Pro-Life News

Following the third reading of the Research Involving Embryos Bill, Federal Members of Parliament voted 99 to 33 in favour of experimentation. (A full list of those who voted for and against human embryo experimentation is included elsewhere.) According to Dr. David Van Gend of the Queensland Branch of the World Federation of Doctors Who Respect Human Life, "Members of the House of Representatives were simply not strong enough to crawl out from beneath such a heap of embryonic hype.... they are not scientists or doctors and simply believed the fevered fantasies about curing Alzheimers and Superman. Or if they had any doubts these were silenced by confrontation with true believers-parents of afflicted children who embraced passionately the false hope that embryo cells would make their son walk again or daughter stop taking insulin and asked "how could you block my child's best hope?" That quote symbolises the woefully misguided argument s that won the day for Big Biotech in its quest for an ongoing supply of human rats on which to test drugs" said Dr. van Gend. On a more optimistic note he warned that "The Senate is given to more sceptical reflection and may not succumb to magical thinking over an embryo science which is likely to remain, despite all the hype, both useless and dangerous."

No sooner had the votes been cast when The Australian newspaper published a damning critique of the Parliamentary debate on human embryo research by a Consultant Neurologist, Dr. Peter Silburn of the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane. ' I expected to hear well argued scientific debate. Instead, science has been the unintended casualty. Unfortunately, many politicians just assumed the bill would raise the paralysed to walk and set the Parkinson's sufferers free. Scientists usually have to prove their work, in an exhaustive process .... The bill before parliament has ushered in a new method of judging science. Simplistic videos and professional lobbying are replacing the strict scrutiny and accountability of the science ...... After all, the scientist's corridor of power used lie between brain and microscope, not in the hallways of Parliament House" he wrote (The full text of the Silburn article is reprinted elsewhere for your information).

Speaking of human embryonic research in Devonport recently, Senator Harradine said the Australian public had been misled.

Of the 70,000 frozen embryos which would be made available to scientists if legislation were passed by the Senate, a maximum of just 200 would be used for stem cell therapy. "Where are all the rest going?" he asked. "The fact is the majority will go into a number of things like genetic diagnostics, transport and observation of human embryos, to train people in IVF techniques, to test culture mediums, micro manipulation, studies in genetic makeup and expression and quality assurance testing....... The major money spinner for the drug companies is to be able to test drugs on live human embryos rather than animals for the first time. The youngest and most vulnerable member of the human race will be used as a laboratory rat."

The senate will begin debate on the bill after October 14. This is the last chance for the Australian embryo. And for the Australian pro life movement to appeal to their Senators to save them from this fate. Victorian Labor senator, Jacinta Collins, a staunch opponent of embryonic stem cell research has said the Senate debate might not start until November and the vote would be close.

Significantly, these two members were the most often named as having refused to grant appointments to constituents wishing to express their concern and opposition to the use of human embryos in stem cell research. In contrast, fellow Labor M.P. Martin Ferguson who was not expected to vote pro life, readily granted pro lifers an interview and whilst declaring his opposition to their viewpoint, was respectful and courteous towards them.

In her speech in Parliament, Anna Burke revealed her sister refused to speak to her after she signalled her support for embryo stem cell research. I am not surprised. She must have been acutely embarrassed by her sister's convoluted thinking. Fresh from hospital with her newborn son, Anna Burke claimed to believe in the preciousness of each individual embryo but was prepared for it to be treated like a laboratory rat. All the while being sceptical of promised medical miracles and warning against manufacturing hope! Having voted this way, how will she ever be able to read her little boy Dr. Suess's Horten Hears a Who in which Horten the elephant says, "A person's a person, no matter how small"? Anna Burke was quoted as asking the electorate and her family to forgive her. Undoubtedly they will. So will her God. Judas would have been forgiven had he repented. The problem for Anna Burke is that they won't forget. Not at the ballot box. Most of them would have been brought up to believe the end never justifies the means. Correspondence from constituents on embryo stem cell research reportedly ran at 70% against. Ignore her constituent's concerns and Anna Burke risks them ignoring her political ambitions when she wants to have an 'appointment' with them before the next election. Factional alliances are part of Labor Party politics but its still the constituents who get to vote.

Melinda Tankard-Reist's book Giving Sorrow Words on the adverse emotional and physical effects of induced abortion on over 200 women, is now in Victorian Public Libraries and 310 Victorian Secondary Schools. Pro Life Victoria earlier this year responded to a request from the West Australian Coalition for the Defence of Human Life for assistance in placing this book in Public Libraries and Secondary Schools throughout Australia with a cheque for $1,000. In acknowledging this financial assistance, Secretary of the Coalition Ted Watt wrote" Everyone who is involved in the recent mail out to libraries is very appreciative of the contribution from Pro Life Victoria, coming as it does from one of the less well-off bodies in the Life movement. ....... As far as I know there has never been anything like Melinda's book in Australia and we may have to wait a long time before anything as good is published again. If we do not work hard to publicise it, there is a danger that this outstanding book will pass unnoticed and a rare opportunity lost. The video too is very well done.

Pro Life Victoria's publicity would be invaluable in alerting supporters to the availability of the book and the video in libraries. It would help if people all over Australia were to put in an order to borrow these items from their local or school library and tell all their friends to do the same This will send a message to librarians that there is a demand for them. It will also ensure that they are frequently on the RETURN shelf in the library where they may catch the eye of other readers. This process of placing orders should go on for several years.

It would also be good if people ask for Melinda's book in local book shops. If they are told it is out of print they should say that Duffy and Snellgrove have reprinted it earlier this year. It would be marvellous if the book were on display in bookshops. Many customer who might be embarrassed to ask for it, might buy it if they could see it on display. Thank you once again for your help in this project.

The cloning issue has even divided Americans suffering from disabilities, with one camp claiming human cloning and embryonic stem cell research hold great potential for yielding cures and the other camp warning against a policy that accepts the destruction of life (embryos).

Actor Christopher Reeve of Superman fame is an outspoken proponent of therapeutic cloning, hoping that such research will eventually help people with spinal cord injuries. Reeve himself became quadriplegic in a 1995 accident during an equestrian competition. He now heads the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation.

But disability activists Joni Eareckson Tada of California and Jim Kelly of Texas, both left paralysed from accidents, at a news conference urged the Senate to pass a ban on human cloning.

"Research should not benefit me at the expense of other human life," said Eareckson Tada. "I find it shameful that some of my associates with disabilities are using their physical impairment as a plea to promote research cloning," she said. "I am offended that words like 'helpless victim' and 'being trapped in a useless body' are used to sway the sympathies of legislators."

"I don't like being used," said Kelly. "I think it's highly immoral for researchers to encourage the sick, crippled and dying to cut their own throats by supporting cloning."

David Stevens, M.D., executive director of the Christian Medical Association, offered up his own argument against human cloning.

"Cloning is dangerous for patients because the cloning process has produced animals with abnormal and deadly physical characteristics," said Stevens. "It's also dangerous for senators because four out of five people in this country oppose human cloning," he added.

Australia's smallest territory has become the country's first to decriminalize abortion, making it legal under virtually any circumstances. Not only will women in the 900 square mile area surrounding the capital, Canberra, be free to have abortions, they will also no longer be given literature beforehand showing exactly what is being destroyed in the womb. A.C.T. Right to Life representative Mary Joseph called the decision a "tragedy".

"By nine to eight, the 17 member legislative assembly in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) voted to remove abortion from the criminal code. By the same margin, the lawmakers also overturned legislation that required clinics to provide women considering an abortion with literature to study first. The information, produced independently of those involved in providing abortions, included pictures of a developing fetus, information on alternatives to abortion, and warnings about possible health risks associated with abortion. Also no longer mandatory is a 72 hour "cooling off' period that had been designed to help women avoid making rushed decisions.

Joseph said the removal of these requirements meant that "the abortion industry ... will once again be the primary source of information for women" even though providing "full and impartial" information on abortion was clearly not in its best financial interests. Pro-abortion campaigners welcomed the outcome, with a group called Options for Women expressing the hope that parliaments in other Australian states would follow ACT's example. With assembly members enjoying the right to vote according to conscience, voting crossed party lines. Two members of the ruling Labor Party voted against the moves - and against their party colleagues - while one member of the conservative opposition Liberal Party voted in favour. Helen Cross, the sole Liberal lawmaker whose vote swung the result, said the notion of abortion being a crime was "archaic."

The lawmakers also considered but rejected another bill, from Liberal member Vicki Dunne, who sought to
tighten abortion laws. Her bill would have created a new criminal offence, punishable by a prison term of up to 10 years, of coercing a woman into having an abortion. It would also have denied abortionists or associated staff any counselling role, ensuring that women weighing up having an abortion received independent advice. "I want to ensure that a woman contemplating an abortion is not pressured to have an abortion by someone who stands to make money out of the process," she said during an earlier sitting.

Up to now, ACT law provided for 10 year jail terms for anyone carrying out an abortion illegally. Although the territory is the first part of Australia to make abortion completely legal, it is nonetheless widely available throughout the country despite legal restrictions. Most commonly, abortion is allowed on the basis of claims that continuing with the pregnancy would have an adverse psychological or physical effect on the mother. Critics say that effectively allows abortion on demand, as anyone simply not wanting to have their baby could cite psychological problems or pressures. In South Australia, for instance, 97.7 percent of all abortions in 2001 were approved for reasons of the mental well-being of the mother, according to figures released this week. South Australia is the only Australian state where abortion statistics have been reported to state legislators each year for decades. Other states' figures are expected to fall along similar lines, however.

"The terminology - doing an abortion for the mental health of the woman - is so vague as to be without serious precise meaning," Dr. John Fleming, director of the Southern Cross Bioethics Institute in South Australia, said in an earlier interview. "Because it's so vague it would be extraordinarily difficult to bring a prosecution against any doctor."

by Dr. Pia de Solenni who is a policy analyst in the Life Studies Department of the Family Research Council. "What women don't know does hurt them." - Germaine Greer

She should know. When she published "The Female Eunuch" in 1972, Germaine Greer advocated a life based on sexual license as the path to personal fulfilment. Greer practised what she preached in 1972. As a result, she could no longer have a child because her several abortions left her sterile and suffering from other gynaecological health problems.
Almost 30 years later, at age 50, she wrote "The Whole Woman. " While not completely changing her pro-choice stance, Greer argues that abortion is a sign, not of liberation, but of oppression.
Evidence of the abuses conducted within and by abortion clinics confirms Greer's view.
In April 1998, Lou Anne Herron haemorrhaged to death three hours after the abortion of her 26-week-old unborn child. She was still at the A-Z Women's Centre when she died. Clinic staffers waited until they could barely perceive a heart beat to call 911. Dr. John Biskind, who had performed the abortion, left the clinic earlier even though he knew his patient was still bleeding excessively.

Prior to Herron's death, seven lawsuits filed locally named the clinic, Biskind and clinic owner Dr. Moshe Hachamovitch. By this time, Biskind had already miscalculated the fetal age of another unborn child and delivered the 26-week-old girl alive. Despite his history of incompetence, Biskind was still performing abortions when Herron sought his services in 1998.
In another example, former abortion provider Carol Everett recalls the time a 21-year-old patient "danced in" to get her "problem taken care of." Everett was assisting in the abortion when the doctor punctured the patient's uterus and pulled her bowel through.

ABC's "20/20" interviewed Dr. Brian Finkel in 1999. Although Dr. Finkel himself performed abortions, he admitted that the majority of abortions are done by doctors who have "as marginal a facility as possible to maximize profit."
Later, Finkel himself was charged with 67 sex crimes against his patients. After the first indictment, the district attorney's office received calls from more than 100 women alleging abuse from Finkel.

solated incidents or just the tip of the iceberg? It might shock many Americans to learn that such information is hard to find. The U.S. currently has no mandatory abortion reporting requirements, but anecdotal evidence and personal testimonies increasingly portray a situation that is anything but pro-woman. Despite the incidents of malpractice and abuse, the $90 billion abortion industry remains largely unregulated.

Prior to Roe vs. Wade, abortion advocates argued that legalised abortion would be safer for women because it would be regulated. But from the beginning, the safety of women having abortions was not tracked.

One would think that after all the hype about safe and legal abortion, abortionists would be ready and willing to prove how "safe" it is. However, in 1978 -just five years after abortion was legalised - a Chicago Sun-Times report on the Chicago-area abortion industry found that, although the Illinois Department of Public Health gave statistics on the age, race and marital status of every woman who received an abortion in the area since 1973, it did not provide information on abortion-related deaths. Thus, it was impossible to know whether Roe had actually made abortion safe for women.

Between 1984 and 1994, IDPH was prohibited from mandating abortion reporting by a temporary restraining order. Today, pursuant to court order, IDPH cannot make public the number of abortion deaths per year unless it is greater than 50. Apparently, the needless deaths of 51 women would be cause for concern, but 50 would not. It's impossible to judge whether a procedure is safe if all deaths from the procedure need not be reported.

Data collection for abortion-related deaths is not governed by a consistent, uniform standard. The U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention collects abortion statistics on a voluntary basis from state and local health departments and medical care providers. In a 2000 abortion surveillance report, complete information for key states like California and Florida is not included. According to the proabortion Alan Guttmacher Institute, about 20 percent of all abortions in the U.S. take place in California. The "Morbidity and Mortality" report of the CDC data gives no information on abortion-related deaths and injuries.

Currently, veterinary clinics in the state of New York are required to follow more guidelines than abortion clinics. For instance, a woman who decides to have an abortion will be attended by a clinic worker who may not even satisfy the criteria necessary to handle her dog at an animal hospital.
The California Senate is currently considering a bill to remove the provision that only a holder of a physician's and surgeon's certificate may perform abortions. The bill sets no criteria for uncredentialed abortion providers, putting women in danger yet again.

Despite the rhetoric that accompanied Roe vs. Wade, abortion today is unsafe and unregulated, marked too often by injured and dying women, unregulated clinics, and uncertified practitioners.
Abortion is legal - but Greer and others bear the scars, which show it isn't safe. Like Greer, we should ask just how pro-woman abortion really is if the industry isn't even subject to basic regulation.

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As the World Summit for Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg, South Africa drew to a close recently, prolife/pro-family delegates were satisfied with the outcome document, and some even expressed guarded optimism that their opponents may now be lowering their own expectations for such UN meetings, or even moderating their positions.

For instance, population control was left off of the agenda, a point noted by the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), the world's largest abortion provider. According to IPPF, this was because a new consensus is beginning to emerge that population growth is not the root cause of development problems. "A virtual silence on rapid world population growth at the Earth Summit reflects a change in the way governments and society view the question of how to tackle poverty and protect the planet, delegates said. Rising world population was at the centre of talks at the last such UN summit in Rio de Janeiro 10 years ago but was scarcely mentioned in Johannesburg. Silence on population was a recognition that more people do not always mean more poverty," IFFY said in a press release.

The WSSD document does not mention abortion, nor does it possess language that can be used to advance an abortion-rights agenda, one delegate told the Friday Fax. The phrase "reproductive and sexual health," which prolife observers have long suspected of including abortion, was here included within a paragraph on basic health care and the prevention of diseases, thereby making it nearly impossible for the phrase to refer to abortion.

It was also agreed that healthcare would be promoted "consistent with national laws and cultural and religious values," which provides individual nations substantial protection from any international pressure to liberalize abortion laws.
There has been considerable confusion regarding the outcome document. According to a Los Angeles Times article, "delegates from Canada and Europe succeeded to reopen the document and add a few words that they said were needed to guarantee women's rights to contraception, safe abortion and other reproductive services." However, Friday Fax sources are unanimous in claiming that the document guarantees no such "rights."

June Zeitlin, executive director of the radical feminist Women's Environment and Development Organization (WEDO) told the Los Angeles Times" We won. We won. Never underestimate the women of the world." But a delegate who worked very closely on compromise language with the WEDO argues that this declaration of victory reflects a new moderation of WEDO's goals rather than the successful establishment of a right to abortion. "Perhaps some miracle has occurred, if they think that this balanced, careful language is a victory, for it is certainly a victory for the world's poor. Maybe we are now all on the same page," said the pro-family delegate.

Only the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) seemed unwilling to accept this new understanding, especially on population control. One UNFPA official said, "We cannot reduce poverty and protect natural resources without addressing population issues." Another UNFPA official criticized the fact that "There is always some timidity within the UN on population issues."

... from C-FAM (Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute) - Sept. 6, 2002.
Website: "http: / /www.c-fam.org"

Dutch nurse accused of killing 13 people has denied murdering her patients at a trial in the Netherlands. Lucy de Berk is accused of killing five children and eight elderly people over a four-and-a-half year period. Several of her victims were children born with severe physical or mental handicaps or older people who were terminally ill. Her trial began earlier this week at The Hague. Prosecutors allege De Berk, 40, gave her patients lethal drugs while working in three local hospitals. The authorities say her victims included babies and a 91-year-old Chinese judge who worked at the nearby International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

Testifying Tuesday, De Berk blamed doctors for ignoring warnings that her patients were ill. "I have a clear conscience. I didn't do a thing," De Berk told the court. "Of course it's strange, but I don't know how it happened."

One of her alleged victims, a 6-year-old Afghan boy named Ahmad Noory, was mentally and physically disabled and could not speak. He died of a lethal dose of sleeping medication during one of De Berk's shifts. "I warned the doctor that the child was very ill and nothing was done." she said. "Nobody did anything when I told them Ahmad had stopped responding and couldn't be woken up."

De Berk was arrested in December and charged with 13 counts of murder and five counts of attempted murder. She
also faces charges of forging documents.

Euthanasia laws

In April of this year, the Netherlands became the first country in the world to legalize euthanasia, although the practice has been tolerated for two decades. Critics of the Dutch law say it could allow qualified medical staff to easily get away with murder and warn that more cases similar to De Berk's could surface under the new law. Bert Dorenbos, president of Cry For Life, said the euthanasia law has helped to create a "culture of death"; in the medical profession.

"I expect that in the end, doctors will think of euthanasia as a normal medical treatment," he said. "In a way, this trial demonstrates hypocrisy. The doctors have been going ahead with killing and this nurse ... has been put on trial."
"It is quite obvious that, if she is found guilty, this nurse has been going beyond the letter of the euthanasia law," Dorenbos said. "(But) the situation here is going more and more downhill."

FBI expert

Prosecutors will lay out their case this week and they expect to call to the stand a toxicologist, an FBI expert on serial killers and a mathematician, who will testify about the statistical probability of De Berk being present at 13 deaths merely by chance.
The defence will respond to the charges next week and a verdict is expected next month, reports said.

World Wide Rosary For Life In Conjunction With Rosaries For Life, Tennessee You are' Invited to a Day Retreat in Honour of Our Lady of Fatima Dr Des Jenkins will celebrate Mass. Mr. Richard Grant will speak on Humanae Vitae
Date: Where: Cost:	Wednesday October 16 2002 Mary McKillop Centre, 109 Old Mornington Rd. Mt. Eliza. At: 10.30 A.M. - 2.30 P.M. $10 per person
Morning Tea will be served but please bring your own lunch Contacts- Mrs. Margaret Maslen Telepthone., 9776 9339 and Mrs. Carmel Coles Telephone., 9787 3966

Pro-Life Victoria (Inc.)	Annual General Meeting
Friday 8 November 2002 7.30 pm R.S.L. Rooms - Corner Manningtree & Glenferrie Roads, Hawthorn Melways 45: B10 Guest Speaker: Marcia Riordan Respect Life Office Drinks/Supper Afterwards - New Members Especially Welcome

GREECE - Legislation proposed by the Greek government to outlaw human cloning and sex selection, except on serious so-called medical grounds, also provides for IVF for married and unmarried women. The synod described this as a serious threat to Greek family values. The Orthodox Church affirms the sacredness of life from conception, and IVF involves a hugely disproportionate risk to the lives of those babies created by it.

UNITED KINGDOM - A popular British singer has revealed that she was suicidal after her abortion. In a book to be published next month, Nicole Appleton, a former member of the group called All Saints, reveals that she aborted a baby conceived with Robbie Williams, another popular British singing celebrity. Ms Appleton claims that she had the abortion against Robbie Williams' wishes, and writes: "The abortion must have symbolised everything [Robbie] hated about how this business can control your life. It so overwhelmed me that he had lost his child. I wanted to weep and weep."

It is reported that Robbie Williams, the British singing star, was so upset about the abortion of his unborn child that he named the child Grace and wrote a song about her which was included on one of his albums. The Sun newspaper quotes a friend of Robbie Williams as saying: "Robbie thinks about the unborn baby a lot. He always thought it would be a girl called Grace and wrote a song about it on one of his albums. She would be three now."

UNITED KINGDOM - The Pope has appealed to the British government to respect human life. In an address
to Kathryn Frances Colvin, the new British ambassador to the Holy See, Pope John Paul II lamented attempts to legitimise abortion, embryo experimentation and human cloning. He then insisted: "Neither human life nor the human person can ever legitimately be treated as an object to be manipulated or as a disposable commodity; rather each human being - at every stage of existence, from conception to natural death - is endowed by the Creator with a sublime dignity that demands the greatest respect and vigilance on the part of individuals, communities, nations and international bodies." The UK is the only western country whose parliament has legislated to authorise the creation and destruction of cloned human beings for research purposes.

CANADA - The head of MaterCare International (MCI), a Catholic group of prolife obstetricians and gynaecologists who care for women in the developing world, has claimed that Canadian international aid is tied to abortion. Dr Richard Whalley, a prolife gynaecologist originally from the UK, claims that the Canadian International Development Agency has refused to fund MCI's new trauma centre in Ghana because it does not perform abortions. Dr Whalley has also complained that MCI's activities in East Timor were opposed by the United Nations because MCI would not offer abortions or provide the morning-after pill.

CHINA-A businessman and his wife in eastern China have received the biggest fine yet for breaking China's population control policy. The couple were fined $93,660 for having a third child. Under China's new family planning law, a couple can be fined up to six times their annual income for having unauthorised children. Clearly, this puts couples under considerable pressure to avoid a fine by having an abortion. Forced abortions are also a well-documented component of China's population control programme.

GERMANY - The Catholic bishops of Germany have stressed the need to protect unborn life in their guidance for voters in the federal parliamentary elections held on 22 September. Among other issues, the bishops told Catholics that the weakest, especially the unborn, had to be protected. They also condemned experimentation on human embryos.

INDIA - Infertile couples in India are being urged to consider adoption rather than in vitro fertilisation. Despite widespread poverty, there have been more IVF babies born in India than in any other country. Professor Sheila Rae of the University of Rajasthan is one of those urging recourse to adoption. She says that she cannot understand why adoption is rejected "when it can be emotionally satisfying, as well as a humble contribution to [the] nation's well-being". The IVF procedure takes a terrible toll on the lives of those unborn babies created by it, and only a tiny minority are born alive.

JORDAN - The government of Jordan has issued a stern warning to doctors involved in illegal abortions. Officials have estimated that more than 500 illegal abortions have been carried out in Jordan so far this year, but Faleh Nasser, the country's health minister, has warned physicians that they risk their careers and freedom if they perform illegal abortions. Abortion is forbidden in Jordan under both national and Islamic Sharia law except to save the mother's life. Abortionists face between three and 10 years in prison.

UNITED KINGDOM - Ian Duncan Smith, the leader of Britain's parliamentary opposition, has condemned the provision of morning-after pills to school children in a speech to mark the first anniversary of his election as leader of the Conservative Party. Mr Duncan Smith supported a campaign by Eileen Wojciechowska against a contraception clinic in her daughter's school where children as young as 11 could obtain the morning-after pill without the knowledge of their parents. Mr Duncan Smith observed: "But clinics like these do not have to pick up the pieces when this policy goes wrong."

UNITED NATIONS - Prolifers have expressed concern that Mary Robinson is to head a new project aimed at forcing governments to comply with their United Nations treaty obligations in the area of human rights. Mrs Robinson left her post as UN High Commissioner for human rights yesterday and announced that she would now be heading a project called the Ethical Globalization Initiative from next month. Mrs Robinson has consistently pushed for abortion to be recognised as a human right, and berated the prolife president of Costa Rica on this issue recently at the world summit in Johannesburg.

	Amongst the 99 Federal Members of Parliament who voted in favour of Human Embryo Stem Cell Research it was disappointing to read the names of Victorian M.P.'s Anna Burke, the Member for Chisholm (Caroline Chisholm, after whom her seat is named, would be turning in her grave!) and Christian Zahra, the Member for McMillan, who had either previously indicated a pro life position or could have been expected to be pro life.
Anna Burke - disappointing		Christian Zahra - disappointing