International Right to Life Federation, Inc.
Vol. 16 No. 4
(July/August 2005)

Canada Approves OTC Morning-After Pill
Canada has now formalized an order making the morning-after pill available at pharmacies across the country. This abortifacient pill will be available without a prescription. It is called emergency contraception, but the document itself says that it "prevents the fertilized egg from attaching to the wall of the uterus." When the "fertilized egg” (They mean a one week old embryo.) cannot attach, he or she dies, or more specifically, is killed at one week of life.

Mexico Clinics To Dispense Abortifacient
Mexico's Right to Life organization, Culture of Life, has appealed to its Supreme Court. It is challenging the constitutionality of a new law requiring that the morning-after pill be dispensed through 19,000 government health facilities nationwide. The law states that it can prevent pregnancy within 72 hours. This is biologically incorrect as it is well proven that this can, at times, kill a one-week-old living human by preventing implantation. We wish these pro-life people well.

RU486 Deaths Explained
Why have five women died recently from sepsis after taking the abortion drug RU486? The drug company, Danco, denies any relationship. The US Food and Drug Administration says they are. But now we have a very clear explanation in the September issue of the Annuals of Pharmacotherapy, by Dr. R. Miech of Brown University. He has shown that the anti-progesterone affects of RU486 cause changes in the cervix. These allow a common vaginal bacteria, C. Sordellii, to enter the uterus. This germ quote, "thrives in this low oxygen environment and derives nutrition from the decaying fetal tissue." He explains that, in the meantime, the drug has an anti-glucocorticoid action that prevents the women's immune system from fighting off the bacteria, "and in fact may help it spread. This combination can result in septic shock, the kind that these women died of." Three of the five women who died had this bacteria in their bodies. According to Dr. B. Miech, such infections are "rare outside of RU486 use." They are particularly dangerous because women do not show many symptoms until it is too late. This very clear explanation of the dynamics of how septic shock occurs sounds extremely convincing. This is yet one more reason why this combination of drugs must be taken off of the market before more women and babies die.

Singapore - Herewith Another New Adult Stem Cell Discovery
Cell Research Cooperation, news release, 7-11-05, is entitled “Singapore Biotech Firm Discovers New Source of Stem Cells.” What they have found is that the outer lining of an infant's umbilical cord has stem cells, as does the cord blood it carries. These stem cells are easily accessible. The outer lining of the cord also has epithelial and mesenchymal cell which can produce almost any type of cell in the human body. This is a first report but a rather startling one. If this is confirmed it could go a long way toward eliminating the alleged need for embryonic stem cells which can only be obtained by directly killing a five-day-old living human embryo.

Bolton Finally Appointed
President Bush has used a constitutional prerogative by giving John Bolton a "recess appointment" as US Ambassador to the UN. This means he will sit until January 2007, when his appointment expires. The move was immediately denounced by Senators Harry Reed and Ted Kennedy, which is evidence that the President did the right thing. Bolton will be a strong voice for the unborn.

Abortion Causes Premature Deliveries
According to an April report in the British Journal of OB-GYN women with a history of induced abortion have a higher risk of delivering very prematurely in subsequence pregnancies as compared to woman who have never had an abortion. After examining almost 2,000 very pre-term infants in France, (i.e. delivered before 33 weeks) women with one prior abortion had a 50% higher risk of delivering very pre-term. Those with previous abortions had increased risk because of premature rupture of the membranes, unexplained spontaneous pre-term labor and bleeding unassociated with maternal hypertension. This association has long been known but this new research report adds further confirmation.

UN Admission, Compares Abortion To "Torture"
The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimanation Against Woman (CEDAW) in its recent thirty-third session, began its meeting with the same tired charges against Ireland and other countries for not acknowledging women's right to abortion. But Kriztina Morval of Hungary spoke, "One thing that is lost in this debate is that abortion is bad for women. No woman wants to have an abortion. We have the illusion that women have free choice, but abortion is terribly damaging psychologically, spiritually and physically." She went ahead to say that she hopes one day "abortion will be a thing of the past and considered like torture in the field of human rights." She then focused on the responsibility of men, explaining that the majority of women choose abortion because their partners did not support their pregnancy. Talk about a breath of fresh air. Thank you Kriztina Morval.

Pro-lifers Excluded
Pro-life NGO's (None Governmental Organizations) were excluded from a meeting with the UN General Assembly recently. This was to prepare plans for the millennium development summit. US Ambassador Anne Patterson has lodged a formal complaint.

Smoking and Pre-Cancerous Fetal Cells
In the March 19th issue of the American Medical Association Journal, a major study and editorial brought new information about maternal cigarette smoking. It notes that cigarette smoking has been implicated in the development of cancers in the mouth, nose, esophagus, pharynx, larynx, lung, pancreas, myeloid organs, bladder and uterine cervix. To this list of pre-cancerous effects, we now add the skin of intrauterine fetuses. Maternal smoking has been shown to be associated with increased chromosomal instability of fetal skin cells. If confirmed and followed at length, this would indicate an increased number of skin cancers in these children (and later adults) and as they age.

Embryonic Stem Cells Without Killing Embryo's?
A new and fascinating method of obtaining pluripotent stem cells has just been described. The battle lines have become familiar to many. On one side are adult stem cells, which are easily available, can be obtained ethically and are filling the scientific literature with advances and cures. On the other side is the theoretical and unproven "bonanza of cures" that someday may be obtained from embryonic stem cells. These can be obtained only by killing a living five-day-old human embryo.

Now comes Oocyte Assisted Reprogramming, (OAR) which is a form of altered nuclear transfer. O.K. forget the big words and understand that it is an altered form of human cloning that does not produce a living human embryo. It produces a pluripotent stem cell similar to an embryonic stem cell. (i.e. a cell that can develop into any organ of the body) Dr. Hurlbut at Stanford University suggested this process recently. What it does is alter the egg that has its nucleus removed and alters the body cell which is placed inside of the egg in the process of cloning. In true cloning, this creates a single cell living human embryo which proceeds to grow. In this method, what is produced are embryonic stem cells that do not develop into a living human. In response to this, Congressman R. Bartlett (R-MD), has introduced a bill into the US Congress to fund such research. Catholic bioethicists have tentatively approved this method, as it does not result in the killing of a human embryo.

Vermont - Assisted Suicide Bill Dies
The bill to legalize assisted suicide in Vermont has been dropped. This is the second consecutive legislative session where a similar bill also died. Good work, guys!

Preemies Survive Earlier
According to research at the University College London Hospitals, 42 percent of babies born at 24 weeks into pregnancy survived. This is heartening news. There are also many fewer babies who survive at 22 weeks, with a handful at 21, and two known at 20. To some minds, at least, this should give pause to those countries that have laws permiting abortion later in pregnancy.

Vietnam's High Abortion Rate
We are told that there are 1.4 million abortions performed in Vietnam every year, although no documentation is given for this. We are also told that sex selection abortions are very common and that the average at which young people become sexual active has dropped from 19 to 14.5 years of age. This statistic is according to Medical News Today, July 10. Not surprisingly the Vietnam Family Planning Association, their equivalent of International Planned Parenthood, has stated that the problem is due to lack of sex education. We can only observe that if their sex education is similar to that commonly seen in the west, then sex education is not the solution, rather it is a part of the problem.

If Roe v Wade Is Reversed, Then What?
Roe v Wade is one of the two Supreme Court decisions which legalized abortion throughout all nine months of pregnancy in the US during 1973. There is considerable talk today about the Supreme Court possibly reversing these decisions. The pro-abortion community has jumped on this reversal and with a general alarm shouted that "women will be forced into the back allies, etc, etc, etc.” This presumes that if Roe is reversed abortion will become illegal. A recent detailed analysis of the laws of individual states refuted this. Yes, if Roe is reversed then the decision goes back to each state legislative body. What would we have then? Less than ten percent of the US population would live in states that would forbid abortion. In all of the other states, abortion would still be legal and, in most of them, completely unchanged from today’s total permissiveness. This being said, it is still of crucial importance that these Supreme Court decisions are reversed because this then returns the decision to individual states and thus to individual citizens through their elected representatives. Today all of our hands are tied. With this reversal, we would at least have a chance to protect unborn babies.

Czech Abortions Drop Sharply
Abortions in the Czech Republic over the last 25 years have dropped to one-fifth of what they were. In 1980 there were approximately 125,000 abortions annually. By 1995 this figure had dropped to 58,000. According to the records in 2004, the number is now 27,574. It is obvious that the current booming economy has much to do with this, as two decades ago people simply thought they could not afford to have many children. On the other hand, the climate remains pro-abortion as only two hospitals in the entire country do not perform abortions. Further, church attendance across Christian denominations is estimated to be only 3%.

Maternal Mortality Not Helped By Condoms
In a new UNFPA document, their annual report on maternal mortality worldwide reports that the most important means of reducing maternal morality is adequate medical care. This report contradicts their long time strategy of claiming that contraceptives and abortion will reduce maternal mortality. Even though it admits this fact, the UNFPA still insists that the use of contraceptives would save mothers’ lives.

US Women More Pro-Life
According to a recent CBS-New York Times poll, young women in the US between the ages of 18 and 29 are becoming more pro-life. When asked whether abortion "should be available to anyone who wants it," the answers were:
1993 - 49%, 2003 -35%, 2005 - 28%

Abortion should remain legal but with "stricter limits."
Those who agreed:
1993 - 30%, 2005 - 40%

Abortion should not be permitted.
Those who agreed:
1993 - 19%, 2005 - 35%

Influence of Pro-Life Groups in Europe
We have a report from the International Herald Tribune on the influence of pro-life groups in Europe. Understand, first of all, that this newspaper is owned totally by the New York Times. The NY Times is the flagship pro-abortion propaganda machine for the United States and the World. In any case, they have a report. They say that pro-life groups have "made powerful in-roads particularly in Poland, Italy, Slovakia, Lithuania and the Netherlands." Where a "full array of women's health services were once taken for granted, now these countries are considering new limits on abortion, stopping abortion funding, and even challenging contraceptive services." They admit that the only countries with "strict legal limits on abortion" are Ireland, Portugal, Malta and Poland.

Potential Cure for Parkinson's
Researchers at Tel Aviv University have succeeded in using adult stem cells to produce GDNF which is a substance that protects the neurons that produce dopamine. The lack of dopamine is a major factor in the on-going process of Parkinson's disease. This heralds hope for a potential treatment.

"Abstinence Works Every Time"
This quote from President Bush sums it up and more proof keeps coming. Here is one from The Journal of Adolescent and Family Health. It reports on men and women who were virgins at age 18 who were followed and interviewed 20 years later. Compared to those who were not virgins back then, these folks had half the risk of divorce. They had completed more education, their earnings were higher (20% more), and they had fewer teen pregnancies. This was an analysis of more than seven thousand men and women and obviously points toward the fact that abstinence in teenagers certainly can predict a person's success and well being in their middle year

J.C. Willke, President, International Right to Life Fed.
1821 West Galbraith Road
Cincinnati, Ohio 45239 USA
Phone +1 (513) 729-3600
Fax +1 (513) 729-3636
e-mail: IRTLF@lifeissues.org

International Right to Life Fed., International Office
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