A recent health report noted that the morning-after abortion pill can prevent a newly-conceived embryonic child "from implanting . . . into the uterus." ("New Focus on the Morning-After Pill Adds Fuel to Abortion Debate," time.com, 5/4/01)

"Pro-abortion groups maintain that the morning-after abortion pill does not cause an abortion. However, they have redefined pregnancy to suit their pro-abortion agenda," Brown said. "Even so, science confirms that an embryonic child exists at conception/fertilization and can be aborted by this chemical."

"If silence means consent, as USA Today has effectively indicated," Brown said, "it’s critical for all pro-life groups to stand united in specific public opposition to the morning-after abortion pill." [American Life League: Phone: 540/659-4171; Website: www.all.org]

Denver Archbishop Stands Up for Life 
On March 26th, officials of a Catholic housing organization in Denver, CO invited U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO) to speak at a May 6th awards dinner. On May 2, the invitation was withdrawn at the order of Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput, who was disturbed by DeGette’s pro-abortion politics.

A shocked DeGette responded with a bitter letter to Church officials, decrying "the Catholic Church’s apparent litmus test regarding elected official’s views on a woman’s right to choose." She also wrote that "the fringe politics of abortion have apparently won out."

DeGette’s attack prompted a May 4th response from Archbishop Chaput. He told her that "I’ve always been puzzled by political leaders who exclude unborn children from the protection of the justice they publicly claim to champion." "I invite you to turn away from the fringe politics (of the abortion issue) by bringing your own politics more consistently in line with real service to the sanctity of human life."

The Archbishop also rebuked her for accusing the Church of "seeming to employ a litmus test since your own party enforces a pro-choice litmus test on its potential candidates far more roughly and with far less moral legitimacy." (New Advent Bulletin, www.newadvent.org) Messages of appreciation to Archbishop Chaput can be sent via the web to http://www.archden.org/ubb. Follow the "In the News" link. Then click on the thread labeled "The Archbishop and Diana DeGette" where you can post your remarks.

A 12-Week Old Fetus is a Person in Arkansas 
The state Supreme Court has ruled that a fetus is a person in a wrongful-death lawsuit brought by a man whose wife and unborn child died during birth procedures.

In reversing a lower court on Thursday, May 10th, the Supreme Court cited a 1999 law that changed the state’s criminal code to include a living fetus of 12 weeks gestation in the definition of a person.

The case stemmed from the Dec. 13, 1995 death of Evangeline Aka and her unborn son about 30 hours after she was admitted to the hospital so labor could be induced. Aka’s husband, Philip, claimed the defendants were medically negligent in unnecessarily inducing his wife’s labor, failing to discontinue the procedure, failing to perform a caesarean section, failing to resuscitate his wife or the unborn baby and failing to obtain informed consent. "Given this definition of ‘person,’ the Legislature plainly affords protection to unborn viable fetuses," Chief Justice W.H. "Dub" Arnold wrote for the court. (AP, 5/11/2001)