We have forgotten how to shudder.

Once again, a majority of the Senate has voted against this form of barbarism by whichever name, and once again, the president is sure to veto this bill. Why, defenders of abortion ask, keep bringing it up? It’s a futile gesture.

One can understand why. In another century, nice people who really didn’t hold with slavery, but were prepared to let others practice it (call them pro-choice), also grew exasperated with the kind of troublemakers who wanted Congress to outlaw it in the territories.

The anti-slavery movement may well have been the first example of single-issue politics on the American scene, and we all know how irksome that can be. Every session of Congress, these agitators produced their bill outlawing slavery in the territories - the Wilmot Proviso, it was called - and every session it would get voted down. But they never stopped adding their proviso onto the really important bills. (Can anyone now recall just what they were?)

The defenders of partial-birth abortion are right about one thing; this debate isn’t about one form of abortion or infanticide, just as the movement to abolish slavery in the territories wasn’t about slavery only in the territories.

This annual debate on one form of abortion shines a glaring light on abortion in general, tearing away all those layers of euphemism, and opening eyes, hearts, minds. That’s why the pro-abortion lobby dreads this continuing debate and just wants it to go away; it stirs too many feelings, it opens too many minds, it examines too many unexplained assumptions.

Should these new abolitionists ever succeed in banning partial-birth abortion, they doubtless will go on to challenge the practice of unrestricted abortion any way they can ... till the fetus is again recognised as something human.

And more and more of those on the other side of the question - good, decent people who just don’t want to think about abortion anymore, who are tired of hearing about it - might think again, listen again and feel again. This issue isn’t going away. Life is hard to stamp out.

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To keep Dr Philip Nitschke out of the Olympic torch relay.

It’s a sign of a very sick society that assisted suicide campaigner Dr Philip Nitschke has been chosen to carry the torch in the Olympic relay. The Olympics have always been such a magnificent celebration of life, courage and triumph over adversity. To select Dr Philip Nitschke, whose main claim to fame is that he has personally overseen the deaths of a number of people, is an insult to life loving Australians. The Olympic games will be followed by the Para Olympics, a cause for inspiration and celebration of lives worth living even with disability or illness. The philosophy Philip Nitschke preaches "flies in the face" of this. He is out of place in the Olympic torch relay.

Please write to:

Ms Diane Henry
Olympic Torch Relay, SOCOG,
GPO Box 2000, Sydney, NSW, 2001

SAMPLE ONLY

The Olympics have always been a celebration of life - not an obsession with death. The Sydney Olympics will be followed by the Para Olympics when we will all be inspired by the triumphs of life over adversity, by the message of athletes proving all life is worth living and can be enjoyed to the fullest, even with the most severe disabilities.

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United Kingdom - Germaine Greer has just written a new book "The Whole Woman": In it she makes a judgment of developments that feminists continue to claim as signs of progress. She sees a vague male conspiracy. Abortion and contraception, she suggests, do not give a woman greater control over her body but turn her into a "man made non-mother". As for the legal right to have an abortion, she sees it as reflection of "the masculine medical establishment and the masculine judiciary". She states that what "women gained through Roe v Wade, was the right to undergo invasive procedures in order to terminate unwanted pregnancies, unwanted not just by them, but by their parents, their sexual partners, the governments who would hot support mothers, the employers who would not employ mothers, the landlords who would not accept tenants with children and the schools who would not accept students with children". Well, she has come a long way

Central America and Family Planning: Dr Nafis Sadik, Director of UNFPA, recently toured Honduras and Nicaragua. She made it clear that they might use the devastation of the hurricane as an opportunity to introduce new population limitation policies into the region. Commenting on the large size of families there, a UN Director said, "Those are the roots that cause the problems". Dr Rafael Cabrera from American University of Nicaragua, protested to Sadik saying, "We don’t want you to take advantage of us by offering us money in exchange for the sterile wombs of our mothers and for the innocent blood of our unborn children.

from Right to Life of Greater Cincinnati Newsletter, November 1999.

USA - Should she be aborted?: If you could have seen that your daughter, born out of wedlock, would be moved from family member to family member, would be raped at age 9 by a cousin, then sexually molested by an uncle and family friend  later to become a promiscuous teenager and run away from home to escape the pain, and all of this in the first 19 years of her life - if you had known this would you have aborted her? If you had, you would have killed Oprah Winfrey, the most successful black female entertainer in the world.

from Right to Life of Greater Cincinnati Newsletter, February 2000.

 

US A - Woman killed baby: In Cincinnati, Judge Robert Ruehlman sentenced 20-year-old April Parson to prison for smothering one of her two-month-old sons. In his judgement, he said: "Its our country’s fault, we have sanctioned the wholesale slaughter of unborn children. We sanction it and we then wonder why they do it after they’re born. We reap what we sow in this country" Cincinnati is proud of Judge Ruehlman.

from Right to Life of Greater Cincinnati Newsletter, September 1999.

USA - Two Killers. In Milwaukee on September 21, a man who shot his cat to death, because it hissed at him, was sentenced to 21 years in prison. In New York, abortionist Mark Bender got 5 years probation for pleading guilty to two felonies ... he unlawfully killed late term babies by distorting their ages.

from Right to Life of Greater Cincinnati Newsletter, October 1999.

USA - Blurring the institution of Marriage: Our national administration, in its continuing attack on the integrity of the family has taken one more subtle shot. In the new census coming up soon, there will not be a question about marital status. You will no longer have a box to check, whether you are single, married, widowed or divorced. According to World Magazine, "leaving marriage off the short form signals an important shift of values on the part of federal bureaucrats".

from Right to Life of Greater Cincinnati Newsletter, February 2000.

USA - First A-B-C Lawsuit: The first of what will probably be ultimately an avalanche of abortion - breast cancer lawsuits, has filed and had its first hearing in Fargo, North Dakota. That state has a law against false advertising. The lawsuit charges an abortion chamber with misleading customers by distributing a pamphlet, which stated, "None of the claims that induced abortion elevates the risk of breast cancer are supported by medical research or established medical organizations". The lawsuit details 32 major studies examining this question and clearly points out that 26 of them show a definite link. This may well be the first time that this link has been introduced in court. Rest assured, it will not be the last.

from Right to Life of Greater Cincinnati Newsletter, February 2000.

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