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International Right to Life Federation,
Inc. WHO DEFINITION OF “HEALTH”: We cannot repeat often enough the official definition of “health” by the World Health Organization. It is: “a state of complete physical, mental and emotional well being.” The result of this definition, as well as a similar definition of the word “health” by the U.S. Supreme Court, has had a specific effect worldwide. Any law in any country that allows abortion for “health” reasons, in effect allows abortion on demand. We must continue to remember this and to repeat it endlessly, for the average person reading the word “health” will tend to understand that the abortion is only needed to save her life or for severe physical health reasons. Not so. “Health” equals abortion on demand. GERMANY – LEGALIZE RU 486? German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has said that he welcomes giving women RU 486. After his endorsement, Edouard Sakiz, the patent holder, said he would apply to European Union authorities for approval to market the pill in Germany. Karl Lehmann, head of the German Catholic Bishops Conference, on German radio said, “It remains illegal killing.” Former Chancellor Helmut Kohl had blocked sales of this dangerous abortion drug for years. ANOTHER WOMAN DEAD: In British Columbia, pro-life activists recently obtained documentation of the death of Linda Henricksen, 44 at Vancouver General Hospital, on April 23, 1998. She was 15 weeks pregnant. CANADA – RU 486 PILL: Out of British Columbia, the organization Health Canada has written to France to request that they apply for permission to market this lethal pill in Canada. In response to this request from a provincial group, a spokesperson for Exelgyn, the Paris-based company that makes RU 486, stated that at this time, they will not move on such a request because the French company has not received the necessary reassurances “from a country where you kill people who do abortions”. ARGENTINA - DAY OF UNBORN: On March 25th, Argentina celebrated the “Day of the Unborn Child.” This followed the December 8, 1998 Presidential Declaration announcing it by Argentine President, Carlos Menem. The decree stated, “Under our constitution and our civil legislation, life begins at the moment of conception....and the right to life exists from that time as the basis for all other individual rights.” “The right to life is not a question about ideology or religion but a very emanation of human nature. The interruption of pregnancy by abortion is an offense against the life of an unborn person. Hence in our regional policies we have the affirmation that in no case can abortion be approved.” The Argentinean delegate to the pro-abortion Cairo +5 United Nations conference addressed the opening session of the U.N. meeting. He proclaimed his country's pro-life position and announced the above. He went on to criticize U.N. attempts to circumvent national sovereignty and its attempt to exert coercion on other nations to cooperate on population control. SAUDI ARABIA CONVICTION: A Lebanese man, convicted of performing abortions in Saudi Arabia, was sentenced to life in prison. He had been in custody since his arrest 12 years ago. It was shown that he had carried out abortions on unmarried pregnant women. Abortion is banned in this Islamic Kingdom, except under extraordinary circumstances, including when the mother's life is at risk. PERU STERILIZATIONS CONTINUE: Peru's Health Minister announced in May that doctors have performed 300,000 tubal ligations in the last five years and “plan to sterilize 45,000 more this year.” The program has been widely attacked, charging that Peruvian women are tricked or pressured into agreeing to sterilizations by doctors forced to meet government quotas. The information collected indicates that poor, mostly peasant women were offered food and other incentives in exchange for being sterilized, a procedure they did not understand. ST. PETERSBURG SEMINAR: At the recently completed 3 day seminar in St. Petersburg, in addition to attendees from Russia, Ukraine and Eastern Europe, the International Right to Life Federation was represented by delegates from India, Australia and North America. The congress was co-sponsored by “Open Christianity.” Much of the time was dedicated to concerns about the threat to the school operated in St. Petersburg by Open Christianity. Basic pro-life themes were also covered, as well as reports from many nations. Ukrainian delegates attending St. Petersburg Seminar INTERNATIONAL RTL BOARD MEETING: This annual meeting was held immediately after the St. Petersburg seminar (above). It was with real regrets that resignations from the board were accepted from two long time board members. Dr. Silvio Ghielmi of Milano Italy has become so completely swept up in his very very successful “Remote Adoption” program that he will be devoting all of his time to it. From Canada, Mrs. Anna Desilets has retired from her position as Director of the Canadian Alliance for Life. She too has served faithfully. We give grateful thanks to both of these pro-life veterans who have been in the fight to protect the unborn for many years. CAIRO +5 NEW YORK: Peter Smith, Jeanne Head, Austin Ruse and as many as sixty other pro-life volunteers, came to New York in April to lobby for the pro-life, pro-family cause at this major UN Prep Com. The wealthy western nations tried vigorously to promote their anti-life, anti-family agenda, but, the G77 nations, with help from many other sources, not the least of which was the help of our lobbyists, were able to prevent them from achieving their goals at this meeting. At the conference, United Nations Fund for Population Director, Dr. Nafis Sadik at a general session, called for “emergency contraception,” to be used worldwide. She claimed that it was not abortive and that it was, in fact, a contraceptive. Because of considerable confusion on this subject, the article (page 3) was printed in Vivant, the daily pro-life newsletter published at the conference. We reprint it here for your information. I.V.F. TWINS, ONE BLACK ONE WHITE: As reported in the New York Post and New York Times (3/30/99) a New Jersey couple delivered twin boys. They were the result of Invitro Fertilization (test tube babies). This medical foul-up occurred when in April 1998, a doctor planted in the white woman's womb, a test tube embryo from this couple and, in a mix up, another test tube embryo from a black couple who were also seeking an I.V.F. child. Their attorney said that they have “Reared, loved and cared for both boys as their own. She doesn't look upon them as black and white but rather as her sons.” However, recognizing that the black infant is in fact the genetic son of the other couple, they have agreed to surrender the child to his biologic parents. Both couples have entered law suits against the clinic. WHEN HUMAN LIFE BEGINS: In the article above, the white lady carried twins. Her own white son and another couple's black son. Both were planted in her womb a few days after fertilization. Each consisted of 8 or 16 cells, having only 3 days previously, consisted of a single cell. This offers a clear biologic proof of when human life begins. The lives of each of these boys began as a single cell. On that day, they were both already boys, they were alive, they were growing and they were complete, for nothing was added to the single cell, who each of them once was, nothing but oxygen and nutrition. The little black boy grew and matured within the white mother's womb, but, at birth did not look like her at all. She had offered him a little house to live in and fed him, but he was, as a single cell, already the genetic son of those black parents. If any proof were needed that human life begins as a single cell, this case certainly adds that proof. Pro-abortion people still occasionally offer the argument that we do not know when human life begins. If anyone poses this question today, we can but smile, for they are either ignorant of the biologic facts or they lie. PERU STERILIZATIONS CONTINUE: Peru's Health Minister announced in May that doctors have performed 300,000 tubal ligations in the last five years and “plan to sterilize 45,000 more this year.” The program has been widely attacked, charging that Peruvian women are tricked or pressured into agreeing to sterilizations by doctors forced to meet government quotas. The information collected indicates that poor, mostly peasant women were offered food and other incentives in exchange for being sterilized, a procedure they did not understand. MEXICO – POPULATION TO DECREASE: The official organization most aggressively promoting birth control in Mexico, its National Population Council, has publicly recognized that its efforts could produce “a nation of elders.” Its recent report warned that the elderly population in Mexico will reach 20 million by the year 2000, while the proportion of children will diminish dramatically. If current population dynamics do not change, in 15 years the total population will increase by 22%, but within this, those older than 60 will be increased by 73%. The total fertility rate in Mexico, which was 6.0 children per woman in 1975, has dropped to 2.6 in 1997. Considering the still high childhood mortality rate, this birthrate is not enough to maintain the current population. The rise in life expectancy, i.e., postponing death of those already born, is the main current reason for the continued overall rise in population. KEVORKIAN SENTENCED: A Michigan court has sentenced Mr. Jack Kevorkian to 10-25 years in prison for killing that man on “60 Minutes.” He was also given 3-7 years for delivery of a controlled substance. The Judge, Jessica Cooper, stated, “It was about lawlessness. It was about disrespect for a society that exists because of the strength of the legal system. No one, Sir, is above the law. No one. You had the audacity to go on national television, show the world what you did and dared the legal system to stop you. Well, Sir, consider yourself stopped. The American public clearly rejects killing as a way of solving medical problems. In fact the most lopsided vote ever recorded on the question of assisted suicide, occurred right here in Michigan, last fall, with the defeat of Proposal B, by a vote of 71-29. With this vote, the citizens of Michigan reassured the nation of their sound judgement in rejecting killing as a response to disease or disability. Those of good will should not unite to provide care of our sick: getting existing pain relief techniques to patients in discomfort; screening and treating for depression and demoralization among those fighting disease; and supporting hospice care for the family of those who need it.” "EMERGENCY CONTRACEPTION" INCLUDES ABORTIFACIENTS: “Conception,” “fertilization,” “implantation,” “human life,” are terms that are sometimes confused. Human life, biologically speaking, begins at the first cell stage. This has been a known scientific fact for over 100 years. Fertilization or the “moment of conception” is the union of sperm and egg. There has been considerable misunderstanding at this meeting regarding “emergency contraception.” First, here are some proven medical facts: sperm, deposited in a woman's body can reach her ovaries in as little as 30 minutes. If an ovum awaits, fertilization (conception) can occur at that time. After fertilization (conception), this single cell contains within it a totally new male or female human. Nothing will be added to this new human from this time until he/she dies, nothing except nutrition and oxygen. For the next seven days this new human embryo floats freely down the woman's fallopian tube and will then implant itself into the nutrient lining of her womb. In a few days, he/she taps into the mother's blood stream and sends a chemical-hormonal message into her blood. This is carried to a gland at the base of her brain. Through this mechanism this new passenger stops her menstrual period. On the day her menses was due (and does not occur) it is one month since the onset of her last menstrual period, two weeks since fertilization and one week since implantation. When the mother is 4-6 days late for her period, the fetal heart of the new human being within her begins to beat. The word “conception is used in two way. The traditional meaning has been union of sperm and ovum as in “fertilization.” A new usage of this term has redefined it to mean the time of implantation. When used in this way, contraceptives include pills, IUDs and so-called “emergency contraception.” The word “pregnancy” has also been used recently by some with a new meaning. Traditionally, it has always been defined as beginning at fertilization (conception). A newer usage defines “pregnancy” as beginning when the woman's body is effected by the attachment of the new embryo, i.e., at implantation. When using “conception” and “pregnancy” in these newly defined meanings, honesty requires that the user specifically state his/her meaning to be at the implantation rather than the traditional meaning which the overwhelming majority of listeners hear it to be. The term “emergency contraception” is very misleading. In view of the 30-minute transit time of sperm, if an ovum awaits, fertilization occurs and a new human life begins. The woman then is pregnant before she gets out of bed. The use of pills 12-24 hours later cannot possibly prevent human life from beginning. But these pills also have the effect of hardening the lining of the womb. Then, when this one-week old human reaches the womb, he/she cannot implant and dies. This is an abortion. “Emergency contraception,” when it “works,” is not contraception. It is an abortifacient.* *A second mechanism, postulated but not proven, may apply in a very small percentage of cases. Here a projected ovulation, 1 to 2 days post coital, may be suppressed and fertilization averted. This would be a contraceptive action. J.C. Willke, MD CONTACT US Phone: (513) 729-3600
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