White Ribbon Campaign Planned for January 2002
Two years ago, the Louisiana Right to Life Federation promoted a White Ribbons for Life campaign for the purpose of furthering respect for human life and to oppose abortion on demand, both in Louisiana and across the country. As with yellow ribbons for hostages and pink ones for breast cancer, the idea is to display white ribbons and bows anywhere and everywhere they can be displayed or tied including mailboxes, door knobs, cars, trees, and of course, on our clothing, throughout the month of January, particularly during the week preceding the January 22nd commemoration of the Roe vs. Wade Decision. For more information on this excellent project, the president of Louisiana Right to Life Federation, W. A. Krotoski, M.D., will be happy to receive your calls. Voice number: 225/769-7496 — Fax number: 225/766-4089
Alaska Supreme Court Rejects State Right to Assisted Suicide
The Alaska Supreme Court, in a unanimous 5-0 decision, struck down the right to physician-assisted suicide and ruled that it is not protected under Alaska's state constitution. Euthanasia proponents have tried to bring cases in both federal and state courts, but have now lost every case they've brought in both arenas. The Michigan, Florida, and California Supreme Courts, as well as the US Supreme Court have rejected physician-assisted suicide cases. Voter initiatives have failed in California, Washington, Michigan, and Maine. Oregon remains the only state to have passed a voter initiative in 1997 legalizing the practice. Federally, Attorney General John Ashcroft is expected to close some loopholes, making it illegal to dispense prescription barbiturates and other drugs as a means of "mercy killing." ( Free Market Foundation Weekly Issues Alert, 9/28/01)
Sex Selection to be Used on 8-Cell Human Embryos
Some fertility specialists have welcomed a letter written by the acting chairman of the ethics committee of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine in which he sanctioned the practice of testing embryos engendered through in vitro fertilization to determine their gender and allowing parents to choose whether they want a boy or girl. The babies who are of a different gender than the parents have chosen would be killed. (New York Times, 9/28/01) It would work like this: eggs and sperm are retrieved from the mother and father and mixed in a petri dish. When fertilization occurs, the developing human embryo is allowed to grow to the 8-cell stage [a few days]. At that point, a procedure called preimplantation genetic diagnosis is performed, a genetic test that can be used not only to determine the gender of the baby, but potential genetic defects as well. The parents are then allowed to choose whether they want a boy or a girl. Whether the baby is found to be of the unwanted gender or to have a genetic disease or defect, his or her fate is the same — he is brought into this world, albeit through an unnatural process, found wanting, and killed.
Peruvian Cardinal Excommunicates Pro-Abortion Politicians
Setting a fine example for the rest of the Church, Juan Luis Cardinal Cipriani of Lima, the primate of Peru, has instructed pastors to deny Holy Communion to politicians and other public figures if they persist in public support for abortion. Upon the request of Cardinal Cipriani, the Archdiocesan Pastoral Commission has sent to all pastors a document entitled "Moral and Legal Dimensions of Abortion." It is designed to set forth "a pastoral and sacramental response to the increasing culture of death, as well as consistent criteria to deal with this grave moral problem." The document, written in a question-and-answer format, reminds pastors that the Church describes abortion as "a horrendous crime," because "it takes away the life of an innocent creature entitled to be loved by his parents, and who has been deprived of enjoying the goods of this life, in particular Baptism and the graces of Christianity." The text also recalls that the penalty of excommunicaton, latae sententiae — automatically imposed — is still applied to all those involved in an abortion, "including the assistant doctors, the nurse, whoever provides the money, etc." (Lifesite Daily News, 9/5/01)
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