Life Issues Institute, Inc.

International Right to Life Federation, Inc.

Vol. 11 No. 2
(March/April2000)

Beijing + 5 Prep-Com

As expected, delegates from the West attempted to add language to the original United Nations' Beijing document that would have radicalized it. They were stymied at every turn by the unexpected presence of 350 pro-life, pro-family lobbyists organized and led by Austin Ruse of the Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute, the International Right to Life, Human Life International and other pro-family groups. The key focus of the radical feminist agenda was to elevate and equate their version of “women's rights” to the level of universal human rights. This would include unrestricted abortion, lesbianism and any other activity without accountability. There was a major push for the “girl-child” to be able to get contraceptives, abortion, sex education and pornographic information without parental involvement or knowledge. Their push for quotas was continuous. They wanted specific quotas for women's involvement in practically every human endeavor, whether practical and realistic or not. Further, they continued to attempt to push through language that would guarantee the acceptance and promotion of gay and lesbian sexual orientation.

They were stymied at every turn by the pro-family lobbyists. After two weeks, the conference ended with absolutely no consensus. A newly formed, radical youth group had previously had meetings in Brussels and Lisbon. It too was overwhelmed by more than 100 pro-life, pro-family youth lobbyists. It finally cancelled its meetings and left town with nothing accomplished. The action now moves to an intersession, again at New York U.N. headquarters, to attempt to produce a document to be presented at the U.N. General Assembly later in the year. Already there is a major attempt to limit the number of pro-life lobbyists, even though our 350 paled compared to the 1,500 fielded by the other side.

The Council of Europe meeting in Strasbourg last June condemned the practice of euthanasia. It is good to remind the pro-life movement of this, particularly in view of the imminent legalization of euthanasia in Belgium

The aggressively anti-Catholic group, “Catholics for a Free Choice” has been leading a charge to have the Holy See removed from the United Nations – to have its permanent observer status revoked. This campaign has gone into high gear while the radical pro-abortion and anti-family forces enjoy substantial publicity from the pro-abortion press and continue to press their case. They have collected, as of this writing, 400 to 500 signatures of as many organizations supporting their case. To counter this, the pro-life office at the UN in New York, the Catholic Family and Human Rights office under Mr. Austin Ruse, has mounted a counter attack. In their press conference on March 16, a coalition of pro-life, pro-family groups announced that they had the signatures of over 1,015 organizations from 46 countries that support the continuing presence of the Holy See at the UN. It is noted that the Holy See (the Vatican) has been a strong pro-life, pro-family voice and a rallying point for other nations, particularly Muslim nations. Joining the alliance of Evangelicals, Catholics and Muslims has been Focus on the Family, Concerned Women for America, Family Research Council, Human Life International, and the International Right To Life Federation, to mention a few.

In Hamburg, Germany, mothers who do not want their newborn babies, but also do not want anyone to know that they have had a child, now have an answer. There is being publicized a type of letterbox. They place their infant in it and the baby slides onto a heated bed, alerting a signal. Someone on the inside, then, cares for the child. If the mother does not claim the child within 60 days, he or she becomes a ward of the state and is placed for adoption. Last year, five abandoned babies in Hamburg died from exposure. This is an attempt to save those babies while preserving total anonymity to the mothers.

France's national ethics committee has recommended to French lawmakers that they should remain opposed to euthanasia but... while remaining a crime, they recommend that, under certain conditions, it might be allowed. “If there is no other solution, if palliative care and pain killers are ineffective, if all treatment or therapy has failed, if there is unanimous agreement that the situation is intolerable, then one can envisage euthanasia.”

This is a most unfortunate development. This is the “camel's nose under the tent.” Legalizing euthanasia has always begun by accepting a hypothetical hard case. In considering euthanasia, experience has proven that one must not allow the first case, for it is all downhill from there on the slippery slope.

The Norway Supreme Court in April upheld the murder conviction of the first Norwegian doctor ever tried for mercy killing. This was a key test of the nation's anti-euthanasia law. Christian Sandsdalen, an 82-year-old physician, gave a lethal dose of morphine to a patient in June of '96. He was convicted of first-degree murder. The case was appealed through lower courts to the Supreme Court. The Court voted unanimously to convict him but, because of his age, to indefinitely postpone sentencing. The Court stated that the important thing was to confirm that euthanasia remains illegal in Norway, no matter what the intentions are.

The sixth International Leadership Conference, The Abolition of Abortion and Euthanasia, will be held in the Netherlands 27-30 November, 2000. It will be co-sponsored by Netherlands Schreeuw om Leven and the International Right to Life Federation. For more information, address Ruitersweg 35-37, 1211 KT Hilversum, Netherlands; phone 31-35-624-4352; Fax 011-31-35-624-9141; e-mail . Last year's session was excellent. You should not miss this one.

BMA Consensus – No Euthanasia

The British Medical Association, after an intense two-day conference, reached consensus on physician-assisted suicide: “Drawing together a wide range of moral viewpoints and practical considerations, the conference decided that it cannot agree to recommend a change in law to allow physician-assisted suicide.” Dr. Michael Wilks, chairman of the British Medical Association's medical ethics committee further stated: “This conference has firmly rejected any move to change the law on assisted suicide. While this may appear to be a simple re-affirmation of existing law and policy, behind the decision lie two days of intense and thorough debate. This consensus statement is remarkable for the fact that delegates with fundamentally and diametrically opposing views on end-of-life issues were able to agree on a position with which all feel comfortable.”

Concerned about a sharp decline in birthrate among Serbs, the influential Serbian Orthodox Church issued a letter to its priests. It instructed them “not to grant Holy Communion” to doctors and midwives known to perform abortions. It came from the Church's highest body, the Holy Synod. The letter stated: “Abortion is a grievous sin before God, condemned by the Scriptures. As such, it threatens the entire Serbian nation with biologic extermination.” Previous to this, abortion had not been a prominent issue, as it had been widely and liberally performed legally.

At the invitation of Mr. And Mrs. Lech Kowalewski, Dr. Willke just completed a two-week lecture tour in Poland. While there, he spoke in eight cities and spent three more days at the Parliament in Warsaw. The purpose was to introduce the Polish edition of his book, Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia. As he said, this trip was prophylactic; the one on abortion ten years ago was therapeutic. While there, he congratulated every audience he spoke to, some of them very large (see photo above), and one extremely depressing (see Auschwitz photo below). Ten years ago the Poles were killing 160,000 babies every year; last year they only killed 250. We'll have more details of this important precedent next month.

Maine – Assisted Suicide?

The Maine Judiciary Committee recently voted 9 to 0 against passing the bill to legalize assisted suicide in that state. As a result, this bill will now go before the voters in a binding referendum this November.

Australian abortionist, David Grundmann, who specializes in killing babies during delivery (partial-birth abortion), advocates sex selection abortion as “a real and important indication.” American abortionists, George Tiller (“the killer”) and Warren Hern, both admitted to committing abortions on women 37 weeks pregnant. Tiller stated that he had committed “more than 11,500 post-22 week abortions since 1980.” He presented a study of abortions, average 27 weeks, involving 2,750 women. The vast majority – 2051 – were performed because of maternal health problems.” Ed. Note: Over 90% of whom have no physical health problem.

The Irish Prime Minister, Bertie Ahern, has promised to hold a referendum on abortion by June, 2002. He has said that it will take place before the end of his government's term of office. If this does materialize, much of its result will depend upon the wording of the proposed amendment to the Irish constitution. If proper wording had been used during the first referendum, the present confusion would not exist. Irish pro-life forces must be absolutely adamant in getting clear, unambiguous language for a yes or no, up or down vote on elective abortion. Otherwise, they will go through this whole mess again in a few years.

Except for some Eastern European countries, and Russia during Communist times, probably no nation in the world subsidizes abortion as completely as Canada. For example, the province of British Columbia pays for abortions, pays for clinic security and subsidizes pro-abortion lobby groups up to $25,000 per year. Quebec pays for doctors' fees and part of the facility fee. Nova Scotia pays for hospital abortions and the doctor's fee at private clinics. In Ontario, both the doctor's fee and facility fee are paid. Further, Ontario pays travel expenses for northern Ontario women to come into the cities to get abortions. And it goes on and on. Canada's birthrate is below replacement level and that nation seems to be doing everything it can to facilitate its own suicide.

A recent analysis in the British journal, Lancet, Volume 355, Jan. 29, 2000, entitled, “Condoms and Seat Belts – The Parallels and the Lessons” is most instructive. Passing over the comparison, the article indicates three ways in which a large increase in condom use is not affecting a substantial reduction in transmission of AIDS and other diseases. They are as follows –

Condom promotion and use appeals more strongly to those adverse to taking risks. These individuals contribute little to epidemic transmission.
Increased condom use will increase the number of transmissions that result from condom failure.
There is a risk compensation mechanism. Increased condom use could reflect decisions of individuals to switch their lifestyle from inherently safer strategies, i.e., safer partner selection and/or fewer partners, to the riskier strategy of developing or maintaining higher rates of partner change, such riskier life style being engaged in because they think the condom protects them. A Canadian study is noted that televised AIDS messages from the Ontario Ministry of Health. These messages made respondents more inclined to use condoms while being less inclined to avoid casual sexual partners.

The end result of all of this apparently explains why the widespread promotion and increased use of condoms has not been reflected in any substantial reduction in AIDS transmission.

Concluding a number of years of litigation, the maker of Norplant (American Home Products) has agreed to pay cash settlements to about 36,000 women. These women had entered suit against this company for not adequately warning them about possible side affects and complications of this abortive contraceptive. The use of this drug product in the United States has dwindled to a tiny fraction of what it had been.

The only controlled study of Parkinson's brain transplants of fetal tissue was detailed by two doctors from New York's Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center. Only patients younger than 60 reported any benefits, and they needed “a magnifying glass” to discern any functional benefit. We note that the overwhelming majority of patients needing help are older than 60.

At last summer's XIII International Congress on Parkinson's, the doctors reported that some patients were demonstrating a disturbing unexpected symptom, i.e., involuntary muscle twitchings of the face. This has been reported before. Further, a 52-year-old man receiving fetal transplants in China died two years after the surgery. The autopsy revealed that the tissue had survived, but rather than growing into brain tissue, had grown wildly into hair follicles, skin, cartilage and other “debris.” He died from this wild growth. This information from Citizen Magazine, January, 2000.

Catholic News Service reports that the St. Louis Archdiocesan Pro-Life Office has stated that using a hepatitis vaccine derived from cell lines developed from an aborted baby is morally acceptable because it is the only available alternative to the spread of the disease. It cited research from the National Catholic Bioethic Center in Boston, which concluded that it was permissible for a Catholic to receive the vaccine since the individual is not in immoral cooperation with the evil of abortion.

In the last newsletter we published a picture and inadvertently dropped the titling under it. With our apologies, it was a photograph taken at the conference in Brazilia. Those pictured were Dr. J.C. Willke, President of International Right to Life and Dr. Talmir Rodriquez from Brazil, who is the delegate to the International RTL representing Latin America.

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