International Right to Life Federation, Inc.
Vol. 12 No. 4
(July/August 2001)

Cloning Banned Globally?
Germany and France have announced that they would like to see a global ban on human cloning. Alarmed at the news that some scientists have announced that they will attempt to clone a human, these two major European countries have asked the United Nations to negotiate an international treaty banning human cloning.

Cytotec Produces Deformities
In the American Journal of Medical Genetics, 95 [2000]: (297-301.), medical researchers have reported on infants whose mothers took Cytotec (Misoprostol) in an attempt to produce a chemical abortion. The attempt failed and the babies went to term and were delivered. Quoting from the paper: "The most striking manifestations common to the patients were growth retardation, underdeveloped bones, short equinovarus feet, rigidity of multiple joints with skin dimples and webs, decreased movement of legs, hypoplasia or atrophy of limb muscles, and absent tendon reflexes." In the past, other reports resultant from such exposure have noted cranial nerve deficiency, microcephalus, delayed motor and mental development, hydrocephaly and the Mobius anomaly.

Hong Kong - More Abortions
The Hong Kong Mail, in June, reported that the number of abortions in Hong Kong has increased by 36% in the last five years. The pro-life group there is dedicated but very small. The government now, of course, has been taken over by the Red Chinese. The pro-abortion response to the increase has been to urge more sex education for young people

Ship of Fools
A converted fishing boat from Holland, just outside the 12-mile limit of Ireland and dubbed "Sea Change", was to provide abortions for Irish women. But the Irish Sea is not a calm lake. It is hazardous with rough swells. To even give a haircut would subject the customer to possible scalp lacerations. But abortion surgery? Did they really mean it? No, they really did not. As it turned out, it did not have the Dutch and Irish licenses required to transport passengers, much less perform abortions. And so, its sponsoring agency, Women on Waves, had to admit that their abortion ship was mostly a publicity stunt.

Australian Death Ship?
Australia has its own Jack Kevorkian in the person of Dr. Philip Nitschke, who continues to attract media attention. He continues to make proposals aimed at breaking down laws protecting people from euthanasia. Most recent has been his proposal to charter a Dutch ship to carry out euthanasia on Australian patients off the coast, in international waters. He has not explained where terminally ill patients would board this ship - by helicopter? How would he care for patients on board? What if they changed their minds? Who would represent their interests? If he did kill them, what would he do with the bodies? It seems obvious that his entire proposal is a publicity stunt.

Right Not To Be Born
France's highest court of appeal has ruled that a disabled child is entitled to compensation if his or her mother was not told of the deformity and given the option of abortion. The court granted compensation to the children's parents because the doctors did not properly conduct prenatal tests and communicate effectively with the parents during the pregnancy. This followed an earlier court decision in the "Perruche" case where a mother had rubella and the child was born seriously handicapped. In this previous case, damages had been awarded.
Reaction was immediate. A handicapped organization responded: "This is a real act of phobia. Now parents are going to be attacked and seen as irresponsible if they give birth to a handicapped child. Doctors, fearing being sued for a misdiagnosis, will encourage the parents to have an abortion at the smallest hint of a disability." And an attorney for the French medical profession said: "The ruling means that the handicapped have no place in our society … This is an incitement to eugenics."

Germany - Embryo Research
At a meeting in Ludwigshafen, 250 physicians represented Germany's 370,000 doctors. They stated that it is ethically unacceptable to use human embryos for genetic research. This was a clear statement against softening the 1990 law that bans embryo research in Germany. They stated that importing embryos for research would be ethically unacceptable. They also voiced their opposition to euthanasia, reacting to the legalization in the Netherlands. Their statement said, "To kill on order is not a medical practice."

Muslims Condemn Abortion Pill
Dr. A. Majid Katne, spokesman for the Medical and Ethical Issues for Islamic Concern, recently stated, "The womb is a highly sacred organ in Islam and the process of implantation [ALAQ in the Qur'an] is sacred too… The morning-after pill can result in early abortion, which is a killing of an existent life, and is strictly prohibited in Islam." This from SPUC News Digest quoting the Pakistan Post on 10 May 2001.

Belgium - Abortifacient Pill
Belgium's government has announced that it will make the abortifacient, morning-after pill available without a prescription. The health minister stated that this will help reduce surgical abortions. Our experience has been quite the contrary, for when young people know that this is available without prescription, they become more promiscuous, as they see it as a back up, if needed.

Dead - From the Pill
The New Zealand Dominion (3/24/01) reports the story of a young bride who collapsed while walking down the aisle on her wedding day. Twenty-three year-old Laney Witchelo collapsed and died of massive clots to her lungs. Her death was attributed to birth control pills, based on autopsy findings.

Cytotec Produces Deformities
In the American Journal of Medical Genetics, 95 [2000]: (297-301.) Medical researchers have reported on infants whose mothers took Cytotec (Misoprostol) in an attempt to produce a chemical abortion. The attempt failed, and the babies went to term and were delivered. Quoting from the paper: "The most striking manifestations common to the patients were growth retardation, underdeveloped bones, short equinovarus feet, rigidity of multiple joints with skin dimples and webs, decreased movement of legs, hypoplasia or atrophy of limb muscles, and absent tendon reflexes." In the past, other reports resultant from such exposure have noted cranial nerve deficiency, microcephalus, delayed motor and mental development, hydrocephaly and the Mobius anomaly.

Stem Cells From Skin
Another alternative from research on embryonic stem cells has been announced. From the Neurological Institute affiliated with McGill University in Montreal, Canada has come the announcement that scientists there have isolated stem cells on the skin of adult mice, cells that can grow into brain cells. Obviously, more developments are coming.

Paris Conference
A major western European international conference will be held in Paris 16-18 November 2001. For information, contact Schreeuw@solcon.nl or guittonjp@aol.com.

St. Petersburg, Moscow
The fourth annual pro-life conference will be held October 11-25, 2001. Beginning in St. Petersburg, participants will then move to Moscow, to Minsk and to Warsaw. For information, phone Schreeuw om Leven 31-35-624-4352 or e-mail schreeuw@solcon.nl.

France Rejects 12-Week Abortion Period
A proposal to extend the legal abortion period in France from 10 to 12 weeks was rejected by the French Senate. It voted 216 to 100. This was a Socialist initiative. Moderates and conservatives voted against the extension.

CWA Approved as U.N. NGO
We were pleased to see that Concerned Women for America was finally approved for membership as a recognized NGO in the Economic and Social Commission (ECOSOC). The CWA is the largest women's organization in the United States. It is an evangelical group with over 600,000 members. It has lobbied at the U.N. for some years now. This finally gives it official status, which it certainly has deserved.

Which One Would You Kill?
In testimony before the U.S. Congress on the stem cell debate, a pair of twin boys became unexpected heroes. John and Lucinda Borden adopted the two boys, as frozen embryos, through the California-based Snowflakes Embryo Adoption Program. After Mrs. Borden testified, her husband John picked up the two 9-month-old boys and addressed the Congressmen: "Which one of my children would you kill? Which one would you choose to take?" The question silenced the room, and for the entire day cable networks played that clip.

U.S. Doctors Oppose Euthansia
The American College of Physicians, the United States' second largest medical organization, with 90,000 members, has joined the American Medical Association in officially opposing assisted suicide. "We must solve the problems of inadequate care at the end of life, not avoid them through practices like assisted suicide… Providing more and better care for pain and suffering, treating depression more aggressively, increasing access to hospice care are all essential to helping terminally ill patients die more comfortably," the organization stated. It further noted that assisted suicide would damage the patient-physician relationship, jeopardize the medical profession's role of only healing, and lessen the value placed on life. It did emphasize the group's strong support for a patient's right to refuse treatment or to halt treatment.

Become a Parent?
The Supreme Court of the State of New Jersey has ruled that a New Jersey man cannot go against his ex-wife's wishes and implant the embryos he conceived with her through invitro fertilization into another woman nor may he donate them to another couple. His former wife wanted the embryos destroyed so that she would not "become a parent against her wishes." This is the fourth such judicial ruling, and it seems that a significant precedent has been established for future cases.
One comment is certainly in order. She did not want to "become a parent" - correction, she already is a parent. Those tiny embryos are her children. She simply does not want them to be given a chance to develop and be born.

A New IUD
Burlex laboratories has applied for approval for a new intrauterine "contraceptive" device. It is called the Mirena Levonorgestrel Intrauterine System (IUS). They are trying to change the terminology from IUD, (intrauterine device) to IUS, (intrauterine system). The reason given is that it has a coating of a synthetic progesterone hormone. It is said that this releases 20 mcg. daily into the cavity of the uterus. This then, works in two ways - one way is the usual function of the mechanical IUD, the other adds a hormonal factor.
How does it work? Considering the two functions, it seems clear that this would not prevent ovulation in many cases. Also, it may or may not hinder the transport of sperm through the uterus. One thing it will do is to prevent implantation of a one-week-old embryo in the lining of the womb. And it will do this for two reasons - one is the simple mechanical effect of this device, the other is a hormone effect from this device. The bottom line here is that this is not a contraceptive, but certainly at times, and perhaps frequently, this will be an abortive device.

Abortion Sequellae
Researchers at the Danish Epidemiology Science Center report that women who abort are twice as likely to have either a pre-term or a post-term delivery. They followed 61,753 women for 12 to 14 years. Of these, 15,727 had a first trimester- induced abortion. The women who had abortions were from 1.9 to 2.6 times more likely to have a subsequent pre-term delivery and 1.9 to 2.6 times more likely to have a post-term delivery. This was reported in the Journal OB and GYN, December 1999.

Gates Gives Money to Planned Parenthood
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has made a grant of $8.8 million dollars to International Planned Parenthood Federation. The money spread over five years will help the British office of IPPF promote abortion and "family planning" in more than 180 countries around the world.

PAS After Fetal Abnormality
Psychological stress has been found to be significantly higher three months later among women who terminated their pregnancies between 24 and 34 weeks, in cases of fetal abnormality than it was for women who delivered such babies after 34 weeks. (Hunfeld, et al, "Emotional Reactions in Women Late in Pregnancy Following Ultrasound Diagnosis of Severe or Lethal Fetal Malformation", 13 Perinatal Diagnoses, 603, 609, 1993). Furthermore, evidence exists that protecting the child from abortion in such cases is better for the mother as well as the baby. Studies of psychological complications that occur within two years of an abortion show that a disproportionate number of such complications were related to abortions for fetal abnormality. (Zolese & Blacker, "The Psychological Complications of Therapeutic Abortions" 160 Br. J. Psych. 742, 1992.)

Push for "Emergency Contraception"
So-called emergency contraception, more accurately termed emergency chemical abortion, is being pushed. Many pro-abortion medical and women's groups have been requesting that these pills be made available over the counter. They claim it would drastically reduce the number of unplanned pregnancies. What it would do when the woman has been fertilized, is to kill a developing human embryo at one week of life. It is not a contraceptive. There is one other fall-out from it that people should know and that is it can radically increase teenage promiscuity. Young people know that if they have sex and worry about being pregnant, this can be "solved" by a pill a few days later. With this pill easily available, they will be far less careful and we will find them more likely to have promiscuous sex. So, it has two direct evil effects - the first to produce a very early chemical abortion, the second to increase the amount of promiscuous sex among teenagers.