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International
Right to Life Federation, Inc.
Vol.
14 No. 3
(May/June, 2003)
How Many Abortions Worldwide?
We've all heard the World Health Organization's "estimate"
that there are approximately 50 million abortions committed
every year, worldwide. Now we have a very measured examination
of this question. It was published in the National Right
to Life News, February 2003, and can be obtained from
that office (512 Tenth Street, NW, Washington, DC 20004-1401).
They note other estimates of annual numbers, ranging from
20 million to 88 million. But then the authors, Laura Antkowiak
and Randall O'Bannon, surgically dissect these numbers.
They show that these numbers are obtained by piling an unofficial
estimate on an unofficial estimate, which was piled on top
of an unofficial estimate. They note that all of these estimates
come from pro-abortion international organizations that
stand to benefit from high numbers. They note that any abortion
not done by a licensed physician is listed as "unsafe."
They note that very few nations report abortions, and very
few of those that do have any significant basis for accuracy,
as all are based on somebody's estimate. Note that no one
has the slightest idea how many illegal abortions do occur.
By its very definition, an illegal abortion is not reported-therefore,
there are no hard statistics. This article, in detail, explores
the extremely tenuous and unproven basis for the huge numbers
reported in the press. How many actually are there? The
truth of the matter is, no one knows. One thing, however,
is sure; it is not 50 million a year. It probably is only
a small fraction of that.
Baby Teeth Source of Stem Cells
In a publication on-line, in the proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences, on 22 April, Dr. Songtao Shi, a pediatric
dentist at the National Institutes of Health, has published
a study showing that the pulp of baby teeth is rich in stem
cells. These cells, if salvaged, may well have all of the
potential of embryonic stem cells and, in culture, can be
multiplied into millions of cells. Let's follow this one.
Day of the Unborn in South America
El Salvador was the first country to decree such a celebration
in 1993. Then, in December 1998, Argentina declared March
25 as the Day of the Unborn. It was chosen because, in the
Catholic calendar, that is the feast of the Angel Gabriel
announcing to Mary that she was to be the mother of Jesus.
In May of 1999, Chile declared March 25 to be "The
Day of the Conceived and Unborn Child." While, at the
same time, Guatemala declared March 25 a national day of
the unborn. In August of 1999, Costa Rica joined, and in
January 2000 so did Nicaragua. The Dominican Republic established
the celebration in early 2001 and in January 2002 the Congress
in Peru did likewise.
Pregnant In Spite of Contraceptives
The May issue of the Journal of Human Reproduction
reports on a study from the Hopital de Bicetre in France
of almost 3,000 women age 18 to 34. Among those who became
pregnant, 65% were using contraception. Of the 65%, 24%
were using pills, 9% IUDs, 12% condoms and 23% other methods.
Many women described forgetting a pill, a slipped condom,
etc., to explain their pregnancy. What the study did, however,
was confirm that, in actual practice, the "theoretical
effectiveness" is one thing, but the "actual effectiveness",
in practice, is quite another story. Why don't family planning
agencies admit to these failure rates?
Contraceptive Ineffective
It has been widely assumed that a commonly used contraceptive
gel "protects," not merely from pregnancy, but
also from sexually transmitted diseases. Pregnancy aside,
we now have an official warning from the Federal Food and
Drug Administration. It warns that contraceptives using
Nonoxynol-9 are not effective in preventing HIV infection.
It warns that, while it damages the cell walls of some sexually
transmitted disease organisms and thus inhibits their use,
it also has a membrane-damaging effect on the cells lining
the vagina and cervix. This effect possibly increases the
risk of sexually transmitted and HIV diseases. So be warned.
Hungary
A request to Hungary's constitutional court to legalize
euthanasia has been rejected. On 28 April, it ruled that
so-called mercy killing should continue to be treated as
manslaughter.
The Founder Of Planned Parenthood
Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood, in her
Birth Control Review of October 1926, said the following:
"There is only one reply to a request for a higher
birthrate among the intelligent, and that is to ask the
government to first take the burden of the insane and
feeble-minded from your back. (Mandatory) sterilization
for these is the answer."
Fetal Bones Cause Infertility
According to an article in the April issue of The Journal
of Fertility and Sterility, researchers at Ottawa University
have described a new cause of infertility. They have found
fragments of previously aborted fetal baby's bones still
in her uterus. Using ultrasound to find the bones, they
then remove them. These women later conceived.
Why Suicide In Oregon?
Physician-assisted suicide has been legal in the State of
Oregon for five years. Recently published was a survey of
the reasons given for requesting suicide. Some patients
gave more than one reason. We note the following:
44-burden on family, friends and caregivers
73-losing control of bodily functions
99-decreasing participation in activities
106-losing personal autonomy
28-inadequate pain control
Note that the main reason offered originally for making
suicide legal was pain, pain and pain.
Malaysia May Permit Lethal Research Cloning
According to the chairman of Malaysia's Fatwa Counsel, human
cloning and then killing the living human embryo for research
purposes would be acceptable as long as the resulting living
human embryos were killed before they are four months old.
This anti-life policy sharply conflicts with a much more
pro-life view held almost universally throughout the rest
of the Muslim world.
U.S. Abortions Down, But PP's Are Up
The total number of abortions being reported in the United
States has declined about 15% in recent years. The Planned
Parenthood Federation of America performed 213,000 abortions
in 2001. This represents an 8% increase over the previous
year. Showing that while overall abortion numbers are dropping,
Planned Parenthood has continued to increase not just its
total number of abortions, but the percentage of all abortions
done in the U.S. Their annual report shows that, from 1977
to 2001, PP has had a total income from abortion of $894
million.
U.S. Passes AIDS Bill
Our readers will recall that, in his State of the Union
Address, President Bush surprised the nation by stating
that he would request $15 billion to be used to combat AIDS
in Africa. It so happens that aid given to date for that
reason has generated a heated controversy. The policy adopted
and lavishly funded for the last decade has been to flood
those countries with condoms. People are told that condoms
prevent AIDS and so they are used indiscriminately. In the
face of this, AIDS cases have skyrocketed. In some countries,
e.g. Botswana, 30% of people now are infected with the AIDS
virus. The epidemic is clearly totally out of control and
promises to decimate Sub Saharan Africa-all this in the
presence of merely pushing condoms. One nation has stood
out from all of the others-Uganda. Early on, it had an extremely
high rate of infection and entire villages were wiped out.
Then it adopted a new method. All government, religious
agencies, schools, etc., began to preach abstinence, fidelity
in marriage and, only as a last resort but not to be trusted,
were condoms to be used. Statistics show that the amount
of sexual activity outside of marriage has declined drastically.
The infection rate is down around 10%. This is unique among
African nations, but so is teaching abstinence. President
Bush was advised that he should adopt the Ugandan policy
for the $15 billion program. Surprisingly, the White House
did not insist on this, and the bill originally introduced
was a continuation of the old failed, "let the condom
do it" method. It was also to be administered through
current corrupt United Nations and other groups. Conservative
and religious groups lobbied this heavily, and the result
was evident when the U.S. Congress passed the final bill.
One amendment by Rep. Joe Pitts (R-PA) was adopted mandating
that one-third of all funds must go to abstinence only.
Another amendment by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) was adopted
protecting faith-based organizations and allowing them to
accept funds to help in this campaign. President Bush signed
the bill.
Fiji--Abortionist Charged With Murder
A prominent physician in Suva, who caused the death of a
22-year-old girl while aborting her, was arrested and placed
in custody.
The Philippines and AIDS
In 1990, the UN AID officials predicted that by 1998, there
would be over 75,000 cases of AIDS in the Philippines, even
if they began aggressive contraceptive campaigns immediately.
Thanks to the bishops, this Catholic nation rather aggressively
promoted abstinence. As a consequence, in the year 2002,
only 1800 cases have been reported in the entire country.
Zambia-AIDS Cuts Life Expectancy
Ten years ago the average life expectancy of a person born
in Zambia was 44 years. Zambian health officials now report
that AIDS has cut that average life expectancy to 33 years.
They also note that one in five adults has HIV.
It's How You Say It
Here's a paragraph from the New York Times, (5-18-02).
"The House has already passed a total ban on human
cloning, but the Senate seems roughly split between those
who want a complete ban, as President Bush has urged,
and those who would prohibit only cloning to produce a
human being, while permitting the procedures to produce
embryonic cells for medical research and treatment."
Allow us to rephrase in a more intelligible fashion. "…who
would prohibit only cloning to produce a human being who
would be brought to term and delivery, while permitting
the direct cloning and creation of a living human embryo,
who then would be killed on his fourth day of life in order
to produce embryonic cells for medical research and experimentation."
Both of the above were referring to exactly the same thing.
The New York Times tried its best to fool you and
obscure what was actually happening. Always remember, the
most effective and important pro-abortion voice in the United
States is the New York Times.
European Parliament and Cloning
On 10 April, the European Parliament approved a bill that
would ban embryonic stem cell research and all human cloning.
This would include both reproductive and research (clone
and kill) cloning.
Canadian Woman Dead from RU 486
A Canadian woman who had taken RU 486 to abort her baby
died of septic shock, or so the story goes. The Canadian
government has refused to publish the results of its inquiry
into her death. If this was truly not due or related to
the RU 486, we think they would be quick to publish the
results. If, in fact, they are suppressing the results,
we can almost assume it was directly related to this baby-killing
drug.
Neuro Tube Defects Reduced in Half
Since 1998, the Canadian government has been requiring all
flour, pasta and cornmeal products to be fortified with
folic acid. This had been shown to prevent neuro tube defects,
such as Spina Bifida and Anencephaly. Recent studies have
shown that the case rate in Ontario dropped from 16 to 8.6
cases per 10,000 pregnancies. A similar study in Nova Scotia
saw a drop of 26 to 12.
Premature Baby Survives
On October 18, tiny Michael Despain was born in Chicago
at Christ Hospital Medical Center. He weighed 12½
ounces (363gms). He was born by Cesarean section after just
22 weeks of gestation (there are 40 gestational weeks in
a full-term pregnancy). His twin Jennifer died shortly after
birth because of insufficient lung capacity. According to
the United Press International on February 14, he
was sent home with his parents weighing four pounds nine
ounces (2,100gms). While still under very close observation,
and understanding that his condition is still precarious,
nevertheless his outlook was reported to be good.
Stem Cells to Kill Mice Brain Tumors
Researchers at Cedar-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles
have genetically engineered neuro stem cells in mice to
produce a tumor-killing protein (interleukin 12). They then
injected these cells into brain tumors in mice. Startlingly,
these stem cells sought out isolated colonies of the cancer,
a giloblastoma, delivering this anti-cancer protein to these
tumor colonies. All untreated mice died quickly. 30% of
those treated were free of cancer. One of the researchers
said, "It's like a heat-seeking missile-you're delivering
the kill technology right to the tumor cell." The study
was published in the October 16 issue of Cancer Research.
Milan--Adult Stem Cell Research
Investigators at the San Raffaele Institute in Milan report
in the April journal Nature that brain stem cells,
injected into the brains or veins of mice with an experimental
form of multiple sclerosis, have repaired nerve damage and,
in many cases, improved symptoms. The Italian researchers
postulate that their work could offer hope for treating
human multiple sclerosis. Note that these are adult stem
cells, not embryonic stem cells.
Hamburg Germany--Adult Stem Cells
Researchers at the University of Kiel in Hamburg have succeeded
in using adult stem cells to promote immune tolerance of
transplanted hearts in laboratory rats. Prior to this, only
embryonic stem cells had been tried. In this study, bone
marrow stem cells were taken from adult rats, cultured and
then re-injected into rats with transplanted hearts. If
this research is confirmed by others, this will be one more
reason not to kill tiny human embryos to obtain their stem
cells.
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